USPTO Grants Patent for Duplicating Smart Contracts with Termination Condition

ChangeBridge: Patent Grants - Business Methods (G06Q)

Published March 24th, 2026

Detected March 25th, 2026

Summary

The USPTO has granted patent US12586067B2 to NCHAIN LICENSING AG for a method of duplicating smart contracts with a termination condition on distributed ledger technologies. The patent describes computer-implemented methods for locking and unlocking blockchain transactions.

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What changed

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted patent US12586067B2, titled "Duplicating smart contracts with termination condition," to NCHAIN LICENSING AG. This patent covers computer-implemented methods for locking and unlocking blockchain transactions within distributed ledger technologies, specifically focusing on verifying transactions based on constraints and providing data within the transaction fields.

This patent grant is primarily an intellectual property development and does not impose new regulatory obligations on businesses. However, companies operating in the blockchain and smart contract space, particularly those developing or utilizing distributed ledger technologies, should be aware of this granted patent. It may impact future innovation and development in this area, potentially requiring licensing or design-around strategies for similar functionalities.

Source document (simplified)

← USPTO Patent Grants

Duplicating smart contracts with termination condition

Grant US12586067B2 Kind: B2 Mar 24, 2026

Assignee

NCHAIN LICENSING AG

Inventors

Ying Chan, Dean Kramer

Abstract

The invention relates to distributed ledger technologies such as consensus-based blockchains. Computer-implemented methods for locking and unlocking blockchain transactions are described. The invention is implemented using a blockchain network. A first unlocking script of the unlocking blockchain transaction is configured to unlock a first locking script, wherein the first locking script is configured, when executed together with the first unlocking script, to determine, based on the first locking script and a constraint for verifying the unlocking blockchain transaction. Verifying the unlocking blockchain transaction is based on a set of constraints and corresponding field of the unlocking blockchain transaction, wherein data is based on the set of constraints. Providing data at the corresponding field of the unlocking blockchain transaction. Finally, making the unlocking blockchain transaction available to one or more nodes of a blockchain network.