Patents, in the popular imagination, conjure up images of geniuses, scientific marvels, and inevitably, the word “innovation.” And so it was this week when Circle announced it had purchased nearly 1,000 patents from fading tech giant IBM. The stablecoin firm hailed IBM as a “pioneer in technological innovation” and claimed its new bag of IP would “advance the infrastructure that powers global, internet-native finance.” Is that so?
While the market seemed to like Circle’s move, sending the company’s stock up 2%, it’s hard to see what the purchase has to do with innovation, or how it will benefit the blockchain sector more broadly. Most obviously, if IBM is so innovative, why have its own blockchain efforts proven a bust, and why is its broader business strategy in tatters?
This is a company that, addicted to the revenue from its mainframe business, largely missed both the cloud and AI revolution, and that most people associate with the past rather than the future. On the blockchain front, IBM did make a small ripple almost a decade ago with projects to develop a version of Ethereum for the corporate world. But as with many of its recent endeavors, the company’s leadership appeared to prioritize marketing over execution.
