Hedera-Powered SKUx Secures Dual U.S. Patents for Innovative Payment Processing with ZK-Proofs

• SKUx, which is building on the Hedera blockchain, has attained two patents from the U.S. patents office for item-level payments processing technology.
• The first covers promotional offers and payments, a market that hit $200 billion in 2023, while the second covers coupon and gift card integration, a market projected to hit $1 billion by 2026.

SKUx, a digital payments firm powered by the proof-of-stake blockchain Hedera, has gained two new patents covering payment technology from the U.S. patents office.

The company announced today that it had obtained the two patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) “for item-level payments processing technology.” With the two, it aims to improve its payment solutions, enabling merchants to enhance their consumer experience and product-level promotions.

The first patent, no. 11,288,697 (or the ‘697 patent), targets item-level promotional offers and payments. SKUx can now build a solution that allows payments without requiring a merchant’s PoS system to perform adjudication. This is the process through which the system communicates to external parties to validate the eligibility of a purchase transaction.

Adjudication has been proliferating in recent years, especially in the health benefits market, which was estimated to hit $200 billion last year.

The second patent, no. 11,615,435, or the ‘425 patent, targets coupons and gift cards, allowing SKUx to build solutions that facilitate real-time integration into a customer relationship management (CRM) system. CRMs enable businesses to manage data and communication from existing and prospective clients, such as Zendesk, Salesforce and Freshworks.

With the ‘425 patent, SKUx will offer solutions allowing “real-time tracking of the issuance, redemption, and corresponding insights gained,” which in turn enhances the customer experience, especially for consumer package goods rebates. The volume in this particular sector is expected to hit $1 billion by 2026.

SKUx Building Digital Payment Solutions on Hedera

The patents come at a time when the demand for better item-level payment processes has shot up as customers shift to mobile payments and digital wallets. This changing retail environment is moving toward Web3 and digital asset payments, as well as real-time digital payments, making SKUx’s patents timely.

In his comments, Guy Berg described the patents as a commitment to offering the best digital payments technology. Berg, who is the Senior Vice President of the SKUPay Network, stated:

These and several pending patents demonstrate our commitment to developing digital payment innovations benefiting merchants and their valued partners. Merchants don’t want to share basket information with third parties, and we’re excited to provide a solution that eliminates that need and simultaneously lowers their acceptance costs.

SKUx is one of many startups building their solutions on Hedera, a proof-of-stake blockchain network that boasts of Google, IBM, L.G. and Ubisoft as some of the members of its governing council.

Most recently, NoviqTech, a publicly-traded Australian A.I. company that builds on Hedera, was awarded the  Google Cloud Ready — Sustainability designation in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program.

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