U.S. patent application number 17/246996 was filed with the patent office on 2021-08-26 for systems and methods of implementing blockchain technology for substantiating electronic assets.
The applicant listed for this patent is Private Limited Liability Company CPN Gold B.V.. Invention is credited to Vladimir Nikolayevich Frolov, Damir Nasibullovich Gaynanov, Aleksey Petrovich Romanchuk, Anatoliy Anatolievich Vatolin.
Application Number | 20210264387 17/246996 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005555292 |
Filed Date | 2021-08-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20210264387 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Frolov; Vladimir Nikolayevich ;
et al. |
August 26, 2021 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF IMPLEMENTING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY FOR
SUBSTANTIATING ELECTRONIC ASSETS
Abstract
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for substantiating
electronic assets managed by a blockchain network. In an exemplary
aspect, a method comprises creating two nodes communicatively
linked in a blockchain network, wherein at least one of the two
nodes generates a block, linked to a genesis block of a blockchain,
that generates a maximum possible amount of electronic assets that
a memory cell of the at least one of the two nodes is capable to
store. The method comprises ceasing further generation of the
electronic assets by terminating the two nodes, wherein termination
deletes keys used to generate the electronic assets. The method
comprises transferring a substantiated portion of the electronic
assets from a pre-issuance storage device to an issuance storage
device and tracking on the blockchain, via a settlement blockchain
network, orders made by the client devices in relation to the
substantiated portion of the electronic assets.
Inventors: |
Frolov; Vladimir Nikolayevich;
(Ekaterinburg, RU) ; Gaynanov; Damir Nasibullovich;
(Krasnogorsk, RU) ; Romanchuk; Aleksey Petrovich;
(Yekaterinburg, RU) ; Vatolin; Anatoliy Anatolievich;
(Yekaterinburg, RU) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Private Limited Liability Company CPN Gold B.V. |
Amsterdam |
|
NL |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000005555292 |
Appl. No.: |
17/246996 |
Filed: |
May 3, 2021 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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15633734 |
Jun 26, 2017 |
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17246996 |
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62355426 |
Jun 28, 2016 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 20/36 20130101;
G06Q 20/0655 20130101; G06Q 20/363 20130101; G06Q 20/3678 20130101;
G06Q 20/02 20130101; G06Q 2220/00 20130101; G06Q 40/04 20130101;
G06Q 20/065 20130101; G06Q 20/381 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 20/06 20060101
G06Q020/06; G06Q 20/02 20060101 G06Q020/02; G06Q 20/36 20060101
G06Q020/36; G06Q 20/38 20060101 G06Q020/38; G06Q 40/04 20060101
G06Q040/04 |
Claims
1. A method for substantiating electronic assets managed by a
blockchain network, the method comprising: generating a genesis
block in a blockchain; creating two nodes communicatively linked in
a blockchain network, wherein at least one of the two nodes
generates a block, linked to the genesis block, that generates a
maximum possible amount of electronic assets that a memory cell of
the at least one of the two nodes is capable to store; transferring
all of the generated electronic assets to a pre-issuance storage
device; copying the blockchain into a settlement blockchain network
that operates in at least one data center; ceasing further
generation of the electronic assets by terminating the two nodes,
wherein termination deletes keys used to generate the electronic
assets; identifying a portion of the electronic assets that is
substantiated by tangible assets contained in a reserve;
transferring the substantiated portion of the electronic assets
from the pre-issuance storage device to an issuance storage device,
wherein the substantiated portion of the electronic assets in the
issuance storage device is accessible to client devices for
ordering; tracking on the blockchain, via the settlement blockchain
network, orders made by the client devices in relation to the
substantiated portion of the electronic assets; and in response to
detecting an order that exceeds the substantiated portion of the
electronic assets in the issuance storage device: suspending
execution of the detected order; and when additional tangible
assets are added to the reserve, transferring additional electronic
assets to the issuance storage device to enable the order.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking on the
blockchain, via the settlement blockchain network orders made by
the client devices, whether the reserve fully substantiates the
electronic assets in the settlement blockchain network in relation
to a need for an increase or decrease of the reserve with the
tangible assets.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein a hashing calculation that
optimizes a speed of executing transactions and that minimizes
calculating capacity is selected for use by the two nodes and/or
the settlement blockchain network.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the blockchain is a private
blockchain.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic assets are
generated using a proof-of-work algorithm.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the settlement blockchain network
comprises a geographically distributed network, that operates in at
least two communicatively linked nodes, placed in different data
centers, wherein all nodes operating in the settlement blockchain
network are controlled by a single maintenance center.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the settlement blockchain network
is configured such that at least two nodes are available to
facilitate orders of the electronic assets at all times.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein an amount of the substantiated
portion of the electronic assets transferred from the pre-issuance
storage device to the issuance storage device is equal to or less
than an amount of the tangible assets.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the settlement blockchain network
is configured to allow transfer of the electronic assets between
one or more client devices by the settlement blockchain network in
a unit that corresponds to a value of a tangible asset.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising handling the orders
made by the client devices by: transferring a portion of the
substantiated portion of the electronic assets from the issuance
storage device to a client device in response to receiving a
payment from the client device.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising handling the orders
made by the client devices by: transferring, from a client device,
a portion of the substantiated electronic assets to the issuance
storage device and in response transferring a payment to the client
device.
12. A system for substantiating electronic assets managed by a
blockchain network, the system comprising a hardware processor
configured to: generate a genesis block in a blockchain; create two
nodes communicatively linked in a blockchain network, wherein at
least one of the two nodes generates a block, linked to the genesis
block, that generates a maximum possible amount of electronic
assets that a memory cell of the at least one of the two nodes is
capable to store; transfer all of the generated electronic assets
to a pre-issuance storage device; copying the blockchain into a
settlement blockchain network that operates in at least one data
center; cease further generation of the electronic assets by
terminating the two nodes, wherein termination deletes keys used to
generate the electronic assets; identify a portion of the
electronic assets that is substantiated by tangible assets
contained in a reserve; transfer the substantiated portion of the
electronic assets from the pre-issuance storage device to an
issuance storage device, wherein the substantiated portion of the
electronic assets in the issuance storage device is accessible to
client devices for ordering; track on the blockchain, via the
settlement blockchain network, orders made by the client devices in
relation to the substantiated portion of the electronic assets; and
in response to detecting an order that exceeds the substantiated
portion of the electronic assets in the issuance storage device:
suspend execution of the detected order; and when additional
tangible assets are added to the reserve, transfer additional
electronic assets to the issuance storage device to enable the
order.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the hardware processor is
configured to track on the blockchain, via the settlement
blockchain network orders made by the client devices, whether the
reserve fully substantiates the electronic assets in the settlement
blockchain network in relation to a need for an increase or
decrease of the reserve with the tangible assets.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein a hashing calculation that
optimizes a speed of executing transactions and that minimizes
calculating capacity is selected for use by the two nodes and/or
the settlement blockchain network.
15. The system of claim 12, wherein the blockchain is a private
blockchain.
16. The system of claim 12, wherein the electronic assets are
generated using a proof-of-work algorithm.
17. The system of claim 12, wherein the settlement blockchain
network comprises a geographically distributed network, that
operates in at least two communicatively linked nodes, placed in
different data centers, wherein all nodes operating in the
settlement blockchain network are controlled by a single
maintenance center.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the settlement blockchain
network is configured such that at least two nodes are available to
facilitate orders of the electronic assets at all times.
19. The system of claim 12, wherein an amount of the substantiated
portion of the electronic assets transferred from the pre-issuance
storage device to the issuance storage device is equal to or less
than an amount of the tangible assets.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing
computer-executable instructions for substantiating electronic
assets managed by a blockchain network, by an issuance center
executable by a computer processor, including instructions for:
generating a genesis block in a blockchain; creating two nodes
communicatively linked in a blockchain network, wherein at least
one of the two nodes generates a block, linked to the genesis
block, that generates a maximum possible amount of electronic
assets that a memory cell of the at least one of the two nodes is
capable to store; transferring all of the generated electronic
assets to a pre-issuance storage device; copying the blockchain
into a settlement blockchain network that operates in at least one
data center; ceasing further generation of the electronic assets by
terminating the two nodes, wherein termination deletes keys used to
generate the electronic assets; identifying a portion of the
electronic assets that is substantiated by tangible assets
contained in a reserve; transferring the substantiated portion of
the electronic assets from the pre-issuance storage device to an
issuance storage device, wherein the substantiated portion of the
electronic assets in the issuance storage device is accessible to
client devices for ordering; tracking on the blockchain, via the
settlement blockchain network, orders made by the client devices in
relation to the substantiated portion of the electronic assets; and
in response to detecting an order that exceeds the substantiated
portion of the electronic assets in the issuance storage device:
suspending execution of the detected order; and when additional
tangible assets are added to the reserve, transferring additional
electronic assets to the issuance storage device to enable the
order.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This patent application is a continuation of U.S.
Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 15/633,734 and claims
priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/355,426,
filed on Jun. 28, 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference
in its entirety.
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
[0002] The present invention generally relates to blockchain
systems and, in particular, to systems and methods for implementing
a blockchain system for substantiating electronic assets, as well
as to methods for maintaining sufficiency of a reserve of assets
that substantiates an electronic assets.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Nowadays, the so-called "idea of private money" which is
embodied through a phenomenon of electronic currency (in
particular, cryptocurrency) exchange becomes increasingly popular.
Circulating in the USA and multiple other countries, Bitcoin
cryptocurrency and other similar cryptocurrencies began a new era
in economics. The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and
skyrocketing of development of technical solutions related to them
are explained, primarily, by the following advantages of those
cryptocurrencies: [0004] 1) ensuring a high level of safety of
funds and control over expenditures of those, [0005] 2) ensuring
safety of transactions, [0006] 3) impossibility of unauthorized
withdrawals of funds, [0007] 4) relatively fast and low-cost way to
transfer value achieved due to bypassing intermediaries and the
costs and delays associated with using them, especially compared to
traditional value transfer mechanisms, such as credit and debit
cards, checks, and bank transfers (wire, ACH, SEPA, etc.). Except
for direct (hand-to-hand) money transfers, transfers of fiat
currency and other assets require validation, accounting, and/or
processing by two or more financial institutions.
[0008] At the same time, current methods and systems for
implementing cryptocurrencies suffer from a number of
disadvantages, including but not limited to: [0009] 1)
Cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology guarantee anonymity
of parties to transactions, frequently triggering inquiries by
financial or tax regulatory authorities of countries. [0010] 2)
Issuance of cryptocurrencies is decentralized and thus as a rule is
not subject to regulation. [0011] 3) Cryptocurrencies are highly
volatile compared to other stores of value because, unlike other
assets, cryptocurrency has no underlying value, be it a
relationship to a nation's economy (fiat currency), an earnings
stream (stocks and bonds), or value to end consumers
(commodities).
[0012] Currently, the advantages of cryptocurrency are
significantly overshadowed by its volatility. The volatility
problem may possibly lead to expenditures eventually exceeding
banking fees when transferring funds in cryptocurrencies is carried
out. Sellers accepting payments in cryptocurrency may, as a result
of unpredictable and quick fluctuations of its rate, lose funds of
a value exceeding the fees charged by the companies emitting and
servicing credit cards in official currencies. Because of that,
cryptocurrencies are not so widely used as a means of payment in
relation to real products and services (foods, transport, clothing,
etc.) or other property. The problem of volatility characteristic
of cryptocurrencies has not yet been properly solved, and there is
a necessity in developing systems and methods aimed at magnifying
the positive effect of using cryptocurrencies in economy and trade
before cryptocurrencies become operated in mass market between
buyers, sellers and banks.
[0013] As noted above, the high volatility of cryptocurrencies is a
consequence of their not being backed (substantiated) by a real
valuable. However, this disadvantage is to a certain extent
characteristic of not solely cryptocurrencies, but also state
currencies including world reserve currencies which have by now
strayed from a "gold standard".
[0014] The problem of lacking substantiation of currencies is
considered particularly serious during economic instability periods
and may lead to economic crises during which significant population
groups suffer involuntary losses in the form of profit lost due to
a fall in the national currency exchange rate. Historically, gold
was used as a means of substantiating currencies during a long
period of time. Nowadays it is commonly thought that gold-backing
has had its day due to the Copernicus-Gresham's law.
[0015] The classical problem stated in the Copernicus-Gresham's law
became an invincible obstacle in historical attempts to introduce a
gold standard as currency substantiation. About 500 years ago, a
Polish astronomer, economist and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus
and an English financier Thomas Gresham formulated an economic law:
"When a government overvalues one type of money and undervalues
another, the undervalued money will leave the country or disappear
from circulation into hoards, while the overvalued money will flood
into circulation." The "undervalued" money is such whose "inner"
value exceeds its nominal one or one of the circulating
"overvalued" money of an equal nominal value.
[0016] For example, some country introduces a gold standard
("undervalued" money). Let us take China with gold yuan equal to 1
g of gold as an example. For instance, there are 100 t of gold
backing of this money. The issuance is limited by the gold stock
amount the amount of issued yuan is equivalent to the amount of
grams in 100 t.
[0017] In the market, there also is non-backed fiat ("overvalued")
money. Its issuance is not anyhow limited. In such event, the
states issuing fiat ("overvalued") money carry out a special
issuance for buying out gold yuan, buy it out and afterwards
present it to the issuer, thus acquiring the whole gold reserve of
100 tons. Thus the "undervalued" gold-backed (substantiated) money
leaves the country or disappears from circulation into hoards,
while the "overvalued" fiat money floods into circulation." The
"overvalued" money buys out the "undervalued" money.
[0018] That is, a gold-backed (substantiated) currency may be
bought out for non-backed (fiat) currencies because the latter do
not have limits on issuance.
[0019] The experience of the Genoa and Bretton Woods currency
systems is considered an argument for failure of gold-backed
currencies. They were destroyed by shortage of gold which became
insufficient for substantiating currencies used for international
settlements.
[0020] With a view to this, it is common to state that limitedness
of gold leads to impossibility of creating a global gold-backed
currency for international finances whose circulation grows faster
than the gold mining industry of the planet.
[0021] An alternative to gold-backing was described by James Turk.
In his U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,983,207; 7,143,062 and others, there is
described a system where gold itself plays a role of a currency,
i.e. gold remaining a commodity and an asset is used as a payment
means at the same time. However, the system described by Turk
suffers from several substantial disadvantages, including: (1) An
ability of withdrawing physical gold from the system may cause a
collapse of the system in event of a boost of demand for gold; (2)
Restrictions on gold circulation set by states' governments may
complicate carrying out operations in the system; and (3) Remaining
a commodity, gold, as part of deals, is subject to taxation, which
causes circulation-related expenditures upon purchasing and selling
gold. In short, the "currency" offered by Turk is not, in fact, a
currency.
[0022] Systems for reducing risks related to volatility of
cryptocurrencies are considered in U.S. Patent Application
Publication. No. 2015/0332256, filed by Halsey Minor. Minor
describes a multi-currency system of payments and conversion.
However, this system does not regulate aspects of cryptocurrency
issuance, and does not therefore solve the problem of absence of
their backing (substantiation). This is a fight with the
consequence and not with the reason of the volatility problem.
Furthermore, Minor's system has at least one serious disadvantage:
users have to carry out a great number of transactions, continually
converting different types of currencies into one another in order
to, on one hand, use cryptocurrencies and their advantages and on
the other, avoid the currency risks related thereto. At the same
time, they still face such risks, although to a lesser extent.
[0023] As a result, there exists a need in the art for new methods
and systems that solve the problem of cryptocurrencies' volatility,
as well as the deficiencies identified above.
SUMMARY
[0024] The present invention provides systems and methods for
generation and issuance of a fully functional electronic currency
free from many of the disadvantages characteristic of existing
cryptocurrencies. Excessive volatility is overcome with the help of
an effective mechanism of provision, close to a "gold standard".
Volatility lowers to a level of volatility of gold (or another type
of valuable asset, for example, a commodity or an intangible asset
chosen as backing (substantiation)).
[0025] The present invention illustrates that substantiated
currencies whose issuance mechanism is not connected to creating
debt, may (despite common myths), be operable and develop not
facing a problem of shortage of gold-backing.
[0026] In selected aspects, the invention provides a stable
low-volatile electronic currency. This is not a commodity but an
obligation as well as a fiat currency. However, at the same time,
it is 100% substantiated by (or linked to) a real valuable (asset)
and not a subject to any risk.
[0027] In addition, selected aspects of the invention solve the
problem of protecting issue of substantiated ("undervalued") money
from being bought out for fiat ("overvalued") money, via creating
not a fixed-amount substantiating reserve of valuables (for
example, a gold reserve) but one of amount changing depending on
the demand for the substantiated money (in the form of the offered
cryptocurrency). According to these aspects, in the event of a
purchase of electronic currency for fiat currency in the system,
there happens a purchase of substantiating valuables (for example,
gold) and thus the system's gold reserve grows. In the event of
withdrawal of money from the system by selling electronic currency,
the client specifies the amount thereof corresponding to a certain
amount of the substantiating valuable (in particular, gold), the
specified amount of that valuable is withdrawn from the reserve and
sold at the market price, and the client receives fiat currency at
its rate at the moment of selling.
[0028] In the disclosed system, which is linked to gold, there is
no emerging problem of gold shortage because the amount of
substantiating gold stock changes in strict compliance with
clients' orders for purchasing and selling currency. Almost
instantaneous speed of carrying out transactions, achieved as well
with help of an innovative reserving mechanism based on application
of a certain mathematical model, allows to substantially lower the
necessity in turnover gold.
[0029] Technical and organizational solutions used in Copernicus
Gold, the project embodying this disclosure, ensure high
circulation speed, safety, low cost and integration with existing
financial institutions.
[0030] In the future, among the system's users one may see not only
individuals and legal entities but state institutions of the
countries interested in a stable alternative to the financial
system existing nowadays.
[0031] The disclosed system for issuance and circulation of
electronic currency has the potential of resurrecting the "gold
standard" in international settlements.
[0032] In some exemplary aspects of the disclosure, a
computer-based payment system for carrying out electronic
settlements using electronic currency substantiated by a reserve of
assets comprises a management module, executable by a computer
processor, configured to create and manage one or more wallets of
electronic currency for a system operator and a plurality of
clients, execute electronic currency payment transactions by
transferring electronic currency between one or more wallets of the
system operator and/or a plurality of clients and recording
information about the executed transactions in a private
blockchain-based settlement network, manage information about the
reserve of assets substantiating the electronic currency and
control in real-time purchase or sale of assets on an external
market in an amount required to fully substantiate the issued
electronic currency at each moment of time; and an issuance center,
executable by a computer processor, configured to receive in
real-time information from the management module concerning an
amount of the reserve of assets substantiating the electronic
currency, perform centralized generation and controlled issuance of
the electronic currency into circulation, wherein the generation of
all the electronic currency is performed in a single block by
creating this block in a blockchain using a mining operation that
generates a maximum possible amount of the electronic currency, and
wherein the generated electronic currency is issued into
circulation in an amount equal to or less than the amount of the
reserve of assets substantiating it, when the amount of the reserve
of assets reaches a threshold amount, calculate, by the computer
processor, in real-time, an amount of assets to be sold or
purchased on the external market in order to fully substantiate the
issued electronic currency based on a set of mathematical functions
that account for distributions of moments of time of receiving from
the clients orders for purchasing or selling of electronic currency
using a fiat currency and size of the received orders, and transmit
to the management module an order to purchase or sell the
calculated amount of assets, on the external market, to maintain a
sufficient amount of reserve to fully substantiate the electronic
currency at each moment of time.
[0033] In one exemplary aspect, the electronic currency is a
cryptocurrency.
[0034] In one exemplary aspect a unit of counting the electronic
currency is accepted as equivalent to an amount of gold.
[0035] In one exemplary aspect the management module of the payment
system is further configured to connect to at least one secure
vault for storing some or all of the gold reserve.
[0036] In one exemplary aspect the management module is further
configured to connect to at least one broker that carries out
operations of purchasing or selling of gold on the external
market.
[0037] In one exemplary aspect, a set of mathematical functions
applied within the system's work accounts for the distributions of
moments of time are defined by Poisson streams and are combined
into a single Poisson stream in which the order type is defined
randomly, and the size of the orders for the purchase or sale of
the electronic currency is defined by a logarithmically normal
distribution, such that a positive amount value is assigned to
orders for selling electronic currency and a negative amount value
for orders for purchasing electronic currency.
[0038] In some exemplary aspects, a computer-implemented method for
generation and issuance of a blockchain-based electronic currency
in a payment system of its circulation comprises generating the
electronic currency, by a computer of an issuance center, by
creating a first block in a blockchain using a mining operation
that generates a maximum possible amount of the electronic currency
for the system; creating a pre-issuance wallet by the computer of
the issuance center; transferring, by the computer of the issuance
center, all of the generated electronic currency to the
pre-issuance wallet; copying, by the computer of the issuance
center, the blockchain into a settlement network, that operates in
at least one data center; creating, by the computer of the issuance
center, an issuance wallet within the issuance center; checking, by
the computer of the issuance center, whether at least a portion of
the generated electronic currency is substantiated by tangible or
intangible assets contained in a reserve of an operator of the
system; performing, by the computer of the issuance center, primary
issuance of a substantiated portion of electronic currency by
transferring a portion of the generated electronic currency, from
the pre-issuance wallet to the issuance wallet within the issuance
center, wherein the amount of the transferred portion of the
electronic currency corresponds to the amount of the tangible or
intangible assets contained in the reserve; making the issued
electronic currency available for purchase by the clients of the
system and further circulation; and in response to a payment from a
client, transferring a portion of the electronic currency from the
issuance wallet of the operator to a client wallet, wherein the
issuance wallet and the respective client wallet are
communicatively linked by the settlement network.
[0039] In one exemplary aspect, the method uses a private
blockchain.
[0040] In one exemplary aspect, the electronic currency is
generated by the issuance center using a proof-of-work
algorithm.
[0041] In one exemplary aspect, concerning the method for
generation and issuance of a blockchain-based electronic currency,
the settlement network comprises a geographically distributed
network, that operates in at least two communicatively linked
nodes, placed in different data centers, wherein all the nodes
operating the settlement network are controlled by the operator of
the system.
[0042] In one exemplary aspect, the settlement network is
configured such that at least two nodes are available to facilitate
transactions with the electronic currency at all times.
[0043] In one exemplary aspect, computer-based method for
maintaining a reserve of tangible or intangible assets that
substantiate an electronic currency, comprises continuously
monitoring, by a processor, a sufficiency of the reserve based on a
stream of orders for purchasing or selling the electronic currency;
when the amount of the tangible or intangible assets in the reserve
reaches a threshold amount, calculating, by the processor, an
amount of a portion of the tangible or intangible assets to be sold
at or purchased from an external market in order to fully
substantiate the electronic currency; and initiating, by the
processor, purchasing or selling of the portion of the tangible or
intangible assets in the reserve, from or to an external market, to
maintain a sufficient amount of reserve to fully substantiate the
electronic currency; wherein the amount of the tangible or
intangible assets to be sold at or purchased from the external
market at given time t, G.sub.sell*(t) and G.sub.buy*(t),
respectively, are calculated based upon the following formulas:
G.sub.buy*(t)=.alpha.G.sub.buy'(t)+(1-.alpha.) G.sub.buy''(t), and
G.sub.sell*(t)=.alpha.G.sub.sell'(t)+(1-.alpha.) G.sub.sell''(t);
where .alpha..di-elect cons.[0,1], "G.sub.buy*(t)" is the amount of
the tangible or intangible assets to be purchased from the external
market; and "G.sub.sell*(t)" is the amount of the tangible or
intangible assets to be sold at the external market.
[0044] In one exemplary aspect, the variables G.sub.buy*(t) and
G.sub.sell*(t) are rounded to a value of G.sub.buy*(t) and
G.sub.sell*(t), respectively, which are each divisible by the fixed
purchased/sold amount of the tangible or intangible asset (A).
[0045] In one exemplary aspect, prior to calculating the amount of
the tangible or intangible assets to be sold at or purchased from
the external market at given time t, G.sub.sell*(t) and
G.sub.buy*(t) respectively, the optimal parameters G.sub.min,
G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell, .alpha. are defined to satisfy
the following conditions: (i) K.sub.min=min{K:
P(K).ltoreq.P.sub.0}, (ii) Ex.sub.min=min{Ex(K.sub.min, Trend,
G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell, .alpha.)}.
[0046] In one exemplary aspect, with help of the mathematical model
of maintaining the reserve balance for the electronic currency
purchasing/selling operations of the clients of the system,
managing parameters K(M.sub.i), G.sub.min(M.sub.i),
G.sub.buy(M.sub.i), G.sub.max(M.sub.i), G.sub.sell(M.sub.i),
.alpha.(M.sub.i) are calculated for every variant M.sub.i.di-elect
cons..
[0047] In one exemplary aspect, monitoring, by a processor, a
sufficiency of the reserve includes calculating with the help of a
mathematical model the following parameters: g.sub.pir(t), g(t),
g*(t), G(t), c.sub.pir(t), c(t), for moments t=t.sub.k, (k=1, 2, .
. . ).
[0048] In one exemplary aspect, a method for maintaining a reserve
of tangible or intangible assets that substantiate an electronic
currency in a system wherein the electronic currency circulates
together with a plurality of fiat currencies, comprises:
continuously monitoring, by a processor, a sufficiency of the
reserve based on a stream of orders for purchasing or selling
electronic currency for each of the plurality of fiat currencies;
when the amount of the tangible or intangible assets in the reserve
reaches a threshold amount, calculating, by the processor, for each
of the plurality of fiat currencies an amount of a portion of the
tangible or intangible assets to be sold at or purchased from an
external market in order to fully substantiate the electronic
currency; and initiating, by the processor, purchasing or selling
of the portion of the tangible or intangible assets in the reserve,
from or to an external market, to maintain a sufficient amount of
the reserve to fully substantiate the electronic currency; wherein
an amount of capital required to carry out the purchasing or
selling of the portion of the tangible or intangible assets in the
reserve (K), is calculated based upon the following formulas:
K _ = i = 1 N .times. ( K i - ( G min i - G min _ ) ) == i = 1 N
.times. K i - i = 1 N .times. ( G min i - G min _ ) = K - i = 1 N
.times. ( G min i - ( .beta. .DELTA. + ( 1 - .beta. ) G min i ) )
== K - i = 1 N .times. .beta. .function. ( G min i - .DELTA. ) ;
##EQU00001##
[0049] In one exemplary aspect, a computer-based method for
maintaining a reserve of tangible or intangible assets that
substantiate an electronic currency in a system wherein the
electronic currency circulates together with a plurality of fiat
currencies, comprises: continuously monitoring, by a processor, a
sufficiency of the reserve based on a stream of orders for
purchasing or selling electronic currency for each of the plurality
of fiat currencies; when the amount of value of the tangible or
intangible assets in the reserve reaches a threshold amount,
calculating, by the processor, for each of the plurality of fiat
currencies an amount of a portion of the tangible or intangible
assets to be sold at or purchased from an external market in order
to fully substantiate the electronic currency; and initiating, by
the processor, purchasing or selling of the portion of the tangible
or intangible assets in the reserve, from or to an external market,
to maintain a sufficient amount of reserve to fully substantiate
the electronic currency; wherein a minimum amount of the tangible
or intangible assets in the reserve necessary to fully substantiate
the electronic currency, (G.sub.min), is calculated based upon the
following formulas:
G min _ = i = 1 N .times. G min _ = i = 1 N .times. ( .beta.
.DELTA. + ( 1 - .beta. ) G min i ) ; ##EQU00002##
and if .beta.>0 then G.sub.min<G.sub.min.
[0050] In one exemplary aspect, a computer-based method for
maintaining a reserve of tangible or intangible assets that
substantiate an electronic currency, comprises: continuously
monitoring, by a processor, a sufficiency of the reserve based on a
stream of orders for purchasing or selling the electronic currency;
when the amount of the tangible or intangible assets in the reserve
reaches a threshold amount, calculating, by the processor, an
amount of a portion of the tangible or intangible assets to be sold
at or purchased from an external market in order to fully
substantiate the electronic currency; and initiating, by the
processor, purchasing or selling of the portion of the tangible or
intangible assets in the reserve, from or to an external market, to
maintain a sufficient amount of reserve to fully substantiate the
electronic currency; wherein the amount of the tangible or
intangible assets to be sold at or purchased from the external
market at given time t, represented by G.sub.sell'(t) and
G.sub.buy'(t), respectively, are calculated based upon the
following formulas:
G.sub.buy'(t)=|.alpha.(t)|of.sub.buy(t)+G.sub.buy(t)(1-of.sub.buy(t))G.s-
ub.buy;
G.sub.sell'(t)=.alpha.(t)of.sub.sell(t)+G.sub.sell(t)(1-of.sub.sell(t))G-
.sub.sell;
[0051] In one exemplary aspect, a computer-based method for
maintaining a reserve of tangible or intangible assets that
substantiate an electronic currency, comprises: continuously
monitoring, by a processor, a sufficiency of the reserve based on a
stream of orders for purchasing or selling the electronic currency;
when the amount of the tangible or intangible assets in the reserve
reaches a threshold amount, calculating, by the processor, an
amount of a portion of the tangible or intangible assets to be sold
at or purchased from an external market in order to fully
substantiate the electronic currency; and initiating, by the
processor, purchasing or selling of the portion of the tangible or
intangible assets in the reserve, from or to an external market, to
maintain a sufficient amount of reserve to fully substantiate the
electronic currency; wherein the amount of the tangible or
intangible assets to be sold at or purchased from the external
market at given time t, represented by G.sub.sell''(t) and
G.sub.buy''(t), respectively, are calculated based upon the
following formulas:
G.sub.buy'(t)=G.sub.buy(t)(|a(t)|(1-of.sub.buy(t)g(t)-g.sub.pir(t)+G.sub-
.min+G.sub.buy)++of.sub.buy(t)|a(t)|;
and
G.sub.sell''(t)=G.sub.sell(t)(a(t)(1-of.sub.sell(t))+g(t)+g.sub.pir(t)-G-
.sub.max+G.sub.sell)++of.sub.sell(t)a(t);
[0052] In one exemplary aspect, a computer-based method for
maintaining a reserve of tangible or intangible assets that
substantiate an electronic currency, the method comprises:
continuously monitoring, by a processor, a sufficiency of the
reserve based on a stream of orders for purchasing or selling the
electronic currency; when the amount of the tangible or intangible
assets in the reserve reaches a threshold amount, calculating, by
the processor, an amount of a portion of the tangible or intangible
assets to be sold at or purchased from an external market in order
to fully substantiate the electronic currency, wherein the
calculating step is based upon a mathematical model that accounts
for distributions of moments of time of receiving orders for
purchasing or selling the electronic currency substantiated by
tangible or intangible assets and the amount of purchase or sale of
the orders; and initiating, by the processor, the purchasing or
selling of the portion of the tangible or intangible assets in the
reserve, to or from the external market, to maintain a sufficient
amount of the reserve to fully substantiate the electronic
currency.
[0053] In one exemplary aspect, the distributions of moments of
time of receiving orders for purchasing/selling the electronic
currency are defined by Poisson streams and are combined in one
where the order type is defined randomly, and the amount of the
purchase or sale of electronic currency is defined by a
logarithmically normal distribution, such that a positive amount
value is assigned to orders for selling and a negative amount value
for orders for purchasing.
[0054] In one exemplary aspect, the calculation is based upon a
mathematical model that accounts for at least a plurality of the
following parameters: a time required for purchasing or selling an
asset in the reserve in the external market for or from the
reserve; a cost of 1 unit of the asset being purchased or sold; a
fixed purchased/sold amount (FPSA) of the asset, which could be
purchased/sold in the external market, optionally accounting for a
low commission fee; a cost of storing 1 unit of the asset for a
unit of time; a rate, recalculated into a unit of time, at which
the funds could be allocated; a commission fee which the operator
for purchasing/selling a unit of the asset in the reserve is
charged with, recalculated as for purchasing/selling 1 unit of the
asset; and a commission fee which a client for the operation of
purchasing/selling the asset-linked electronic currency is charged
with by the operator, recalculated as for purchasing/selling 1 unit
of the asset.
[0055] In one exemplary aspect, the amount of tangible or
intangible assets in the reserve is increased or decreased based on
a level of demand for the substantiated electronic currency.
[0056] In one exemplary aspect, the purchasing of the portion of
the tangible assets or intangible assets is initiated upon a
purchase of the electronic currency, by a client, resulting in an
increase of the substantiating reserve; and the selling of the
portion of the tangible assets is initiated upon the selling of
said electronic currency in a quantity equivalent to value of a
certain amount of a substantiating asset, by a client, resulting in
the sale of the portion of the tangible or intangible assets at a
market price, wherein the client receives fiat currency from the
sale at the market price.
[0057] In one exemplary aspect, the method further comprises
forming free reserves by creating and maintaining reserve stocks
both in assets used as a substantiation and in at least one
traditional currency (fiat currency), stored on the operator's bank
account.
[0058] In one exemplary aspect, the amount of assets in the free
assets reserve corresponds to .DELTA.-fixed purchased/sold amount
(FPSA) of asset, which means the fixed amount of asset, which could
be purchased/sold in the external market with low commission; the
amount of fiat currency in the free fiat currency reserve
corresponds to a market cost of FPSA of asset.
[0059] In one exemplary aspect, the total value of the free
reserves is not less than a market cost of FPSA of assets.
[0060] In one exemplary aspect, a majority of current purchases and
sales of the electronic currency are carried out by the operator
using the electronic currency in the operator's wallet and at least
one fiat currency from the operator's free fiat currency
reserve.
[0061] In one exemplary aspect, if the electronic currency in the
operator's wallet and the fiat currency in the operator's free fiat
currency reserve are insufficient for carrying out an operation of
purchasing or selling electronic currency, the given operation is
transferred to an offline mode and carried out without
participation of the operator's resources, wherein the offline mode
includes the operator carrying out an operation of purchasing
electronic currency substantiation in the external market, issuing
the electronic currency for the purchased amount of substantiation,
or an operation of selling substantiation in the external market,
and the result of the operation carried out is transferred to the
wallet of the purchaser or to the wallet or bank account of the
seller of the electronic currency.
[0062] In one exemplary aspect, the operator of the reserve of
assets carries out operations of: (i) purchasing substantiation of
the electronic currency in the external market, issuing electronic
currency for the purchased amount of substantiation, transferring
that electronic currency to the operator's electronic currency
wallet; and (ii) operations of selling substantiation in the
external market and transferring a profit from the sale to the
operator's fiat currency wallet or bank account; wherein the
operations of purchasing or selling substantiation in the external
market are initiated upon reaching the threshold amounts of
substantiation of electronic currency, which are defined by a
calculation, at the same time that the amounts of purchased/sold
substantiation are defined by a calculation.
[0063] In one exemplary aspect, the amounts of purchased or sold
tangible and intangible assets are rounded to a value divisible by
a fixed purchased/sold amount of asset, and wherein the free assets
reserve is maintained at a threshold amount not less than the fixed
purchased/sold amount of asset, as measured based on a combination
of the value of the tangible or intangible assets and one or more
currency equivalents; wherein: if there is a decrease of the amount
of the tangible or intangible assets in the free assets reserve to
a level lower than the threshold amount and a purchase order for
the electronic currency is received, all purchasing operations are
transferred to the offline mode; and if there is a decrease of the
amount of the fiat currency in the free fiat currency reserve to a
level lower than the threshold amount and an order to sell the
electronic currency is received, all selling operations are
transferred to the offline mode.
[0064] The above simplified summary of exemplary aspects serves to
provide a basic understanding of the disclosure. This summary is
not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is
intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all
aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the
disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present one or more aspects in a
simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description of
the disclosure that follows. To the accomplishment of the
foregoing, the one or more aspects of the disclosure include the
features described and particularly pointed out in the claims.
Moreover, it is understood that the individual limitations of
elements of any of the disclosed methods, systems and software
products may be combined to generate still further aspects without
departing from the spirit of the present disclosure and the
inventive concepts described herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0065] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and
constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more
example aspects of the present disclosure and together with the
detailed description, serve to explain their principles and
implementations.
[0066] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture of a system for
issuance and circulation of electronic currency according to one
aspect of the present invention.
[0067] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating one method of operation
of the system for issuance and circulation of electronic currency
according to an exemplary aspect of the present invention.
[0068] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another method of
operation of the system for issuance and circulation of electronic
currency according to an alternative aspect of the present
invention.
[0069] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for maintaining
a reserve of tangible or intangible assets that substantiate an
electronic currency according to an alternative aspect of the
present invention.
[0070] FIG. 5 illustrates a process of generating electronic
currency at the stage of the system's launch and its issuance into
the system according to one aspect of the present invention.
[0071] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary structure of funds and
reserves of a substantiated electronic currency payment system
(mono-currency variant) in one aspect of the present invention.
[0072] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a general-purpose computer
system on which the disclosed systems and methods can be
implemented (e.g., the system of FIG. 1).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0073] The following definitions are provided as an aid to
understanding the detailed description and claims of the present
invention. The definitions apply throughout the specification and
claims, except in any instances where one of ordinary skill would
readily appreciate that the context clearly dictates otherwise.
[0074] Electronic currency--a conventional expression of value,
having or not having a certain amount of a real valuable (money,
precious metals, commodities, other assets) as an equivalent and
accepted as a payment means in electronic settlement systems.
[0075] Cryptocurrency--an electronic currency whose issuance and
circulation is carried out with use of cryptotechnologies (e.g.,
blockchain technology).
[0076] Mining--(in the context of blockchain technology)--an action
of maintaining a distributed network and creating new blocks. In
existing systems built on the principles of blockchain technology,
the process of generating cryptocurrency is connected to mining;
currency units are created and paid as a reward for creating new
blocks in the system.
[0077] Operator--in the context of the present disclosure, an
entity taking control over issuance of electronic currency and/or
functioning of the system of its circulation, including managing
formation of a necessary reserve amount. An Operator may be any
economic or legal entity or any individual.
[0078] Issuing center--the department of the system, real or
virtual (program module), responsible for issuance of electronic
currency into circulation and forming the reserves which
substantiate the electronic currency.
[0079] Primary issuance--the initial issuance of electronic
currency to the Operator's wallet for the substantiation provided
by the Operator, carried out before launching the system.
[0080] Further issuance--the issuance of electronic currency
carried out during the process of the system's operation, in event
of necessity to satisfy the demand for electronic currency on the
basis of orders of the clients (users of the system).
[0081] Operator's wallet--a virtual storage (a device for storing
electronic data) which is used for accounting the valuables
belonging to the system's Operator.
[0082] Client's wallet--a virtual storage (a device for storing
electronic data) which is used for accounting the valuables
belonging to a client (a user of the system).
[0083] Transaction--a fact of transferring a certain amount of a
valuable--tangible or intangible asset, e.g. gold, electronic
currency, a certain commodity or rights of ownership of some
property or intellectual property--recorded in the system's
database (e.g., with the help of blockchain technology).
[0084] Settlement network--a system of recording transactions
between the Operator and the system's clients, as well as the
clients' transactions carried out between each other. In a
preferred aspect of the invention, the settlement network is a
distributed one operating on the basis of blockchain
technology.
[0085] Data center--a server center of a distributed settlement
network, functioning as a storage of virtual data of transactions
carried out in the system.
[0086] Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the
following description is illustrative only and is not intended to
be in any way limiting. Other aspects will readily suggest
themselves to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this
disclosure. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations
of the example aspects as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The same reference indicators will be used to the extent possible
throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to
the same or like items.
[0087] Disclosed herein are system and methods for issuance and
circulation of electronic currency, as well as a payment system
based on use of the aforementioned electronic currency. In one
exemplary aspect, the electronic currency is a cryptocurrency that
is 100% substantiated by an tangible or intangible valuable
(asset). One unit of the electronic currency according to the
present invention corresponds to a certain amount of assets
accepted as a substantiation means for the given currency. In one
exemplary aspect, gold may be used as the substantiation means of
the currency. For example, one unit of the currency may correspond
to 1 gram of gold.
[0088] FIG. 1 illustrates a computer-based system for issuance and
circulation of electronic currency according to one aspect of the
present invention. Generally, the system comprises of a core 1,
which includes a management module 2 and a settlement network 3,
and a currency issuance center 4. The system may also include a
plurality of client applications 5 and a back-office module 6. The
system may interact with external partners 7, such as a secure
vault for assets storage, brokers (commodity and/or currency ones),
and/or a bank.
[0089] In various example aspects, the depicted components of the
system for issuance and circulation of electronic currency may be
implemented on a single computer system (such as a general-purpose
computer system depicted in FIG. 7). In another example aspect, the
components of the system may be implemented on a plurality of
different computer systems located in the same local area or wide
area network. Yet in another example aspect, the components of the
system may be implemented on a plurality of different computer
systems located in different geographically or logically
distributed computers networks. In one exemplary aspect, the system
may be operated and controlled by a single Operator (such as a
bank, a financial organization, a commercial company, or even a
government or a state-sponsored authority), which initiates and
controls issuance of electronic currency. In alternative aspects,
different components of the system may be operated by different
entities.
[0090] In one exemplary aspect, the issuance center 4 performs the
issuance of the electronic currency under the control of the
Operator. For security purposes, the issuance center 4 may be
isolated from the Internet either completely, e.g. being offline,
or partly via, e.g., a firewall (the center "sees" the network, yet
there is no access to it from the network), or located directly in
the network. In one exemplary aspect, the management module 2 may
be implemented as a centralized system that provides service layer
and application programming interfaces (APIs) for storing data
about the system's users and their accounts, and controlling work
of the settlement system, as well as accepting transactions from
users.
[0091] In one exemplary aspect, the settlement network 3 may be a
decentralized network of computers carrying out transactions and
storing the data about them.
[0092] In one exemplary aspect, the settlement network 3 may be
built on the basis of blockchain technology (e.g., private
blockchain) different from known blockchain technologies used for
functioning of other known cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin
cryptocurrency). In exemplary aspect, the system of the present
invention uses closed technology, in which all the mining is
carried out on the Operator's devices. All the centers of
settlement networks may be in constant synchronization with each
other and are located in different data-centers, forming
geographically distributed systems and thus guaranteeing
fault-tolerance and safety of data. At the same time, in the
disclosed system (unlike in Bitcoin), no reward is paid for mining.
The process of generating electronic currency in the present system
is not connected with creating new blocks in process of the
system's operation. All the amount of the electronic currency
(electronic cash) allocated for circulation in the system,
according to the present invention, is generated upon creation of
the first block before the system's launch and is transferred to
the pre-issuance wallet of the Operator. At the stage of the
system's launch a portion of electronic currency that is
substantiated by the reserves provided by the Operator is
transferred from the pre-issuance wallet to the issuance wallet of
the Operator (primary issuance), and from then on, that issued
electronic currency can be sold to clients of the system and
creating new blocks does not incur creation of new currency units.
This gives the Operator of the system an ability to control all the
amount of the generated currency and use this generated currency
located in the pre-issuance wallet for further issuance into the
system at any time the Operator prefers.
[0093] The suggested innovative mining mechanism allows for the
following advantages:
1) since mining in the system is not connected with electronic
currency generation, there is no economic benefit for the nodes
that mine new blocks, there is no need for the nodes of the
settlement network to compete in calculation speed (unlike Bitcoin
system), so the hash calculation work used for mining procedure
need not to be of very high level of difficulty. This provides for
very high speed of mining and consequently for very high speed of
executing transactions in the system; 2) since mining in the system
is relevantly easy, it does not impose using computers and servers
of extremely high calculating capacity, so significant saving of
energy is provided while using the system; 3) non-profitable mining
makes it economically useless to break the network by introduction
of unauthorized nodes into the network, that is an additional
factor for system's safety along with its centralized
structure.
[0094] In various aspects, every user of the system, including
individuals and legal entities and also the Operator itself, may
have one or several wallets (accounts) which store keys letting to
get access to the amounts of assets which belong to the given
users. Access to the wallets may additionally be controlled by
entering a special password (PIN-code), optionally with the help of
a tool for multi-factor authentication (mostly USSD), so that
operating a wallet without participation of its owner is absolutely
impossible.
[0095] In addition, the system may include a plurality of client
applications 5 (such as for example, web-applications, mobile
applications, USSD-applications and others), and the back-office
module 6, which gives access to analytical information about the
level of liquidity in the system, and also, together with the
system management module 2 ensures connection of the system with
external partners 7 and their informational systems.
[0096] In various aspects, external partners 7 may comprise one or
more of the following: [0097] 1) at least one secure vault for
assets storage where there is located a reserve of valuables
(preferably, gold), substantiating the currency, [0098] 2) an
entity entitled to trade on an appropriate stock exchange (a
broker), [0099] 3) an entity entitled to carry out operations in
the currency market (a currency broker), [0100] 4) in event the
Operator itself is not a bank, the Bank through which there are
carried out operations of purchasing and selling electronic
currency between the Operator and the system's users with use of
traditional payment means circulating in the banking system (for
example, bank cards, bank transfers). Also, settlements are carried
out through the Bank in traditional currencies with the
aforementioned brokers.
[0101] In the event of use of fiat currencies as a valuable, their
storage location may be the Operator's bank account.
[0102] In one exemplary aspect, the system allows its clients to
create their own valuable and facilitates management of issuance of
that valuable via the management module 2 and the issuance center
4. At the same time, for circulation of this valuable, a special
settlement network 3 may be automatically created in the system.
However, in such event, if there is physical substantiation of the
valuable created and issued by the client, it is stored outside the
system and is totally controlled by the issuer itself. In this
aspect, in instances where one of the system's clients is the
issuer of any kind of electronic valuables, the task of purchasing
substantiating assets for those valuables from an appropriate
broker (if necessary) is carried out by that issuer itself, in that
case the issuance center of the system does not anyhow control the
reserve of assets substantiating that valuable but only informs of
the amount of electronic liquidity issued by the client, available
in the system.
[0103] Launching the System
[0104] In one exemplary aspect, at the stage of launching the
system, the primary issuance of electronic currency is performed.
It is carried out corresponding to the initial reserve of assets,
for example, a gold reserve. The initial reserve is formed by the
Operator itself at its own expense.
[0105] In a preferred aspect, all the amount of the virtual
currency issued by the Operator for circulation is not less than
100% substantiated by a reserve of assets (for example, physical
gold). The substantiation reserve, in case of gold, is formed of
bullions of a certain weight, and because insufficient
substantiation is unacceptable, it leads to excessive
substantiation.
[0106] For example, if the bullions of gold are 1 kg of weight
each, in case of receiving an order for purchasing electronic
currency corresponding to 10 g of gold the Operator must purchase 1
kg of gold for maintaining the necessary reserve amount, leaving
990 g of a free reserve for executing further orders.
[0107] By gold substantiation, the Operator at any time guarantees
purchasing virtual currency from the payment system's client for an
amount expressed in a traditional payment means, equal to the value
of gold in correspondence to the current physical gold market
conditions and active Operator's tariffs.
[0108] At the initial moment, with help of the preliminary mining
procedure, the issuance center 4 creates an amount of electronic
valuables maximally possible for circulation in the settlement
network 3 and locates it in a special pre-issuance wallet stored in
the issuance center 4. The blockchain base used for carrying out
the given pre-issuance procedure may be used for establishing a
settlement network 3 (by copying). After purchasing the initial
amount of a valuable (for example, gold) from the broker by the
Operator, the issuance center 4 carries out primary issuance of
electronic currency in correspondence with the purchased amount of
the valuable. The issued electronic currency is transferred to the
Operator's wallet in the settlement network 3 (the issuance wallet)
and becomes available for sale to the end user.
[0109] Thus the virtual currency, prior to being sold to the
payment system's clients, is initially issued to the Operator's
wallets.
[0110] Selling virtual currency to clients is carried out from the
reserves of virtual currency on the Operator's wallets upon the
Operator's reception of a confirmation of the client's money
receipt (or further guaranteed receipt, for example, in case of a
client's payment by a bank card or other non-instantaneous ways of
payment) to the Operator's bank account. Settlements in the system
may be carried out in Singaporean dollars, US dollars, euros,
Japanese yens and some other currencies.
[0111] Operation of the Computer-Based System
[0112] As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the system
consists of the following main components: the core 1 (the
settlement network 3 and the management module 2), the issuance
center 4, the client applications 5 and the back-office module
6.
[0113] The core 1 is a closed part of the system, access to which
is given solely to authorized employees of the Operator for
maintaining continuous functioning of the system.
[0114] The client applications 5 of the system gives the client
access to its wallets and to services via the USSD-service,
web-interface, mobile application and also other client
applications of the system developed with use of the open API.
[0115] The back-office module 6 of the system gives the Operator's
employees access to information and functionality similar to the
client applications 5, without enabling to manage clients' wallets.
In case a client of the Operator is itself an issuer of a certain
valuable it also uses the back-office module 6 to manage parameters
of that valuable (for example, the rate of exchange for other
valuables or the fee for carrying out operations with the
valuables).
[0116] In one exemplary aspect, all settlements are carried out in
settlement networks 3 which are part of the system's core. In
settlement networks 3, there are circulating: [0117] the electronic
currency (valuable) purchased by clients and/or belonging to them;
[0118] the electronic currency (valuable) belonging to the Operator
and used by it to satisfy the current demand (stored on the
issuance wallets of the Operator, thus forming a free reserve of
electronic currency); [0119] traditional types of currencies used
by clients for storing funds and settlements. [0120] traditional
types of currencies belonging to the Operator and used by it to
satisfy the current negative demand, i.e. orders for selling
electronic currency (stored on the fiat currency wallets of the
Operator, thus forming free reserves of fiat currencies).
[0121] In event the system allows issuance of own valuables by
clients, such valuables are also circulating in settlement networks
3, a special own settlement network 3 may be created automatically
for every such valuable. The ability to circulate traditional
currencies in the system allows it to function as a
fully-functional payment system.
[0122] A client (be it an individual or a legal entity),
interacting with the settlement network 3 via the client network as
a registered user, has a technical ability to open one or more
wallets in the system, for storage and use of other valuables (fiat
currencies, cryptocurrencies, commodities, bonus conventional
units) in settlements with other users; said valuables are inserted
into the system by the client itself or provided by the Operator or
other valuables issuers registered in the system as clients.
[0123] For example, some clients--e.g., a legal entity--may
register in the system its own electronic currency backed, for
example, by barrels of oil and the system will provide users with
an ability to open accounts (wallets) in the given electronic
currency and then purchase it at the rates set by the issuer of the
given valuable.
[0124] Access to the System
[0125] An individual gets access to the system upon completion of
the registration procedure. An organization gets access to the
system via its authorized entities that must be registered in the
system as individuals. The stages of gaining access for an
organization: [0126] registration and identification of authorized
entities as individuals; [0127] provision of information about the
organization; [0128] identification of the organization.
[0129] In the system, it is allowed to carry out operations by not
fully authorized users (for example, upon specifying only a mobile
phone number when registering) in terms of the limits set by the
regulator of the jurisdiction which the Operator works under.
[0130] In general, the offered system strays from the principle of
settlement anonymity, which allows to restrict use of the system
for carrying out illegal operations.
[0131] After registration, every user of the system may open one or
several wallets (accounts) in a preferred valuable or currency (for
example, gold, usual fiat currencies), including the valuables
which are registered by other users of the system managing issuance
of that valuable themselves. Access to wallets is at all times
controlled by a password (PIN-code) which a client enters via USSD
(or another protected channel for double-factor authentication),
thus impossibility of unauthorized access to wallets is
guaranteed.
[0132] Control Over Reserve Formation
[0133] In one exemplary aspect, the issuance center 4 repeatedly
analyzes the balance of the valuables reserve (e.g., the amount of
gold) which is owned by the Operator and disposed in a specialized
storage, and on the basis of the offered method of management of
the reserve transfers an order for purchase of the necessary amount
of a valuable to the broker via the back-office module. Upon
completion of purchasing of the valuable by the broker, the
issuance center 4 carries out additional (further) issuance which
is also transferred to the settlement network 3. The issuance
center 4 detects the stream of users' orders and in case the total
amount of orders for purchase of electronic currency exceeds the
volume of the issued currency, a request for purchase of backing
(substantiating) reserve valuables from a broker is automatically
formed, at the same time the service of orders for purchase of
electronic currency of the volume exceeding the issued one is
ceased until the moment of confirmation of purchasing gold and
carrying out further issuance.
[0134] In one exemplary aspect, the volume of the virtual currency
reserves necessary for successful functioning of the system may be
defined on the basis of a mathematical model calculating the
dynamics of the demand for the virtual currency, as illustrated by
the examples provided below. In some aspects, if during the
continuous monitoring of sufficiency of reserves with help of the
mathematical model the system detects that received orders of
purchase of an amount of electronic currency exceed the amount of
the reserves on the Operator's wallets, at first the amount of gold
calculated with the help of the mathematical model is purchased,
after which further issuance of virtual currency is carried out and
the issued currency is transferred to the client's wallet. This
approach guarantees rigorous observance of the principle of 100%
backing of the virtual currency by physical gold.
[0135] Under real market conditions it is not always possible to
buy physical gold instantaneously. Particular obstacles appear
during weekends. Although they may be somewhat mitigated by
purchasing gold in different time zones, this is not about
immediacy. Besides, there are commission fees charged upon
purchasing and selling physical gold at the stock exchange. On top
of that, such commission fees depend on the bullion's weight. They
may fluctuate from 0.25% for bullions of several kilograms and be
tens of times higher for small bullions weighing tens or hundreds
of grams. This is why it is preferable to purchase gold bullions
weighing not less than 1 kg (i.e., to reduce commission fees).
[0136] To ensure low commission fees and online execution of orders
for gold-backed (substantiated) currency owned by the Operator, in
some aspects there must exist free gold reserve. The mathematical
model provided herein allow one to define the minimal amount of
free gold ensuring 24/7 supplement of the gold reserve.
[0137] Thus, in selected aspects, methods of managing reserves are
disclosed, including methods of forming free reserves by creating
reserve stocks both in gold (or other valuable used as a
substantiation) and in at least one traditional currency (fiat
currency), stored on the Operator's bank account.
[0138] In order to ensure 24/7 operation of the system of
electronic currency circulation in the online mode, current
purchases and sales of electronic currency may be carried out with
use of the electronic currency on the Operator's wallets
substantiated by free gold and at least one traditional (fiat)
currency from the Operator's free fiat currency reserve.
[0139] The issued electronic currency accounted on the Operator's
wallets in the system (free electronic currency which is always
backed by free gold reserve) and free reserves of traditional
currencies owned by the Operator and stored on its bank accounts
form the Operator's capital, in various aspects.
[0140] In the event of a purchase of electronic currency in the
system, with use of the Operator's capital, the electronic currency
may be provided immediately from the Operator's free reserve at the
rate active at the moment of purchase and is transferred to the
purchaser's wallet, and the amount of funds in the form of a fiat
currency is transferred to the Operator's bank account. In the
event of a selling of electronic currency in the system, the
electronic currency may be transferred to the Operator's wallet,
increasing its free reserve of electronic currency, and the amount
in a fiat currency may be transferred to the seller's bank account
(including bank card account) or, in case the system is the one of
a multi-currency variant, to the seller's wallet in the
corresponding fiat currency at the rate active at the moment of
sale.
[0141] Because of the improved method of reserve management,
speeding up settlements in the electronic currency circulation
system is ensured.
[0142] In selected aspects of the disclosure, in order to reduce
the number of operations carried out in the offline mode, the
Operator carries out an operation of purchasing/selling backing of
electronic currency in the external market, issuing electronic
currency correspondent to the purchased amount, transfers it to the
account of the Operator's electronic currency (an operation of
selling backing (substantiation) in the external market with
transferring the purchased amount to the Operator's fiat currency
wallet). At the same time, per-trade amounts of electronic currency
reaching which the Operator initiates operations of
purchasing/selling backing (substantiation) in the external market,
are set by variables G.sub.min/G.sub.max on the basis of
calculations carried out with use of the mathematical model
described below. The amounts of purchased/sold backing
G.sub.buy*/G.sub.sell* are also set on the basis of calculations
carried out with use of the mathematical model.
[0143] Let us consider application of the mathematical model for
maintaining the liquidity balance in variants of the system's
implementation where gold is accepted as a means of backing of the
electronic currency.
[0144] The Mono-Currency Variant of the System
[0145] In selected aspects of the disclosure, only one fiat
currency participates in operations of purchasing and selling gold
used as a substantiation. In such a system the following
mathematical model can be applied.
[0146] For modeling purposes, we need to accept the laws of value
distribution:
[0147] 1. distribution of moments of time of receiving orders for
purchasing (gold);
[0148] 2. distribution of moments of time of reception of orders
for selling (gold);
[0149] 3. the amount of the purchase order;
[0150] 4. the amount of the selling order.
[0151] For items 1 and 2 the present invention suggests to take
distributions defined by Poisson streams. The streams of purchase
and selling may be combined in one where the order type
(purchase/selling) is defined randomly (binominal distribution with
the probability of purchase of 0.5 in case of averagely equal
number of orders for purchase and selling). For numbers of orders
let us also take the same lognormal (logarithmically normal)
distribution, assigning a positive value to orders for selling and
a negative one for orders for purchase.
[0152] The following symbols are suggested to be used: [0153]
K--circulating capital of the Operator used in (and making
possible) operations of buying and selling gold; [0154] G(t)--the
weight of all gold managed by the Operator (i.e. gold
substantiating electronic currency sold to clients and free gold in
the Operator's free gold reserve) in storages at the moment of time
t; [0155] g(t)--the part of G(t), owned by the Operator and
comprising free gold in the Operator's free gold reserve at the
moment of time t; [0156] g*(t)--the part of G(t), substantiating
electronic currency sold to clients at the moment of time t; [0157]
a(t)--the amount of the order incoming at the moment of time t. If
a(t)>0, the client sells gold-linked electronic currency, if
a(t)<0 purchases it. [0158] c(t)--the amount of fiat currency in
the Operator's free fiat currency reserve at the moment of time t;
[0159] T.sub.b/T.sub.s--time required for purchasing/selling
bullions of gold in the external market for/from the storage
(respectively); [0160] g.sub.pir(t)--the amount of gold (product in
road) expected to arrive to the Operator's disposal; it is not at
the moment of time t at the Operator's disposal due to the length
T.sub.b of the operation of purchasing gold in the external market;
[0161] c.sub.pir(t)--the amount of fiat currency (product in road)
expected to arrive to the Operator's account (free fiat currency
reserve); it is not at the moment of time t on the Operator's
account due to the length T.sub.s of the operation of selling gold
in the external market; [0162] e--the cost of 1 g of gold (for
example, in US dollars). In terms of the suggested mathematical
model the value of e may be considered constant; [0163]
.DELTA.--fixed purchased/sold amount (FPSA) of gold, which means
the fixed amount of gold, which could be purchased/sold in the
external market with low commission; [0164] of.sub.buy(t)=1, if
a(t)<0 and (g(t)+a(t))<.DELTA.--an indicator of purchasing
gold-linked electronic currency offline (i.e. a(t) is an order for
purchasing gold-linked electronic currency that is carried out
offline), otherwise of.sub.buy(t)=0 (indicating purchasing online);
[0165] of.sub.sell(t)=1, if a(t)>0 and
(c(t)-ea(t))<e.DELTA.--an indicator of selling gold-linked
electronic currency offline (i.e. a(t) is an order for selling
gold-linked electronic currency that is carried out offline),
otherwise of.sub.sell(t)=0 (indicating selling online); [0166]
G.sub.min (sought-for parameter)--minimal (threshold) amount of
g(t) upon achieving which purchase of additional gold in the
storage is initiated; [0167] G.sub.buy(t)=1, if (g
(t)+(1-of.sub.buy(t))a(t)+g.sub.pir(t))<G.sub.min, otherwise
G.sub.buy(t)=0; [0168] G.sub.buy (sought-for parameter)--the fixed
amount of gold used for calculating the amount of gold whose
purchase in the external market needs to be initiated at the moment
t if G.sub.buy(t)=1; [0169] G.sub.max (sought-for
parameter)--maximal (threshold) amount of gold g(t) in the storage
upon achieving which it is necessary to initiate the sale of a part
of the free gold reserve g(t) for increasing the amount of c(t);
[0170] G.sub.sell(t)=1, if
(g(t)+(1-of.sub.sell(t))a(t)+g.sub.pir(t))>G.sub.max, otherwise
G.sub.sell(t)=0; [0171] G.sub.sell (sought-for parameter)--the
fixed amount of gold, used for calculating the amount of gold whose
sale in the external market needs to be initiated at the moment of
time t if G.sub.sell(t)=1; [0172] E.sub.store--the cost of storing
1 g of gold for a unit of time; [0173] r--the rate (calculated per
a unit of time) at which we could allocate the funds allotted to
the capital K=g(t)+e.sup.-1c(t). In terms of the present model, the
value of r may be considered constant; [0174]
E.sub.of(P)--reputation (and eventually, financial) losses caused
by the (increased) share P of offline operations. The easiest
approach to addressing these losses may be the one of setting a
strict border of P.sub.0 per share of P: E.sub.of(P)=0 for
P.ltoreq.P.sub.0 and E.sub.of(P) is equal to a very high value
(comparable to the market price of the Operator's company) if
P>P.sub.0; [0175] ComSt--the commission fee which the Operator
is charged with for purchasing/selling a unit of gold in the
storage (recalculated as for purchasing/selling 1 g of gold);
[0176] ComCl--the commission fee which the client is charged with
by the Operator for the transaction of purchasing/selling
gold-linked electronic currency (recalculated as for
purchasing/selling 1 g of gold, substantiating the corresponding
amount of the electronic currency). [0177] Let |.alpha.| denote the
absolute value of number a; There are suggested two different
strategies of managing amounts of purchasing/selling gold: 1)
G.sub.buy'(t)/G.sub.sell'(t) and 2)
G.sub.buy''(t)/G.sub.sell''(t).
[0178] Strategy 1
The idea of the strategy suggests that if (g(t)+a(t)).di-elect
cons.[0, g(t)+e.sup.-1c(t)]-[G.sub.min, G.sub.max], then we buy or
sell fixed amount of gold equal to G.sub.buy or G.sub.sell. In case
(g(t)+a(t))[0, g(t)+e.sup.-1c(t)], i.e. capital K is insufficient
for carrying out order a(t) online, we buy or sell offline amount
of gold equal to |a(t)|. We also take into account amounts of gold
included in "product in road" and the fact that we have to leave
reserve .DELTA. (see Theorem 1 below). Strict form of the equations
for G.sub.buy'(t) and G.sub.sell'(t) is
G.sub.buy'(t)=|a(t)|of.sub.buy(t)+G.sub.buy(t)(1-of.sub.buy(t))G.sub.buy-
;
G.sub.sell'(t)=a(t)of.sub.sell(t)+G.sub.sell(t)(1-of.sub.sell(t))G.sub.s-
ell;
[0179] Strategy 2
The gist of the strategy is that if (g(t)+a(t))[G.sub.min,
G.sub.max], the amounts of G.sub.buy''(t) and G.sub.sell''(t) are
such that the final amount of gold in the Operator's free gold
reserve upon completion of the operation takes one of the values
(G.sub.min+G.sub.buy) or (G.sub.max-G.sub.sell), respectively. We
also take into account amounts of gold included in "product in
road" and the fact that we have to leave reserve A. The formal
record looks as follows:
G.sub.buy'(t)=G.sub.buy(t)(|a(t)|(1-of.sub.buy(t))-g(t)-g.sub.pir(t)+G.s-
ub.min+G.sub.buy)++of.sub.buy(t)|a(t)|;
G.sub.sell'(t)=G.sub.sell(t)(a(t)(1-of.sub.sell(t))+g(t)+g.sub.pir(t)-G.-
sub.max+G.sub.sell)++of.sub.sell(t)a(t).
[0180] In one exemplary aspect, the present invention suggests to
use a mixed strategy which is a convex combination of
above-described strategies 1 and 2 where volumes G.sub.buy(t) and
G.sub.sell(t) of purchased and sold gold are calculated by the
following formulas:
G.sub.buy*(t)=.alpha.G.sub.buy'(t)+(1-.alpha.)G.sub.buy''(t);
G.sub.sell*(t)=.alpha.G.sub.sell'(t)+(1-.alpha.)G.sub.sell''(t),
[0181] where a .di-elect cons.[0,1].
[0182] The necessity of purchasing/selling an amount of gold
divisible by value .DELTA. of FPSA of gold in the external market
requires rounding the purchased/sold amount of gold
G.sub.buy*(t)/G.sub.sell*(t) to the value of
G.sub.buy*(t)/G.sub.sell*(t) divisible by value .DELTA. of FPSA of
gold.
[0183] For modeling purposes, we may define the following:
1) .left brkt-top.x.right brkt-bot./.left brkt-bot.x.right
brkt-bot. denotes rounding number x to the nearest integer on the
right/left; 2) A notation of the type .SIGMA..sub.k=1, 2, . . . , L
F(t.sub.k) means the sum of values F(t.sub.k) for all k=1, 2, . . .
, L; 3) rnd(t) denotes the moment closest to t on the left (i.e.
previous) in the stream of orders for purchasing/selling gold, and
at the same time by the definition the following holds true:
rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b)=0 .A-inverted.t.sub.k.di-elect
cons.[t.sub.1;t.sub.1+T.sub.b);
rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.s)=0 .A-inverted.t.sub.k.di-elect
cons.[t.sub.1;t.sub.1+T.sub.s);
where t.sub.1>0 is the moment of reception of the first order
(the beginning of the period of order reception). In order to
account for cases rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b)=0 and
rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.s)=0, we will make the convention that f(0)=0 for
all functions f() used in the description of the model that are
dependent on time and defined at moments t.sub.k of receiving
orders. Amounts of G.sub.buy*(t)/G.sub.sell*(t) are calculated by
the following formulas:
G ^ b .times. u .times. y * .function. ( t k ) = { G b .times. u
.times. y * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA. .DELTA. , .times. if .times.
.times. k = 1 ; G b .times. u .times. y * .function. ( t k )
.DELTA. .DELTA. , .times. if .times. .times. .times. i = 1 k - 1
.times. .delta. b .times. u .times. y .function. ( t i ) + G b
.times. u .times. y * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA. .DELTA. - G b
.times. u .times. y * .function. ( t k ) < .DELTA. , .times. k
.gtoreq. 2 ; G b .times. u .times. y * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA.
.DELTA. , .times. if .times. .times. .times. i = 1 k - 1 .times.
.delta. b .times. u .times. y .function. ( t i ) + G b .times. u
.times. y * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA. .DELTA. - G b .times. u
.times. y * .function. ( t k ) .gtoreq. .DELTA. , .times. k
.gtoreq. 2 ; .times. .times. G ^ sell * .function. ( t k ) = { G
sell * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA. .DELTA. , .times. if .times.
.times. .times. k = 1 ; G sell * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA. .DELTA.
, .times. if .times. .times. .times. i = 1 k - 1 .times. .delta.
sell .function. ( t i ) + G sell * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA.
.DELTA. - G sell * .function. ( t k ) < .DELTA. , .times. k
.gtoreq. 2 ; G sell * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA. .DELTA. , .times.
if .times. .times. .times. i = 1 k - 1 .times. .delta. sell
.function. ( t i ) + G sell * .function. ( t k ) .DELTA. .DELTA. -
G sell * .function. ( t k ) .gtoreq. .DELTA. , .times. k .gtoreq. 2
; ##EQU00003##
where
.delta..sub.buy(t.sub.k)=G.sub.buy*(t.sub.k)-G.sub.buy*(t.sub.k),
.delta..sub.sell(t.sub.k)=G.sub.sell*(t.sub.k)-G.sub.sell*(t.sub.k).
Thus, for providing optimal reserves balance the amount of gold
purchased/sold in the external market for the Operator is defined
by the parameters G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell,
.alpha..
[0184] The values of all the variables dependent on t are construed
as correspondent to "the beginning" of that moment. Their value at
the next moment (from the Poisson stream) is equal the value at the
moment t more the amount of all the values of all changes of the
moment t.
[0185] Let us number the value of moments of time of incoming of
orders for purchasing/selling from the considered Poisson stream:
t.sub.1, t.sub.2, . . . , t.sub.k. At the beginning moment of time
t.sub.1 we suppose
g .function. ( t 1 ) = K 2 , c .function. ( t 1 ) = K 2 e , G
.function. ( t 1 ) = g .function. ( t 1 ) = K 2 . ##EQU00004##
Further, for all moments t the sum (g(t)+e.sup.-1. c(t)) is equal
or close to K (slight imprecision may appear during the pauses
during which gold is purchased/sold in the external market). As
mentioned above, t.sub.1, t.sub.2, . . . , t.sub.k are moments of
time (from the considered Poisson stream) of incoming of orders for
purchasing/selling gold. We take the following values of variables
for the starting moment t=t.sub.1:
c .function. ( t 1 ) = K 2 e , G .function. ( t 1 ) = g .function.
( t 1 ) = K 2 , .times. g * .function. ( t 1 ) = 0 , g p .times. i
.times. r .function. ( t 1 ) = 0 , c p .times. i .times. r
.function. ( t 1 ) = 0 . ##EQU00005##
For all subsequent moments t>t.sub.1 the sum (g(t)+e.sup.-1c(t))
will be equal or close to K (slight imprecision may appear during
the pauses during which gold is purchased/sold in the external
market).
[0186] The values g.sub.pir(t), g(t), g*(t), G(t), c.sub.pir(t),
c(t), for moments t=t.sub.k, (k=1, 2, . . . ) are calculated
successively by the following formulas:
g.sub.pir(t.sub.k+1)-g.sub.pir(t.sub.k)+G.sub.buy*(t.sub.k)-of.sub.buy(t-
.sub.k)|a(t.sub.k)|--G.sub.buy*(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b))+of.sub.buy(rnd(t.sub-
.k-T.sub.b))|a(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b))|; (1)
g(t.sub.k+1)=g(t.sub.k)+a(t.sub.k)(1-of.sub.buy(t.sub.k)-of.sub.sell(t.s-
ub.k))++G.sub.buy*(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b))-of.sub.buy(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b))|-
a(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b))|--G.sub.sell*(t.sub.k)+of.sub.sell(t.sub.k)a(t.sub-
.k); (2)
g*(t.sub.k+1)=g*(t.sub.k)-a(t.sub.k)(1-of.sub.buy(t.sub.k)-of.sub.sell(t-
.sub.k))++of.sub.buy(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b))|a(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.b))|--of.su-
b.sell(t.sub.k)a(t.sub.k); (3)
G(t.sub.k+1)=g(t.sub.k+1)+g*(t.sub.k+1); (4)
c.sub.pir(t.sub.k+1)=c.sub.pir(t.sub.k)+eG.sub.sell*(t.sub.k)-eof.sub.se-
ll(t.sub.k)a(t.sub.k)--eG.sub.sell*(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.s))+eof.sub.sell(rnd-
(t.sub.k-T.sub.s))a(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.s)); (5)
c(t.sub.k+1)=c(t.sub.k)-ea(t.sub.k)(1-of.sub.buy(t.sub.k)-of.sub.sell(t.-
sub.k))--eG.sub.buy*(t.sub.k)+eof.sub.buy(t.sub.k)|a(t.sub.k)|++eG.sub.sel-
l*(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.s))-eof.sub.sell(rnd(t.sub.k-T.sub.s))a(rnd(t.sub.k-T-
.sub.s)); (6)
[0187] The greater the invested capital K=g(t)+e.sup.-1c(t), the
more rarely offline operations of purchasing/selling gold occur,
i.e. the expenses for organization of offline operations are
reduced, but at the same time, the expenses for gold storage rise
and the profit from allocation of funds in the market (at the
rater) is lost.
[0188] Trend--a trend (i.e. the linear part of the speed) of
changing of function
S(T)=.SIGMA..sub.k=1,2, . . . ,rnd(T)a(t.sub.k),
that is the sum taken on all the moments of the Poisson stream
between the moments of time t.sub.1 and T. The current moment of
time will be taken as T. In case of a sufficiently long process, it
is more expedient to determine trend not along all the interval
from t.sub.1 to T but along some interval from an intermediate
moment of time to T. Eventually, the preferable criterion for the
trend determination is minimization of parameter K and of function
Ex() (function of expenses, will be introduced further).
[0189] It is understood that different values of sought-for
parameters G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell match
different trends. For example, in the beginning of the system's
launch there is a negative trend (i.e. prevailing of sales of
electronic currency to clients) expected. Under these conditions,
greater values of G.sub.min, G.sub.buy and lower ones of
(K-G.sub.max), G.sub.sell will be more optimal. Modeling of the set
level of the trend is possible thanks to changing probability of
positivity a(t) (i.e. variation of probability from initial value
equal to 0.5). At the same time a non-zero value of the parameter
Trend is reasonable to be used only in the situation when a
sufficiently stable trend has been formed.
[0190] Below, probability of a random event synchronized with the
moments of receiving orders from clients will be construed as
frequency of occurrence of this event on the observation interval
[t.sub.1, T].
[0191] Let L=index number of the moment of time rnd(T) in the
sequence t.sub.1, t.sub.2, . . . Probability
P .function. ( K , Trend , G min , G b .times. u .times. y , G max
, G sell , .alpha. ) = k = 1 , 2 , , L .times. ( o .times. f b
.times. u .times. y .function. ( t k ) + of sell .function. ( t k )
) L , ##EQU00006##
of executing orders offline is defined by parameters K, Trend,
G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell, .alpha..
[0192] Overall expenses including reputation losses E.sub.of(), for
the period of duration of T (including orders k=1, 2, . . . , L of
the stream) and characterized by Trend are equal to:
Ex .function. ( K , Trend , G min , G b .times. u .times. y , G max
, G sell , .alpha. ) = k = 1 , 2 , , L .times. ComSt ( G ^ b
.times. u .times. y * .function. ( t k ) + G ^ sell * .function. (
t k ) ) -- .times. k = 1 , 2 , , L .times. ComCl .alpha. .function.
( t k ) ++ .times. k = 2 , , L .times. E store G .function. ( t k )
( t k - t k - 1 ) + e - 1 K r T ++ .times. E of ( k = 1 , 2 , , L
.times. ( o .times. f b .times. u .times. y .function. ( t k ) + of
sell .function. ( t k ) ) L ) , ##EQU00007##
[0193] Thus for every set of sought-for parameters K, G.sub.min,
G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell, a we carry out a session of tests
by the described above mathematical model (used as an imitation
model), achieving as a result an estimation of the values of P(K,
Trend, G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell, .alpha.) and
Ex(K, Trend, G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell,
.alpha.).
[0194] For effective functioning of the system, we need to ensure a
certain level of probability of executing orders in the online
mode, at the same time using the minimal value of capital K.
[0195] For a set threshold value P.sub.0 of probability of
executing orders in the offline mode with help of the
above-described imitation model, the following problems are
successively solved:
Problem 1. K.sub.min=min{K: P(K).ltoreq.P.sub.0}. Problem 2.
Ex.sub.min=min{Ex(K.sub.min, Trend, G.sub.min, G.sub.buy,
G.sub.max, G.sub.sell, .alpha.)} for all admissible values of
G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell, .alpha..
[0196] It must be noted that minimization of random values is
construed as minimization of the average or set percentile.
[0197] Thus to ensure probability of execution of orders in the
offline mode not higher than the level of P.sub.0, raising capital
of the amount of K.sub.min is required, at the same time, to
minimize expenses it is required to use the solutions found when
solving problem 2 with parameters G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max,
G.sub.sell, .alpha..
Necessary and Sufficient Capital Reserve
[0198] In process of execution of orders of clients for
purchasing/selling gold-linked electronic currency, there appears
necessity of purchasing/selling gold in the external market. At the
same time the amount of purchased/sold gold must be rounded to a
value divisible by FPSA of gold .DELTA.. To maintain liquidity and
ensure sufficiency of capital K of the company in process of
executing clients' orders for purchasing/selling gold-linked
currency, the question of the algorithm of rounding the amount of
gold purchased/sold in the external market becomes extremely
important.
[0199] This question has an exact mathematical setting.
[0200] Given sequence x.sub.k, k=1, 2, . . . of real numbers and
some number d>0. Given
x ^ k = { x k d d , x k d d , ##EQU00008##
i.e. {circumflex over (x)}.sub.k is the result of rounding number
x.sub.k to the closest integer divisible by d to the left/right.
The following proportion must be noted:
x k d d = x k d d + d , ( 7 ) ##EQU00009##
which directly results from the rounding operation. Let us
introduce the following symbols:
.sigma. k = x ^ k - x k , .times. S i .times. j = k = i j .times.
.sigma. k , ##EQU00010##
where k=1, 2, . . . , i>0, j>0i.ltoreq.j. Let us consider the
algorithm of rounding
x ^ k = { x k d d , .times. if .times. .times. ( S 1 .times. k - 1
+ x k d d - x k ) < d , x k d d , .times. if .times. .times. ( S
1 .times. k - 1 + x k d d - x k ) .gtoreq. d , ( 8 )
##EQU00011##
and show that every sum of S.sub.ij is limited.
[0201] Statement 1. When rounding real numbers x.sub.k, k=1, 2, . .
. by algorithm (8) for given d>0 the values of S.sub.ij are
limited, at the same time the following is true:
-d<S.sub.ij<d,
for all i, j>0, i.ltoreq.j. Proof Let us first prove the
inequalities
0.ltoreq.S.sub.1i<d
for sums of the type of S.sub.1i by the inductive method.
[0202] 1. For i=1 we have
S 1 .times. 1 = .sigma. 1 = x 1 d d - x 1 , ##EQU00012##
[0203] and evidently 0.ltoreq.S.sub.11<d.
[0204] 2. Suppose, that for given i=k, the inequality also holds
true:
0.ltoreq.S.sub.1k<d.
[0205] 3. Given i=k+1, let us express S.sub.1k+1 in the form of
S.sub.1k+1=S.sub.1k+.sigma..sub.k+1.
Let us consider case
( S 1 .times. k + x k + 1 d d - x k + 1 ) < d ##EQU00013##
of algorithm (8). We have
S 1 .times. k + 1 = S 1 .times. k + x k + 1 d d - x k + 1 < d .
##EQU00014##
From the other side, S.sub.1k.gtoreq.0 according to the inductive
hypothesis, and
( x k + 1 d d - x k + 1 ) .gtoreq. 0 ##EQU00015##
according to the definition of the rounding operation, i.e.
S.sub.1k+1.gtoreq.0. Thus,
0.ltoreq.S.sub.1k+1<d.
Now let us consider case
( S 1 .times. k + x k + 1 d d - x k + 1 ) .gtoreq. d
##EQU00016##
of algorithm (8). Taking into account (7) we have
S 1 .times. k + 1 = S 1 .times. k + x k + 1 d d - x k + 1 = S 1
.times. k + ( x k + 1 d d - d ) - x k + 1 == .times. ( S 1 .times.
k + x k + 1 d d - x k + 1 ) - d .gtoreq. 0 . ##EQU00017##
From the other side, for
S 1 .times. k + 1 = S 1 .times. k + ( x k + 1 d d - x k + 1 )
##EQU00018##
we have S.sub.1k<d according to the inductive hypothesis,
and
( x k + 1 d d - x k + 1 ) .ltoreq. 0 ##EQU00019##
according to the definition of the rounding operation, i.e.
S.sub.1k+1<d.
Thus for all i>0 the following holds true:
0.ltoreq.S.sub.1i<d.
Now let us consider sum
S.sub.ij=S.sub.1j-S.sub.1i-1, (9)
where i, j>0, i.ltoreq.j. From the proved, taking into account
(9), it follows that:
-d<S.sub.ij<d.
[0206] Statement 1 has the key meaning in solving the problem of
ensuring sufficiency of the Operator's capital for executing order
for purchasing/selling gold-linked electronic currency, taking into
account rounding purchased/sold substantiation gold in the external
market to a value divisible by a FPSA of gold.
[0207] To execute any stream of clients' orders for
purchasing/selling gold-linked electronic currency (random as of
time of order reception, random as of the amount of purchased/sold
gold-linked electronic currency) it is necessary and sufficient to
have free reserves of the amount of A in the system, in both assets
and money equivalents, respectively, upon reaching which incoming
orders are executed in the offline mode. Such approach ensures
maintenance of the amounts of gold and fiat currency sufficient for
executing all orders pending completion (i.e. being executed in the
offline mode).
[0208] Let us formulate statement 1 in terms of a mathematical
model given in the present description.
[0209] Theorem 1 (of necessary and sufficient capital reserve). In
the model of rounding of purchased/sold amount of gold in the
external market, given FPSA of gold .DELTA., it is necessary and
sufficient to maintain in the system the reserve amount of gold
.DELTA. and the equivalent reserve amount of fiat currency .DELTA.e
for maintaining the system's ability to execute all incoming orders
for purchasing selling gold-linked currency in the online or
offline mode.
[0210] Proof. The statement of the theorem is a consequence of
Statement 1.
[0211] Theorem 1 gives an estimate of the amount of the reserve of
capital that is necessary and sufficient for execution of all
incoming orders for purchasing/selling of gold-linked electronic
currency in the online or offline mode with given FPSA of gold
.DELTA.. The necessary volume of a whole capital amount K could be
calculated by this mathematical model taking into account that the
probability of execution of orders in the offline mode should be
not higher than given label P.sub.0, and usually amounts no less
than 4.DELTA..
[0212] On the basis of the aforementioned calculations in terms of
the present disclosure, a method for managing the electronic
currency circulation system's reserves is offered, in which the
amount of the valuable purchased/sold for reserves maintenance are
rounded to the value divisible by FPSA of that valuable .DELTA.. At
the same time, to maintain the system's ability to execute all the
incoming orders for purchasing/selling valuable-linked electronic
currency in the online or offline mode, the conditions of
transferring execution of an order to the offline mode are
formalized as follows:
of.sub.sell(t)=1, if a(t)>0,c(t)-ea(t)<e.DELTA.;
of.sub.buy(t)=1, if a(t)<0,g(t)+a(t)<.DELTA.;
i.e. in the system, there is maintained a free reserve of the
amount of not less than A both in asset and fiat currency
equivalents; in event of decrease of the amount of assets to a
level lower than the given one in case of execution of an order for
purchase, all operations of purchasing are transferred to the
offline mode, in event of decrease of the amount of fiat currency
to a level lower than the given one in case of execution of an
order for sale, all the operations of selling are transferred to
the offline mode.
[0213] The Multi-Currency Variant of the System
[0214] In one exemplary aspect, the present invention suggests the
implementation of the system where several fiat currencies C.sub.1,
C.sub.2, . . . , C.sub.N take part in valuable-linked electronic
currency purchasing/selling operations.
[0215] Let us again take gold as an example substantiation valuable
and first consider the implementation of the system where every
pair (C.sub.i, gold) is considered independently. In this case,
there are built N independent models for N currencies. For every
fiat currency, there will be set its own incoming stream of orders
and for the given threshold value of P.sub.0 problems 1 and 2 will
be solved. Thus for the currency C.sub.i, i.di-elect cons.[1; N],
there will be calculated:
K.sub.i=g.sub.i(t)+e.sup.-1c.sub.i(t),
G.sub.min.sup.i,G.sub.buy.sup.i,G.sub.max.sup.i,G.sub.sell.sup.i,.alpha.-
.sup.i,
equivalent to the values of K, G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max,
G.sub.sell, .alpha..
[0216] In this case the amount of gold taking part in operations of
purchasing/selling with fiat currency C.sub.i is calculated
separately. A convenience of this approach is initiation of
operations of purchasing/selling of the pair (C.sub.i, gold)
carried out by the same algorithm upon achieving values of
G.sub.min.sup.i/G.sub.max.sup.i with amounts of
Gu.sub.buy*.sup.i(t)/G.sub.sell*.sup.i(t) respectively.
[0217] The total amount of the Operator's allocated capital will
be:
K = i = 1 N .times. K i . ##EQU00020##
[0218] At the same time, initiation of an operation of purchasing
gold for currency C.sub.i occurs upon reaching the level of
G.sub.min.sup.i.
[0219] Evidently, this event may happen with different fiat
currencies at different times. It allows to modify the algorithm of
maintaining the balance of liquidity for the multi-currency case
combining the amounts of G.sub.min.sup.i, . . . , G.sub.min.sup.N
into one common pool
G min = i = 1 N .times. G min i . ##EQU00021##
[0220] Let us introduce parameter .beta..di-elect cons.[0,1] for
setting the value of G.sub.min.sup.i denoting minimal accountable
amount of gold reserved in the common pool for operations with
C.sub.i:
G.sub.min.sup.i=.beta..DELTA.+(1-.beta.)G.sub.min.sup.i. (10)
[0221] As was shown above, for the correct executing orders for
purchasing/selling gold-linked electronic currency it is necessary
to keep the reserve amount of free gold equal to FPSA of gold
.DELTA., for each fiat currency. It means, that
G.sub.min.sup.i.gtoreq..DELTA..
Formula (10) implies
G.sub.min.sup.i.di-elect cons.[.DELTA.,G.sub.min.sup.i].
[0222] Suppose P.sub.0 is an acceptable probability of executing
orders for purchasing/selling gold-linked electronic currency in
offline mode in multi-currency variant and
P.sub.0.gtoreq.P.sub.0.
[0223] Obviously, if .beta.=0 then G.sub.min.sup.i=G.sub.min.sup.i,
i.di-elect cons.[1, N], and P.sub.0=P.sub.0.
[0224] With the above-described method of modeling the executing
orders for purchasing/selling gold-linked electronic currency,
implemented jointly for all fiat currencies used in the system, it
is necessary to determine the maximum value .beta..di-elect
cons.[0,1] such that the probability of execution of orders for
purchasing/selling gold-linked electronic currency for each fiat
currency will not exceed P.sub.0.
[0225] Then the total amount of free reserve gold in the joint pool
will be equal
G min _ = i = 1 N .times. G min l _ = i = 1 N .times. ( .beta.
.DELTA. + ( 1 - .beta. ) G min i ) , ( 11 ) ##EQU00022##
and if .beta.>0 then
G.sub.min<G.sub.min.
[0226] Then the operations of purchase/sale of gold occur using the
same algorithm as in the single fiat currency option. Operations of
purchasing gold are initiated upon reaching the amount of obtained
free gold reserves of the level of G.sub.min.
[0227] At the same time, operations of purchasing gold will be
initiated in all the fiat currencies for which the corresponding
current accountable amount of gold has become lower than
G.sub.min.sup.i. Such fiat currencies exist because of (11).
[0228] Then the overall amount of the Operator's capital allocated
for carrying out purchasing/selling operations will be calculated
by the formula:
K _ = i = 1 N .times. ( K i - ( G min i - G min l _ ) ) == i = 1 N
.times. K i - i = 1 N .times. ( G min i - G min l _ ) = K - i = 1 N
.times. ( G min i - ( .beta. .DELTA. + ( 1 - .beta. ) G min i ) )
== K - i = 1 N .times. .beta. .function. ( G min i - .DELTA. ) .
##EQU00023##
Because .beta.>0 and G.sub.min.sup.i>.DELTA., the following
inequality holds true:
K<K,
i.e. in event of consolidation of gold remainders reserved for
operations in different fiat currencies, the value of allocated
company's capital K required for carrying out operations of
purchasing/selling gold in the multi-currency system is lower than
in event of independently carrying out purchasing/selling
operations.
[0229] Note that the system allows clients to work 24/7. At the
same time, external operations of conversion and purchasing/selling
gold are carried out 24/5, excluding weekends. The considered model
is adapted taking into account involving several centers for
carrying out external operations of fiat currency conversion and
gold purchasing/selling operations, located in regions in different
time zones, in order to minimize allocated capital K.
[0230] Practical Use of the Model in Real System's Operation
[0231] To simplify the explanation, let us consider the
mono-currency case of the system operation, however, everything
mentioned will obviously be applicable to the multi-currency case
of the system's operation.
[0232] Take ={M.sub.1, M.sub.2, . . . , M.sub.q} as a
representative family of different variants of models of incoming
streams of orders in the system, characterized by such parameters
as intensity of the order stream, the trend, distribution of the
amount of orders.
[0233] With help of the imitation model of maintaining the
liquidity balance for gold-linked electronic currency
purchasing/selling operations of the clients of system, managing
parameters K(M.sub.i), G.sub.min(M.sub.i), G.sub.buy(M.sub.i),
G.sub.max(M.sub.i), G.sub.sell(M.sub.i), .alpha.(M.sub.i) are
calculated as a result of solving problems 1 and 2 for every
variant M.sub.i .di-elect cons.. As a result, there will be created
a base
={(M.sub.i,K(M.sub.i),G.sub.min(M.sub.i),G.sub.buy(M.sub.i),G.sub.max(M.-
sub.i),G.sub.sell(M.sub.i),.alpha.(M.sub.i):M.sub.i.di-elect
cons.}
of optimal strategies of management for the system for the range of
variants .
[0234] In system's practical operation there is used a module which
continuously monitors the incoming stream of orders and classifies
it for every significant period of time finding the closest
equivalent in the database . After identification of the class of
the incoming stream, in practical implementation of the system,
parameters K(M.sub.i), G.sub.min(M.sub.i), G.sub.buy(M.sub.i),
G.sub.max(M.sub.i), G.sub.sell(M.sub.i), .alpha.(M.sub.i) of the
closest equivalent of M.sub.i.di-elect cons. are used as the
managing parameters of the system.
[0235] The following conclusions may be drawn from the present
disclosure: [0236] 1. The described technology of managing the
balance of liquidity for operations of purchasing/selling
gold-linked electronic currency by the system's clients allows to
minimize the amount of the Operator's capital used for carrying out
online operations of purchasing/selling substantiation gold for a
set threshold of probability of executing orders in the offline
mode; [0237] 2. For the used amount of the capital K of the
Operator, there are used managing parameters G.sub.min, G.sub.buy,
G.sub.max, G.sub.sell,.alpha. allowing to minimize expenses of the
company for maintaining operations of executing clients' orders for
operations of purchasing/selling gold-substantiated electronic
currency; [0238] 3. In event of presence of a representative family
of models of incoming streams of orders, the problem of calculating
optimal parameters K, G.sub.min, G.sub.buy, G.sub.max, G.sub.sell,
a for the real stream of orders, requiring a great number of
calculations and therefore time, is changed to the problem of
identification of that stream with the closest equivalent of
M.sub.i from family . Then the sought-for parameters are calculated
the following way:
[0238] K=K(M.sub.i),
G.sub.min=G.sub.min(M.sub.i),G.sub.buy=G.sub.buy(M.sub.i),
G.sub.max=G.sub.max(M.sub.i),G.sub.sell=G.sub.sell(M.sub.i),
.alpha.=.alpha.(M.sub.i); [0239] 4. As a means of backing
(substantiation), the system may hold not solely gold but any other
valuable or asset. The described mathematical model of managing the
liquidity balance may also be successfully applied to any other
types of valuables or assets.
[0240] Substantiation of Electronic Currency
[0241] In one exemplary aspect, the Operator ensures presence of an
appropriate amount of gold for every unit of electronic currency at
any moment.
[0242] The total amount of gold in the system's storage should be
equal to, but in no case less than the sum of gold substantiating
electronic currency in the clients' and issuance wallets and the
spare gold.
[0243] Spare gold may appear in the system in the following cases:
[0244] when the Operator has purchased gold but has not yet issued
electronic currency that would take it as a substantiation (the
situation occurs because issuance may be carried out in the offline
mode, for safety reasons), [0245] when the Operator has withdrawn a
portion of its electronic currency from the system but has not yet
sold the "corresponding" gold.
[0246] The data about the purchased and sold gold are entered into
the system by the Operator.
[0247] It should be noted that the amount of the spare gold in the
system is not supposed to be large, as its existence in the system
is supposed to be a result of non-instantness of external
operations of purchasing/selling gold. On the whole the total
amount of gold reserve (comprising substantiating gold reserve and
free gold reserve) is supposed to correspond the total amount of
gold-linked electronic currency issued into the system (comprising
electronic currency sold to clients and free electronic currency on
the issuance wallet of the Operator), as illustrated at FIG. 6.
[0248] Purchasing and Selling Gold
[0249] Purchasing and selling gold may be carried out by the
Operator when and as necessary.
[0250] Calculation of the necessary amount of gold may be carried
out by the above-mentioned mathematical model of liquidity balance
maintenance.
[0251] As orders a(t) for purchasing or selling gold-linked
electronic currency are received, the system calculates the amounts
of gold that needs to be purchased or sold on the external market
in the amounts of G.sub.buy*(t), and G.sub.sell*(t). If
G.sub.buy*(t)=G.sub.sell(t)=0 then operations of purchasing or
selling gold are not carried out. From the physical interpretation
of the model, it is evident that the amounts of
G.sub.buy*(t).gtoreq.0 and G.sub.sell*(t)>0 at the same time
G.sub.buy*(t)G.sub.sell*(t)=0, i.e. G.sub.buy*(t) and
G.sub.sell*(t) cannot be different from zero simultaneously.
[0252] In event of carrying out an operation of purchasing gold of
the amount of G.sub.buy*(t) in the system, the system makes a
recording of the following data for every purchased bullion: [0253]
1) the weight of the bullion (mentioning the measurement unit);
[0254] 2) the state of the bullion's production; [0255] 3) the
bullion's producer; [0256] 4) the data of the certificate
confirming authenticity of gold (certificate number, date of
issue); [0257] 5) the bullion's serial number.
[0258] During carrying out an operation of selling gold, the
following actions are carried out: [0259] 1. In the back-office
module of the system, there is created an order for selling, which
contains the following data: [0260] the weight of the gold to be
sold (mentioning the measurement unit); [0261] name of the
purchaser of the gold. [0262] 2. There are recorded the statuses of
the order for selling: [0263] draft (the order has been created but
not received by the system); [0264] pending confirmation (the order
is received by the system, but the purchaser of the gold has not
confirmed its execution); [0265] completed (the gold has been
sold); [0266] canceled (the order in the status of "Pending
confirmation" is canceled by an authorized employee of the
Operator).
[0267] The system withdraws electronic currency from issuance
wallets and transfers it to the pre-issuance wallet, releasing gold
of the necessary amount of G.sub.buy*(t), and then forms an order
for selling in the status of "Pending confirmation".
[0268] After verifying and confirming the order, the system forms a
range of the bullions subject to sale in terms of the order.
[0269] After the system has formed the range of the bullions
subject to sale, the order for selling gold is directed to the
broker (or other purchaser) in a way agreed with the broker
(purchaser).
[0270] The fact of selling the gold is recorded in the system after
the gold has been sold.
[0271] In the system, the following occurs automatically: [0272]
the order status is changed to "completed"; [0273] the bullions
reserved by the order for selling are marked as sold.
[0274] In the event of growth of popularity of the offered
electronic currency as a means of saving, the gold substantiation
will grow proportionally to this demand. High liquidity of the
global market allows to timely ensure such increase of
gold-backing. Besides, the growing demand for savings in the
substantiated electronic currency will lead to growth of gold
price, which means a smaller amount of gold will substantiate a
bigger amount of savings.
[0275] Carrying out payments in the system almost instantaneously
ensures high speed of funds turnover. This allows to minimize the
amount of electronic currency necessary for servicing the trade
turnover.
[0276] FIG. 2 illustrates one exemplary method of operation of the
system for issuance and circulation of electronic currency
illustrated in FIG. 1, and in particular a method of the Operator
working with the system. At step 21, the Operator may purchase an
initial reserve of an asset (e.g., gold) from a broker. At step 22,
the Operator may request issuance of an electronic valuable from
the Issuance Center (e.g., an electronic currency) using the
Management Module. At step 23, the Issuance Center verifies the
existence and amount of the reserve asset is sufficient to
substantiate the requested issuance of an electronic valuable. At
step 24, the Issuance Center releases an amount of the electronic
valuables equivalent in value to all or part of the amount of the
reserve of assets, i.e. transfers the electronic valuable from the
Operators pre-issuance wallet to the Operator's issuance wallet in
the Settlement Network. At step 25, the Operator may purchase an
additional amount of the reserve asset from a broker, sufficient to
request an equivalent increase in further issuance of the
electronic valuable. At step 26, the Operator may then sell the
issued electronic currency to one or more users of the system
(e.g., end users). At step 27, the Issuance Center may, if
technically possible, monitor the current value of the asset
reserve and the volume of the issued electronic valuable, and
automatically purchase additional backing (i.e., the reserve asset)
from a broker if insufficient backing is detected.
[0277] FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary method of operation of
the system for issuance and circulation of electronic currency
illustrated in FIG. 1, and in particular a method of the Client
working with the system. At step 31, the Client purchases an
initial reserve of an asset (e.g., barrels of oil) from a broker.
At step 32, the Client requests issuance of an electronic valuable
from the Issuance Center (e.g., an electronic currency) using the
Management Module. At step 33, the Issuance Center, if technically
possible, verifies the existence and amount of the reserve asset is
sufficient to substantiate the requested issuance of an electronic
valuable. At step 34, the Issuance Center releases an amount of the
electronic valuable equivalent in value to all or part of the
amount of the reserve of an asset, i.e. transfers the electronic
valuable to the Client's issuance wallet in the Settlement Network.
At step 35, the Client may purchase an additional amount of the
reserve assets, sufficient to request an equivalent increase in
issuance of the electronic valuable. At step 36, Client may then
sell the issued electronic currency to one or more users at a rate
set by the Client. At step 37, the Issuance Center may, if
technically possible, monitor the current value of the asset
reserve and the volume of the issued electronic valuable.
[0278] FIG. 4 contains a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method
for maintaining a reserve of tangible or intangible assets that
substantiate an electronic currency (e.g., gold), according to the
present disclosure. Prior to or while carrying out the method,
various parameters may be defined or dynamically adjusted as
described in the various formulas and equations disclosed herein.
In some aspects, a threshold minimum and maximum amount of value of
one or more tangible assets in the reserve, necessary to fully
substantiate the electronic currency is set by an operator of the
reserve. In other aspects, these and other parameters may be
controlled by software (e.g., a management module associated with
the reserve), or by a remote server. As illustrated by this method,
the sufficiency of a reserve of assets used to substantiate an
electronic currency may be continuously monitored, in view of the
number and value of orders for purchasing or selling said
electronic currency being made at any given time point (41). The
purchase or sale of electronic currency requires a concomitant
increase or decrease in the amount of substantiation needed to
fully back the issued currency. As such, when the amount of value
of the one or more tangible assets in the reserve id determined to
have reached either of the threshold minimum or maximum amounts of
value at (42), a purchase/sale of tangible or intangible assets at
an external market must be completed in order to maintain full
substantiation (43). The operator (or the management module, etc.)
may calculate the amount of value of one or more tangible assets
that may be purchased/sold at the external market based upon any
one of the formulas and/or one or more of the parameters disclosed
herein. If neither of the thresholds is reached at a given moment,
or when adequate amounts of tangible or intangible assets have been
purchased/sold, the method proceeds to the continuous monitoring
mode (41) and may repeat the cycle. In doing so, the method allows
an operator to maintain full substantiation of an electronic
currency backed by tangible or intangible assets held in the
operator's reserve. While not shown here, the system may be
implemented in a manner that allows for substantiation of a
plurality of electronic currencies. To do so, the calculation step
performed at (42) should account for the additional currencies, as
described by the alternative formulas described herein.
[0279] As further illustrated by this example, the calculation step
may utilize various equations and parameters to determine the
amount of value of the tangible assets to be sold or purchased from
the external market. This particular example illustrates a system
based on a pair of equations for buying and selling operations.
However, as described above additional equations and parameters may
be used, depending on the needs of a particular implementation. The
particular equations selected for this illustration are
non-limiting.
[0280] FIG. 5 illustrates a process of generating electronic
currency at the stage of the system's launch and its issuance into
the system according to one exemplary aspect of the present
invention. At step 501, the issuance center generates the
electronic currency by creating a first block in a blockchain using
a mining operation that generates a maximum possible amount of the
electronic currency for the system. For this, the program of the
issuance center creates the initial genesis block that gives start
to the future blockchain. Then the program creates at least two
nodes and transfers them the genesis block. The two nodes being
communicatively linked, they interact with each other and
synchronize their blocks, forming a uniform chain. The program
algorithm of the nodes is configured so that the first block
created by the nodes after the genesis block generates a maximum
amount of the electronic currency possible for the system. The
maximum amount possible is defined by the Operator of the system as
a constant number. This amount is defined taking into account
Operator's wish and technical possibilities of storing information.
E.g. the amount of currency units may be equal to or less than the
maximum amount of units that can be saved into a memory cell of a
given size. For a 64 bit memory cell the amount of currency units
may be equal to or less than 2.sup.63-1, that is the maximum amount
of units that can be saved into a memory cell of this size. The
program of the issuance center then defines which of the nodes
contains the block that stores the generated electronic currency,
then the program creates a pre-issuance wallet at step 502 and
performs a transaction in the two nodes network, by which all the
generated electronic currency is transferred to the pre-issuance
wallet at step 503.
[0281] After the generated electronic currency is transferred to
the pre-issuance wallet, the program of the issuance center creates
at least one more new node and links it into the two nodes network.
Therefore synchronization between the nodes take place. After that
the network operation is stopped and the first two nodes are
terminated to eliminate the risk of loosing information on the keys
used for electronic currency generation. The blockchain base of the
remaining third node is copied to the nodes of the settlement
network created aside of the issuance center. After the blockchain
base is copied into the settlement network, the blockchain
formation continues in the settlement network, and thus the third
node becomes unnecessary and may be terminated The settlement
network comprises at least two nodes and may operate in at least
one data center. All the nodes of the settlement network are
controlled by the Operator of the system. At step 504, the issuance
center creates an issuance wallet within the issuance center. At
step 505, the issuance center checks whether at least a portion of
the generated electronic currency is substantiated by tangible or
intangible assets contained in a reserve of an operator of the
system. At step 506, the issuance center performs a primary
issuance of a substantiated portion of electronic currency by
transferring a portion of the generated electronic currency from
the pre-issuance wallet to the issuance wallet within the issuance
center. Notably, the amount of the transferred portion of the
electronic currency corresponds to the amount of the tangible or
intangible assets contained in the reserve. Next, the issuance
center makes the issued electronic currency available for purchase
by the clients of the system and further circulation. Lastly, at
step 507, the issuance center, in response to a payment from a
client, transfers a portion of the electronic currency from the
issuance wallet of the operator to a client wallet.
[0282] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary structure of funds and
reserves of a substantiated electronic currency payment system
(mono-currency variant) in one aspect of the present invention.
[0283] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a general-purpose computer
system (which may be a personal computer or a server) on which the
disclosed systems and methods can be implemented. It should be
appreciated that the detailed general-purpose computer system can
correspond to the computer system described above with respect to
FIG. 1.
[0284] As shown in FIG. 7, the computer system 20 includes a
central processing unit 21, a system memory 22 and a system bus 23
connecting the various system components, including the memory
associated with the central processing unit 21. The system bus 23
is realized like any bus structure known from the prior art,
including in turn a bus memory or bus memory controller, a
peripheral bus and a local bus, which is able to interact with any
other bus architecture. The system memory includes read only memory
(ROM) 24 and random-access memory (RAM) 25. The basic input/output
system (BIOS) 26 includes the basic procedures ensuring the
transfer of information between elements of the personal computer
20, such as those at the time of loading the operating system with
the use of the ROM 24.
[0285] The personal computer 20, in turn, includes a hard disk 27
for reading and writing of data, a magnetic disk drive 28 for
reading and writing on removable magnetic disks 29 and an optical
drive 30 for reading and writing on removable optical disks 31,
such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and other optical information media. The
hard disk 27, the magnetic disk drive 28, and the optical drive 30
are connected to the system bus 23 across the hard disk interface
32, the magnetic disk interface 33 and the optical drive interface
34, respectively. The drives and the corresponding computer
information media are power-independent modules for storage of
computer instructions, data structures, program modules and other
data of the personal computer 20.
[0286] The present disclosure provides the implementation of a
system that uses a hard disk 27, a removable magnetic disk 29 and a
removable optical disk 31, but it should be understood that it is
possible to employ other types of computer information media 56
which are able to store data in a form readable by a computer
(solid state drives, flash memory cards, digital disks,
random-access memory (RAM) and so on), which are connected to the
system bus 23 via the controller 55.
[0287] The computer 20 has a file system 36, where the recorded
operating system 35 is kept, and also additional program
applications 37, other program modules 38 and program data 39. The
user is able to enter commands and information into the personal
computer 20 by using input devices (keyboard 40, mouse 42). Other
input devices (not shown) can be used: microphone, joystick, game
controller, scanner, and so on. Such input devices usually plug
into the computer system 20 through a serial port 46, which in turn
is connected to the system bus, but they can be connected in other
ways, for example, with the aid of a parallel port, a game port or
a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type of display
device is also connected to the system bus 23 across an interface,
such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor 47, the
personal computer can be equipped with other peripheral output
devices (not shown), such as loudspeakers, a printer, and so
on.
[0288] The personal computer 20 is able to operate within a network
environment, using a network connection to one or more remote
computers 49. The remote computer (or computers) 49 are also
personal computers or servers having the majority or all of the
aforementioned elements in describing the nature of a personal
computer 20, as shown in FIG. 4. Other devices can also be present
in the computer network, such as routers, network stations, peer
devices or other network nodes.
[0289] Network connections can form a local-area computer network
(LAN) 50, such as a wired and/or wireless network, and a wide-area
computer network (WAN). Such networks are used in corporate
computer networks and internal company networks, and they generally
have access to the Internet. In LAN or WAN networks, the personal
computer 20 is connected to the local-area network 50 across a
network adapter or network interface 51. When networks are used,
the personal computer 20 can employ a modem 54 or other modules for
providing communications with a wide-area computer network such as
the Internet. The modem 54, which is an internal or external
device, is connected to the system bus 23 by a serial port 46. It
should be noted that the network connections are only examples and
need not depict the exact configuration of the network, i.e., in
reality there are other ways of establishing a connection of one
computer to another by technical communication modules, such as
Bluetooth.
[0290] In various aspects, the systems and methods described herein
may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any
combination thereof. If implemented in software, the methods may be
stored as one or more instructions or code on a non-transitory
computer-readable medium. Computer-readable medium includes data
storage. By way of example, and not limitation, such
computer-readable medium can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM,
Flash memory or other types of electric, magnetic, or optical
storage medium, or any other medium that can be used to carry or
store desired program code in the form of instructions or data
structures and that can be accessed by a processor of a general
purpose computer.
[0291] In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features
of the aspects are disclosed herein. It will be appreciated that in
the development of any actual implementation of the present
disclosure, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made
in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, and that these
specific goals will vary for different implementations and
different developers. It will be appreciated that such a
development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would
nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of
ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this
disclosure.
[0292] Furthermore, it is to be understood that the phraseology or
terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not
of restriction, such that the terminology or phraseology of the
present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled in the
art in light of the teachings and guidance presented herein, in
combination with the knowledge of the skilled in the relevant
art(s). Moreover, it is not intended for any term in the
specification or claims to be ascribed an uncommon or special
meaning unless explicitly set forth as such.
[0293] The various aspects disclosed herein encompass present and
future known equivalents to the known modules referred to herein by
way of illustration. Moreover, while aspects and applications have
been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in
the art having the benefit of this disclosure that many more
modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing
from the inventive concepts disclosed herein.
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