# US 10,504,178 B2 · System for physically delivering virtual currencies > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,504,178 B2 - Document ID: US10504178B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/932,374 - Filed: 2015-11-04 - Published: 2017-05-04 - Granted: 2019-12-10 - Earliest claimed: 2015-11-04 - Assignees: Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. - Applicants: Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. - Inventors: Ryan Pierce; Sandra Ro; Mansoor Ahmed - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10504178B2 ## CPC - G06Q 40/04: Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract Systems and methods are disclosed for settling futures contracts that are based on virtual currencies. A clearing counter-party operates a clearing counter-party computer that may oversee physical delivery of virtual currency between a buyer and seller. The clearing counter-party computer does not take possession of the virtual currency and monitors a publically viewable ledger to confirm that transactions have taken place. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system that reduces risk and permits a clearing counter-party computer to ensure delivery without taking actual possession of virtual currency transacted via a publicly viewable electronic ledger, comprising: a buyer computer corresponding to a buyer of a virtual currency futures contract; a seller computer corresponding to a seller of a virtual currency futures contract; the clearing counter-party computer separate from the buyer and seller computers and from the publicly viewable electronic ledger and containing a computer-readable medium that contains computer-executable instructions that cause the clearing counter-party computer to perform the steps comprising: (a) determine when at least one futures contract that calls for the physical delivery of a virtual currency expires; (b) when the at least one futures contract expires, pair off buyers and sellers for delivery purposes; (c) receive a virtual currency address from the buyer computer; (d) transmit transfer instructions to the seller computer to transfer the virtual currency to be physically delivered to the received virtual currency address via the publicly viewable electronic ledger; and (e) accessing the publicly viewable electronic ledger to confirm that the seller transferred the virtual currency to be physically delivered to the buyer. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further including a secure channel for exchanging the address information from the buyer computer to the clearing counter-party computer. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, wherein the secure channel comprises an encrypted channel. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further including a secure channel for sending the transfer instructions to the seller computer. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The system of claim 4, wherein the secure channel comprises an encrypted channel. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual currency address comprises at least one wallet address. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the transfer instructions include a unique identification code that corresponds to the virtual currency address, and wherein the accessing the publicly viewable electronic ledger is to confirm that the seller directly transferred the virtual currency to the buyer. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further including one or more ledger computer(s) that store the publicly viewable electronic ledger. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual currency comprises Bitcoin. ### Claim 10 A system comprising: a buyer computer corresponding to a buyer of a virtual currency futures contract; multiple seller computers each corresponding to a seller of a virtual currency futures contract; a clearing counter-party computer separate from the buyer and seller computers and from a publicly viewable electronic ledger via which the virtual currency is transacted and containing a computer-readable medium that contains computer-executable instructions that cause the clearing counter-party computer to perform the steps comprising: (a) determine when at least one futures contract that calls for the physical delivery of a virtual currency expires; (b) when the at least one futures contract expires, pair off a buyer with multiple sellers for delivery purposes; (c) receive from the buyer computer a unique virtual currency address for use by each of the multiple seller computers; (d) transmit to each of the multiple seller computers transfer instructions that include one of the unique virtual currency addresses to transfer the virtual currency to be physically delivered to the received virtual currency address via the publicly viewable electronic ledger; and (e) accessing the publicly viewable electronic ledger to confirm that each of the sellers transferred the virtual currency to be physically delivered to the buyer. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, further including a secure channel for exchanging the address information from the buyer computer to the clearing counter-party computer. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the secure channel comprises an encrypted channel. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, further including a secure channel for sending the transfer instructions to the multiple seller computers. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein the secure channel comprises an encrypted channel. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the virtual currency address comprises at least one wallet address. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the transfer instructions include a unique identification code that corresponds to the virtual currency address, and wherein the accessing the publicly viewable electronic ledger is to confirm that each of the sellers directly transferred the virtual currency to the buyer. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, further including a ledger computer that stores the publicly viewable electronic ledger. ### Claim 18 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the virtual currency comprises Bitcoin. ### Claim 19 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the clearing counter-party computer contains a computer-readable medium that contains computer-executable instructions that cause the clearing counter-party computer to assign unique transaction identifiers to the multiple seller computers. ### Claim 20 A computer implemented method comprising: (a) determining, by a clearing counter-party computer separate from a publicly viewable electronic ledger via which a virtual currency is transacted, when at least one futures contract that calls for the physical delivery of the virtual currency expires; (b) when the at least one futures contract expires, pairing off buyers and sellers for delivery purposes; (c) receiving from a buyer computer, separate from the clearing counter-party computer, corresponding to a buyer of a virtual currency futures contract a virtual currency address; (d) transmitting to a seller computer, separate from the clearing counter-party computer, corresponding to a seller of a virtual currency futures contract transfer instructions to transfer the virtual currency to be physically delivered to the received virtual currency address via the publicly viewable electronic ledger; and (e) accessing, by a clearing counter-party computer, a the publicly viewable electronic ledger to confirm that the seller transferred virtual currency to be physically delivered to the buyer. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The computer implemented method of claim 20, wherein (c) and (d) include receiving the virtual currency address and transmitting the transfer instructions via at least one secure channel. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein the secure channel comprises an encrypted channel. ### Claim 23 (depends on 20) The computer implemented method of claim 20, wherein the virtual currency address comprises a wallet address. ### Claim 24 (depends on 20) The computer implemented method of claim 20, wherein the transfer instructions include a unique identification code that corresponds to the virtual currency address, and wherein the accessing the publicly viewable electronic ledger is to confirm that the seller directly transferred the virtual currency to the buyer. ### Claim 25 (depends on 20) The computer implemented method of claim 20, wherein the virtual currency comprises Bitcoin.