Chinese tech giants Tencent, Alibaba filed for the most blockchain patents last year

Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba filed the most blockchain patent applications in 2019, according to research conducted by The Block’s Steven Zheng.

Tencent and its affiliates filed for 718 blockchain patents out of a total of over 5,800, while Alibaba Group filed 470. Together, they accounted for over 20% of the total.


Tencent and Alibaba were followed by WeBank, Ruize Technology, and Ant Financial, in that particular order - and all these three companies are also based in China.

Overall, about 63% of firms with over 20 blockchain patent filings are based in China. The U.S. follows next. It is worth noting that while 2019 saw over 5,800 patent applications, only 3% of them were granted in the same year.

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Update: The data used to determine the number of patent applications is based on Google Patent filters deduplicated for “Family” patents

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.