It’s official: Meta (formerly Facebook) enters the Crypto Open Patent Alliance.
This was reported by the same CEO and co-founder of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, with a post on his official Facebook profile.
Meta in the Crypto Open Patent Alliance
Zuckerberg says that the metaverse should be more interoperable and open than any previous computing platform, and that’s why Meta has decided to proudly join the Crypto Open Patent Alliance.
In fact, the goal is to make their crypto patents available to anyone who wants to use them, “so we can all build this future together”.
What is the Crypto Open Patent Alliance
The Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) is a non-profit community, formed by both individuals and companies, that aims to encourage the adoption and advancement of cryptocurrency-related technologies, and in particular to remove the barrier to growth and innovation constituted by patents.
In fact, crypto technologies are believed to be based on collaborative efforts of the entire global developer community, and its success is believed to be the direct result of this community “coming together to build and develop upon existing technologies for the benefit of all”.
The point is that hundreds of patents have already been filed on crypto technologies, and new ones continue to be filed in large numbers. This can lead to stifling innovation and adoption of these technologies, threatening their growth.
COPA, on the other hand, provides an open patent model, as anyone can join and benefit from it, regardless of whether they have patents or not.
Meta’s turning point
It’s very curious that a company like Facebook/Meta, which in the past has been very distant from the open source philosophy, this time decided instead to join this initiative regarding its engagement in the crypto and blockchain sector. This is probably a real turning point, perhaps dictated by the fact that the metaverse it is working on is unlikely to be a closed world, as Facebook is and has always been.
Zuckerberg once wanted to bring the whole web within Facebook, so as to force users to remain closed within its platform, but now he agrees to make their patents available to anyone.
It is worth noting that in addition to Meta, other well-known crypto companies such as BitPay, Blockstream, Coinbase, Kraken, MicroStrategy, Block (former Square) and Uniswap are also part of COPA, so with this step, it is possible to say without a shadow of a doubt that Meta has entered the crypto sector, as did Alphabet/Google a few days ago.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/02/01/meta-entra-crypto-open-patent-alliance/