China e-commerce giant Alibaba has filed a patent for a blockchain solution that allows for third-party intervention in the case of illegal activities.

The new system is designed as a way to transact allowing authorised parties to freeze accounts that are processing illegal transactions. It will work with smart contracts, according to the March patent filing. The US Patent and Trademark Office published Alibaba’s patent application on 4th October.

“Along with the advancement in information technologies, the blockchain technology has attracted extensive attention for advantages of openness, unchangeability, and decentralisation,” the patent application reads. “In applications, the blockchain technology is usually applied to store transaction information generated in transaction processes.”

Special features

The patent describes a system that will make use of blockchain for special features, such as being publicly available, immutable and decentralised.

The solution will also include administrative support and supervision of customer accounts that would be restricted and not limit or halt ordinary transactions. It is also designed to resolve issues such as bugs in the upgradable contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.