American Express filed a patent application

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In a patent application published on Thursday at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the travel arm of credit card company – the American Express Travel Related Services Company - describes the use of technology to facilitate payments between two parties by using transaction requests as a proxy.

As described, the request for payment would be sent to the system based on blockchain, which would either be approved or rejected based on various factors, including risk analysis. If the request for payment is approved, the payment would automatically process the transaction, adjusting accounts held by both the payer and the recipient.

To access the system, the parties conducting the transaction must create digital wallets on the blockchain. As a result, the payments are made directly through the blockchain, and not through an external banking institution.

The filing of the patent application refers to peer-to-peer payments using a blockchain, although it also refers to the volatility of bitcoin prices and the fact that it is a public statement as the reason why this network does not fit for American Express’s requirements.

It is noteworthy that the company also proposes that a blockchain system could improve the current network of payment cards.

This is not the first time that the organization of travel and merchants of American Express has shown interest in blockchain applications.