Bitcoin-Tech Firm Thinks This Name Can Unify Wall Street Behind Blockchain

R3 CEV, a startup working to build new Wall Street infrastructure using bitcoin technology, said it had filed for a patent this week and named its product Concord for the harmony it aims to build among more than 60 banks.
The patent application is the New York firm’s first, shedding some light on what has so far been a widely followed but opaque firm.
R3, launched in September 2015 with a consortium of nine multinational banks, has since grown to more than 60 and includes Barclays PLC, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and J. P. Morgan Chase & Co.
The goal of the firm has been create standards for financial services based on ‘blockchain,’ the open-ledger system used to trade the virtual currency bitcoin. It hopes to sell its wares both to the participant banks and others.
With the filing, the firm is essentially unveiling its plans. What it has built is something that looks in some respects like the cryptocurrency bitcoin, but with significant differences to appeal to banks.
Concord aims to be a universal software platform connecting bank operations both within firms and across markets, aimed at digitizing so-called middle- and back-office functions, like trade clearing and settling, asset registry, and reconciliation, even the recording of cash balances.

This post was published at Wall Street Journal on Aug. 24, 2016.