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EP-4736039-A1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATION AND ASSOCIATION OF MULTI-PLATFORM ACCOUNTS

EP4736039A1EP 4736039 A1EP4736039 A1EP 4736039A1EP-4736039-A1

Abstract

The present invention concerns the verification and authentication of independent digital wallets and, particularly, the linking of regulated and unregulated digital wallets on a public blockchain. An unregulated trading system has a public certificate module arranged selectively to write NFTs into specific unregulated accounts. A public ledger database of the blockchain system stores unregulated accounts which each contain: (i) a document type identifier having a related minted unique non-transferable NFT linked to an externally generated certificate hash and where each non-transferable NFT is obtained via writing of a smart contract and each non-transferable NFT is a permanent record for a description of the document type; and (ii) a link to a private wallet of a regulated account of a regulated trading platform. The link relates directly to the minted non-transferable NFT issued from the certificate module. Each non-transferable NFT is configured to be changed or moved from the unregulated wallet only through an interaction that directly involves the certificate module.

Inventors

  • SMITH, DAVID PETER
  • LYSKE, JOSEPH MICHAEL WILLIAM

Assignees

  • Shearer, Richard Alexander

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230613

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A trading system having: a regulated platform (27) comprising: system intelligence (25, 30, 42-48) that is based in at least one private server (25, 30) and that is configured for administering operational aspects of the regulated platform; and a private ledger database (26) that is coupled to the at least one private server and that is configured to store storing a plurality of regulated wallets each referenced with a unique private wallet address (34) and an association (32) to an account holder; and an unregulated platform comprising at least a public ledger database (66) that is configured to store a plurality of unregulated wallets (70), wherein the unregulated trading platform is configured to be impervious to being broken down to: (i) identify ownership of individual wallets stored on the public ledger, or (ii) identify a chain of custody of any value in each stored wallet; and wherein the system intelligence is configured to: establish each regulated wallet by verifying an identified account holder through authenticating a plurality of instances of personal data for the identified account holder as submitted electronically to the regulated trading platform; issue a uniquely coded certificate (38) for each instance of personal data; store in the private ledger (26) an association between each issued coded certificate and its respective established wallet, where the association includes an indication of the nature (36) of the instance of the personal data; and cause each stored coded certificate to be minted into the public ledger database (66) and associated with an unregulated public wallet (70), wherein minting of the coded certificate produces a non -transferable non-fungible token “NFT” locked to the unregulated public wallet, the non-transferable NFT being configured to be changed or moved from the unregulated wallet only through an interaction that directly involves the linked regulated wallet.
  2. 2. The trading system of claim 1, wherein the non-transferrable NFTs are configured to store metadata related to at least one of: the nature of a related transaction, an event involving the regulated wallet, and a document type.
  3. 3. The trading system of claim 1 or 2, wherein: the system intelligence of the regulated trading platform (27) includes a private certificate module (46), and the unregulated trading platform includes a public certificate module (62) that is operationally coupled to the public ledger database (66), and the public certificate module (62) is configured to cooperate with the private certificate module (46) through a smart contract with a public domain blockchain (60), the smart contract being configured to prevent alteration of the non-transferable NFT within its unregulated public wallet but allowing access to the non-transferable NFT.
  4. 4. The trading system of claim 1, wherein the coded certificate includes a hash.
  5. 5. A method, comprising: linking an unregulated digital wallet (70) on an unregulated trading platform (66) to a regulated digital wallet (34) on a regulated trading platform (27), wherein the regulated digital wallet is associated with a known client (18) and wherein the unregulated trading platform is impervious to being broken down to (i) identify ownership of individual wallets stored on a public ledger thereof and to (ii) identify a chain of custody of any value in each stored individual wallet within the public ledger; during establishment of a first regulated digital wallet, generating a first hash for each of a plurality of personal documents submitted electronically to the regulated trading platform to satisfy regulatory requirements for establishing the regulated digital wallet in the name of the known client, and storing in the regulated trading platform an association between the first hash and the first regulated digital wallet; using each generated hash to mint respective non-transferable non-fungible tokens “NFTs” locked to the unregulated public wallet of the unregulated trading platform; and linking the unregulated public digital wallet to the first regulated digital wallet when the non-transferable non-fungible tokens “NFTs” are within the unregulated public wallet, wherein the non-transferable NFT is configured to be changed or moved from the unregulated public digital wallet only through an interaction directly involving the linked first regulated digital wallet.
  6. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein each non-transferrable NFT is configured to store metadata relating to at least one of: the nature of a related transaction, an event involving the regulated wallet, and a document type.
  7. 7. A method, comprising: linking an unregulated digital wallet having a digital address on an unregulated trading platform to a regulated digital wallet on a regulated trading platform, wherein the regulated digital wallet is associated with a known client, and wherein the unregulated trading platform is impervious to being broken down to (i) identify ownership of individual wallets stored on a public ledger thereof, and (ii) identify a chain of custody of any value in each stored wallet; verifying an identity of a prospective account holder seeking to establish a first regulated digital wallet by authenticating a plurality of instances of personal data submitted by the prospective account holder; issuing, as a hash, a certificate for each instance of personal data and associating, in a private ledger database of the regulated trading platform, each hash with at least a document type and the first regulated digital wallet to establish a cryptocurrency account for the prospective account holder; receiving, via an app configured to provide an interface (16) to an operational system intelligence of the regulated trading platform, a link to a first unregulated digital wallet including a first digital address therefor; using the link, automatically interrogating the first unregulated digital wallet to recover data entries reflecting at least one of transactional entries, recorded wallet interactions, NFTs, general personal data and uses of cryptocurrency; based on recovered data entries, identifying searchable links to third-party databases independent of the unregulated trading platform and independent of the regulated trading platform, scraping (118) the third-party databases (54) for personal data or further links related to operation of the first unregulated digital wallet, and returning scraped data to generate a profile of a registrant of the first unregulated digital wallet; based on the profile, parsing the returned scraped data to generate a list of different document types each with a respective associated document; within the private ledger database, identifying any commonality between said the list of different document types and the document type linked to the first regulated digital wallet; when there is at least one identified commonality in the document type and a content match exists between the respective associated document and a verified document associated with the first regulated digital wallet, evaluating an honesty score associated with the content match; and when the honesty score exceeds a threshold, linking the first unregulated digital wallet to the first regulated digital wallet by minting a non-transferable non-fungible token “NFT” for storage in at least the first unregulated digital wallet, wherein the non- transferable NFT is configured to be changed or moved from the unregulated public digital wallet only through an interaction directly involving the linked first regulated digital wallet.
  8. 8. The method of linking according to claim 7, wherein the minted non- transferable NFT is further stored in the first regulated digital wallet of the private ledger database.
  9. 9. The method of linking according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the returned personal data includes at least one of: a personal telephone number, an employment history, transactions involving NFTs, cryptocurrency transaction histories, smart interactions, events stored in the ledger of the unregulated wallet, addresses of other unregulated wallets, user-related geographic locations, images/pictures, email addresses, public government data, and company affiliations.
  10. 10. The method of linking according to claim 7, 8 or 9, further comprising: when commonality fails to be identified, generating at least one random challenge from selected content in the returned scraped data and displaying the at least one random challenge on the interface of the app (22); monitoring a response to the at least one random challenge and assessing correctness of the response; when the response is correlated to the selected content of the random challenge, generating a second hash for the selected content; associating the second hash with at least one of the first regulated digital wallet and the first unregulated digital wallet; and using the second hash to verify a common ownership of the first regulated digital wallet and the first unregulated digital wallet.
  11. 11. The method of linking according to any of claims 7 to 10, wherein the minted non-transferable NFT is further stored in the first regulated digital wallet of the private ledger database.
  12. 12. A computer-implemented system comprising: an unregulated digital wallet having a digital address (70) on an unregulated trading platform linked to a regulated digital wallet (34) on a regulated trading platform (27), wherein the regulated digital wallet is associated with a known client and the unregulated trading platform is configured to be impervious to being broken down to (i) identify ownership of individual wallets stored on a public ledger thereof and (ii) identify a chain of custody of any value in each stored individual wallet; a first server (25) arranged to verify an identity of a prospective account holder (18) seeking to establish a first regulated digital wallet (34) by authenticating a plurality of instances of personal data submitted by the prospective account holder; a certificate module (46) configured to issue, as a hash, a certificate (38) for each instance of personal data, wherein each hash has a stored association, stored within a private ledger database (26) of the regulated trading platform (27), with at least a document type (36) and the first regulated digital wallet and wherein issued certificates confirm the identity of the prospective account holder to permit establishment of a legitimized cryptocurrency account in the name of the prospective account holder that is linked to first regulated digital wallet; a communications device running an app (22) providing an interface (16) to operational system intelligence (30) of the regulated trading platform, the app being configured to receive a link to a first unregulated digital wallet having a first digital address therefor; a linkage module (42) responsive to the link, the linkage module being configured to automatically to interrogate the first unregulated digital wallet to recover data entries in the first unregulated wallet (70) reflecting at least one of transactional entries, recorded wallet interactions, NFTs, general personal data and uses of cryptocurrency; system intelligence, response to recovered data entries, configured to identify searchable links to third-party databases (54, 54’) that are independent of the unregulated trading platform and also independent of the regulated trading platform, an open-source intelligence “OSINT” module configured to scrape (118) the third-party databases (54) for personal data or further links related to operation of the first unregulated digital wallet, and further configured to return scraped data to generate a profile of a registrant of the first unregulated digital wallet; system intelligence, responsive to the generated profile, configured to parse the return scraped data to generate a list of different document types each with a respective associated document; system intelligence configured to identify any commonality between the list of different document types and the document type (36), within the private ledger database, linked to the first regulated digital wallet; system intelligence configured to evaluate an honesty score associated with a content match identified as arising between the respective associated document and a verified document associated with the first regulated digital wallet; and system intelligence configured to determine if the honesty score exceeds a threshold; and, for each honesty score exceeding the threshold, the system intelligence is configured to cause the certificate module to mint a non -transferable non -fungible token “NFT” for storage in at least the first unregulated digital wallet, thereby linking the first unregulated digital wallet to the first regulated digital wallet, the non-transferable NFT being configured to be moved from the unregulated wallet or changed only through an interaction directly involving the linked regulated wallet.
  13. 13. The computer-implemented system of claim 12, wherein the minted non- transferable is further stored in the first regulated digital wallet of the private ledger database.
  14. 14. The computer-implemented system of claim 12 or 13, wherein the regulated wallets and the unregulated wallets contain cryptocurrency.
  15. 15. The computer-implemented system of claim 12, 13 or 14, wherein returned personal data includes at least one of a personal telephone number, an employment history, transactions involving NFTs, cryptocurrency transaction histories, smart interactions, events stored in the ledger of the unregulated wallet, addresses of other unregulated wallets, user-related geographic locations, images/pictures, email addresses, public government data, and company affiliations.
  16. 16. The computer-implemented system of any of claims 12 to 15, wherein: the system intelligence is configured to, in response to failing to identify commonality, generate at least one random challenge based on selected content in the returned scraped data and to communicate the at least one random challenge to the communications device for display on the interface, and the system intelligence is further configured to monitor a response to the at least one random challenge and to assess correctness of that response.
  17. 17. The computer-implemented system of any of claims 12 to 15, wherein the certificate module is configured to: in response to identified correlation between the selected content of the random challenge and the response thereto provided to the system intelligence, generate a second hash for the selected content; and associate the second hash with at least one of the first regulated digital wallet and the first unregulated digital wallet; and wherein system intelligence in the computer-implemented system is configured to use the second hash to verify a common ownership of the first regulated digital wallet and the first unregulated digital wallet.
  18. 18. The computer-implemented system of any of claims 12 to 17, wherein returned personal data authenticated by the system intelligence is weighted according to a value classification for the personal data such that different authenticated personal data contributes differently to the honesty score.
  19. 19. The system of claim any preceding system claim or the method of any preceding method claim, wherein the regulated wallets and said unregulated wallets contain cryptocurrency.
  20. 20. An unregulated trading system being part of a public domain blockchain system, the unregulated trading system comprising: a public certificate module arranged selectively to write NFTs, received by the blockchain system, into specific unregulated accounts of the unregulated trading system configured to be impervious to being broken down to (i) identify ownership of individual accounts stored on the public ledger, or (ii) identify a chain of custody of any item stored in its respective unregulated wallet; and a public ledger database coupled to the block chain system and responsive to the public certificate module, wherein the public ledger database is configured to store a plurality of unregulated accounts each having at least a public wallet address for a user account and wherein at least some of the public wallet addresses further have stored therewith: a document type identifier with a related minted unique non-transferable NFT linked to an externally generated certificate hash and where each non- transferable NFT is obtained via writing of a smart contract and each non- transferable NFT is a permanent record for a description of the document type; and a link to a private wallet of a regulated account of a regulated trading platform, the link related directly to the minted non-transferable NFT issued from the certificate module; and wherein each non-transferable NFT being configured to be changed or moved from the unregulated wallet only through an interaction that directly involves the certificate module.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATION AND ASSOCIATION OF MULTI-PLATFORM ACCOUNTS FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates, in general, to a client authentication process establishing account associations across multiple independent and disparate trading platforms. More particularly, but not exclusively, the invention is applicable to a blockchain system in which a wallet of an unregulated trading platform can be linked to a wallet on a regulated trading platform when common account ownership is authenticated between those wallets. SUMMARY OF THE PRIOR ART Blockchain is essentially a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a public computer network. As a database, a blockchain stores information electronically in digital format. Blockchains are best known for their role in cryptocurrency systems, such as Bitcoin, and are arranged to maintain a secure and decentralized record of transactions. The concept behind blockchain is that it guarantees the fidelity, integrity, and security of a record of data and generates trust without the need for a trusted third party. However, on a generally never basis, an individual or organization cannot control or manipulate the protocol behind a cryptocurrency because it is cryptographically secure. Furthermore, there is no, little or limited and ineffectual regulation of certain aspects of blockchains on both a national or international governmental level, with this lack of oversight leading to questionable use of block technology in potentially dubious or otherwise entirely illegal activities, such as money laundering, terrorist financing or narcotics trafficking in the latter case. One key difference between a typical database and a blockchain is how the data is structured. A blockchain collects information together in groups, known as blocks, which hold sets of information. Blocks have certain storage capacities and, when filled, are closed and linked to the previously filled block thus forming the “blockchain”. All new information that follows that freshly added block is compiled into a newly formed block that will then also be added to the chain once filled. A conventional database usually structures its data into tables, whereas a blockchain, like its name implies, structures its data into chunks (blocks) that are strung together. This data structure inherently makes an irreversible timeline of data when implemented in a decentralized nature. When a block is filled, it is set in stone and becomes a part of this timeline. Each block in the chain is given an exact time stamp when it is added to the chain. Blockchain technology is, for example, the basis for cryptocurrency transactions, such as supported by Bitcoin. Another platform is Ethereum which is both similar and dissimilar to Bitcoin. For example, both are cryptocurrencies that can be traded, and both are acquired through mining activity of a numerically limited pool of coins or tokens. Cryptocurrencies are fungible in that one ETH can be exchanged for a different ETH without any consequence or loss. Other blockchain technologies, such as Solano, exist. These may have certain advantages or disadvantages relative to more accepted mainstream blockchains of Bitcoin and Ethereum. In dealing with blockchain cryptocurrencies, it is typical to use a cryptocurrency exchange firm, such as CoinBase. Coinbase is a cryptocurrency trading and investing platform that offers users the ability to buy, sell, and exchange over one hundred tradable cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. Unlike traditional brokerage firms, cryptocurrency exchanges are generally not members of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) and the like. Therefore, unless user terms specify otherwise, investors with cryptocurrency assets commingled on a custodial cryptocurrency exchange could potentially lose their funds as unsecured creditors. Coinbase, however, is regulated in the UK by the UK Financial Conduct Authority because such blockchain financial transactions are subject to regulatory approval/control, although the specific form of account/wallet holder validation is not known. Contrastingly, non-fungible tokens “NFTs” are unique digital assets addressing certifiable things, for example, photographs, music, videos, and trading cards. Consequently, NFTs are not mutually interchangeable/fungible since each NFT is in itself unique. NFTs are managed in a digital ledger and traded on the web. For instance, rather than buying a genuine photo to show on a divider, the purchaser gets a unique digital file. Nearly any digital asset, for example, a piece of collectible advanced characters, virtual land, or unique online media posts, can be made and bought as an NFT. NFTs are joined to explicit qualities with certificates of authenticity, which means that the digital assets cannot be traded or supplanted with each other because each NFT exists on a decentralized digital platform. Ethereum is a decentralized glo