Tech giant IBM has applied for a blockchain patent for the development of transaction data identifiers based on nodes, according to a patent document published by the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) Aug. 16.

The system described in the patent, entitled “Node Characterization in Blockchain,” intends to introduce a method of data extraction from nodes on a blockchain network in order to identify different types of transactions. Specifically, any operation on blockchain may possess a node or a number of nodes that can carry useful information about the character of transactions.

According to the document, the described specification would extract a range of characterization types such as “entity extraction, text mining, information analysis and discovery, compliance, semantic extraction, and ontology based entity discovery.” Such a manner of data extraction would allegedly empower regulatory authorities with a due level of monitoring the security of data on blockchain.

For example, the system proposes an anti-money laundering (AML) method by detecting whether a node performs a suspicious activity on blockchain while proceeding a crypto transaction, such as violation of daily transfer limits or involvement of a tracked entity.

The described system is deployed with modules that can be implemented as programmable hardware devices such as gate arrays, array logic, or graphic processing units, as well as hardware circuits.

Earlier today, Cointelegraph reported that the U.S. bank holding company Capital One has applied for a patent for blockchain-powered user authentication to assist the regulatory process of major security requirements, such as Know Your Customer (KYC).

On Aug. 14, a patent application by major U.S. crypto trading and wallet platform Coinbase for boosting the security of Bitcoin (BTC) payments was released, particularly addressing issues associated with the theft of users’ private keys from their wallets.