The idea of digitizing the trade of securities is nothing new, but facilitating the transition with blockchain technology certainly is. As early as 2004 companies like ITG Software Solutions, which was recently bought by Virtu Financial, have looked to use computation to increase the efficiency and lower the operation cost of trading securities. Notably, many of these early ideas focused around building networks to facilitate the trade of securities through advertisement or the matching of lending and borrowing orders, but did not contemplate the cryptographic tokenization of assets, or the use of a blockchain.
Looking at the radian, there is a steady, albeit weak, stream of patents and applications for systems of aggregating market information or matching sales with bids through 2016. In 2017, Fidelity came roaring into the space with 9 patent applications for its "SOCOACT" trading system which allowed for the trade of crypto assets, facilitated by a blockchain. Fidelity's "SOCOACT" system was not only a marked shift in how the trade of securities were being brought into the digital age, but it also coincided with the beginning of blockchain development for financial institutions in earnest.
After 2017 nearly every patent and application contemplates the use of a blockchain as its recordkeeping system of choice, even when the focus of the idea is not the development of a blockchain. See Wilkins; Sheng; Moy. At the same time, the development of blockchain technology has exploded, seeing the greatest number of patents and publications in the sector since 2018. Investment in blockchain technology is not slowing down either. Whereas earlier patents and applications were done by single inventors or smaller companies, recent patents and applications have big names attatched. Besides Fidelity, IBM, Goldman Sachs, and CME Group have also moved into the space, putting out their own ideas on developing blockchain for the finance industry. Blockchain is the engine driving the tokenization of securities, and it does not look to be running out of fuel any time soon with all major investments revolving around it.
