Following the news of CERES becoming the first SEC-qualified stablecoin, we are excited to announce that CERES has secured an issued patent in May 2021. The patent is for using "Stablecoin as a Medium of Exchange on a Blockchain-Based Transaction Network." The patent was expedited due to the novelty of the qualification process from the SEC. With this patent, CERES has a legal means to prevent any other company from using SEC-Qualified coins in this same manner.
Preparing the patent application can take up to two months, as the patent attorney works with the creator to understand all aspects of the invention and draft the patent application. Once the patent application has been filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), allowance can typically take two to three years. CERES decided to proceed with the expedited examination track with the USPTO, which guaranteed initial examination in less than a year. CERES filed the non-provisional patent application in November 2020. The patent was issued in July 2021, meaning we could secure the patent within eight months of filing the application.
Why were we able to do this so quickly? We proved a lack of Prior Art (any document or record of an idea before the patent is issued). According to CERES' patent attorney Matthew May, CERES' prior SEC qualification of a stablecoin was instrumental in proving the lack of prior art. "The fact that [CERES COIN] was one of the first [stablecoins] to get SEC qualified showed the patent examiners that this is a very new idea," said May. Our SEC-qualified stablecoin proved no prior art since we were the first to create this transaction method.
The Ceres financial network runs on its stablecoin. Day in and day out since we started building our business, we have watched the SEC crackdown on unregistered blockchain-based securities. Three years ago, we decided to pursue the “harder right over the easier wrong” and seek out the cooperation of the SEC in the development of our stablecoin. Today, we believe our decision has been proved correct with both an SEC-qualified stablecoin and a US patent to protect the use of that stablecoin on the blockchain for transactions.
This patent gives us the power to protect our business model and offers a vehicle to stop our competitors from profiting from it. While we plan to use this blockchain and stablecoin-based payment solution within the cannabis industry, we know this technology has much greater potential. Our issued patent paves the way for a future with much broader applications of the business model.
Additionally, CERES has three patent pendings directed towards similar subject matter with using SEC-qualified stablecoins for transactions on the blockchain. Due to the success of our initial patent and the fact that these patent pendings share the same novelty and DNA, we expect to build our patent portfolio to establish CERES as a business and creative leader in the SEC-qualified stablecoin blockchain space.
CERES CEO, Greg Anderson, is hopeful for the future of CERES with the protection of this patent and upcoming pending patents. "While imitation is a form of flattery, flattery does not protect our investor base. We think by investing in these patent protections, in conjunction with the novelty of our SEC qualification approach, we are creating not only a substantial business but also a defensible opportunity for our investors.
Stay tuned in this space for more details on our pending patents.
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