A U.S. economist and businessman known for his work in spearheading the early development offutures contracts is seeking a cryptocurrency patent.

Richard Sandor, a former Chicago Board of Trade chief economist and vice president, advanced the utilization of financial futures back in the 1970s, earning him the moniker "the father of financial futures" and, later, "the father of carbon trading," according to Time.

Notably, perhaps, Sandoris now listed as the first of three inventors for the "Secure Electronic Storage Devices for Physical Delivery of Digital Currencies When Trading" patent application, released on August 10 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Sandor is currently the chairman and CEO of Environmental Financial Products LLC, which is listed as the applicant for the patent.The application itself details a hardware concept for the storage of digital currencies tied to derivatives contracts.

It explains:

"The invention relates to a method to facilitate trading of digital currencies, which comprises electronically storing an amount of a digital currency on an electronic storage device or electronic registry; and physically storing the storage device or electronic registry in a secure, physical repository that is not publicly accessible with the storage device or electronic registry available for use in subsequent delivery of the digital currency."

It's the latest submission to focus on cryptocurrency-related derivatives, coming on the heels of news that options exchange CBOE is planning to launch products in this area later this year.

Firms like CME have also moved to obtain intellectual property tied to cryptocurrencies. As CoinDesk previously reported, CME's patent applications reveal an interest in bitcoin mining derivatives.

Richard Sandor image viaJon Lothian News/YouTube

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'Father of Financial Futures' Seeks Cryptocurrency Hardware Patent - CoinDesk