US based JPMorgan Chase has filed a patent for an online payment system that uses ‘virtual currency’, resembling the online currency Bitcoin.
According to the patent filing, the proposed payment system would let consumers make online payments ‘completely anonymously’, without revealing their name or account numbers or pay a fee.
The US based financial services firm said that while new internet payment mechanisms have been rapidly emerging, consumers and merchants have been happily conducting a growing volume of commerce using basic credit card functionality.
"None of the emerging efforts to date have gotten more than a toehold in the market place and momentum continues to build in favour of credit cards," it added.
The proposed system would also maintain an open record of transactions made via the technology, similar to Bitcoin’s use of ‘blockchain’.
JP Morgan’s patent application comes in wake of China’s efforts to ban its banks from carrying out Bitcoins transactions.
Last month, the value of the virtual currency surpassed the $1,000 (£613) mark, roughly quadrupling in three weeks and for the first time since its launch in four years ago.
