It’s not NBA Top Shot, Beeple or a tweet, but IBM is about to turn patents into NFTs

It’s not NBA Top Shot, Beeple or a tweet, but IBM is about to turn patents into NFTs

If there's a way to take the fun out of the craze in non-fungible tokens, IBM may have just found it: patents. But that doesn't mean news from the tech stalwart about using the blockchain to support NFTs for corporate patents isn't an important development in the digitization of just about everything.Intellectual property specialist IPwe, which has been working with IBM for years on a blockchain solution for the patent industry, announced on Tuesday that it will begin representing patents as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or digital assets, in a deal announced in conjunction with IBM.IBM's blockchain group already works with corporate clients on tech efforts like tracking food supply chains using the blockchain. Now, it will provide the infrastructure for representing valuable patents as NFTs, and storing the information on a blockchain network. "The tokenization of intellectual property (IP) will help position patents to be more easily sold, traded, commercialized or otherwise monetized and bring new liquidity to this asset class for investors and innovators," the companies said in a joint release.The companies said the NFTs will be stored and shared on the IPwe Platform, hosted on IBM Cloud and powered by IBM Blockchain.

Taking enterprise IP to the blockchain

For IPwe, founded by Erich