Cryptocurrency system having integrated electronic delivery features

Abstract

A method includes conveying a cryptocurrency transaction to a peer-to-peer network, wherein said cryptocurrency transaction having encoded therein an email address and to convey goods or services embodied in an electronic form to the email address in response to receipt of said cryptocurrency transaction on said peer-to-peer network. The conveying of goods or services includes transmitting over the Internet in conformance with an email protocol. The goods or services includes event admission tickets, music recordings, video, text, game content, live event broadcast, software, encryption keys or passwords.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of effectuating a purchase by a cryptocurrency client, comprising:
 extracting, from a scan of a quick response (QR) code, a cryptocurrency address;   determining, based on the cryptocurrency address, that a destination indication is to be conveyed in a cryptocurrency transaction to a peer-to-peer network for delivery of a good or a service in an electronic form to the destination indication;   generating the cryptocurrency transaction having encoded therein the destination indication; and   conveying the cryptocurrency transaction to the peer-to-peer network based on the cryptocurrency address.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the cryptocurrency transaction comprises a transaction formed in accordance with a Bitcoin protocol; and   the destination indication is encoded in an OP_Return type data payload of the transaction.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the destination indication is encoded in a multisig field of the transaction. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the destination indication comprises an email address. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the destination indication comprises a telephone number. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the cryptocurrency address, that the destination indication is to be conveyed in the cryptocurrency transaction comprises:
 querying a remote database or an application programming interface (API) for the cryptocurrency address; and   receiving, from the remote database or the API, an indication that the cryptocurrency address is stored in the remote database.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the cryptocurrency address, that the destination indication is to be conveyed in the cryptocurrency transaction comprises:
 parsing the cryptocurrency address; and   based on the parsing, determining the cryptocurrency address comprises an indication that the cryptocurrency address is associated with a service that conveys a good or a service in an electronic form to a destination indication encoded in a cryptocurrency transaction.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the indication that the cryptocurrency address is associated with the service that conveys the good or the service in the electronic form comprises at least one of:
 a prefix to the cryptocurrency address; or   a pattern within the cryptocurrency address.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the cryptocurrency transaction having encoded therein the destination indication comprises encoding the destination indication in the cryptocurrency transaction based on an encryption scheme in which the cryptocurrency address is used as an encryption key. 
     
     
         10 . The method to  claim 1 , further comprising scanning the QR code. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the good or the service comprises one of: an event admission ticket, a music recording, a video, a text, game content, a live event broadcast, a software, an encryption key, or a password. 
     
     
         12 . A method of effectuating a purchase order by a merchant fulfillment module, comprising:
 detecting a cryptocurrency transaction having encoded therein a destination indication for delivery of a good or a service in an electronic form; and   taking one or more actions to convey the good or the service in the electronic form to the destination indication.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the destination indication comprises an email address. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein taking the one or more actions to convey the good or the service comprises transmitting the good or the service in one or more email communications transmitted to the email address over an Internet. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein taking the one or more actions to convey the good or the service comprises:
 generating a hyperlink which enables a user receiving the hyperlink to consume the good or the service embodied in the electronic form; and   transmitting the hyperlink in one or more email communications transmitted to the email address over an Internet.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the email address is encoded in the cryptocurrency transaction as an output address of the cryptocurrency transaction. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the destination indication comprises a telephone number. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , where taking the one or more actions to convey the good or the service comprises transmitting the good or the service in one or more electronic messages to the telephone number. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the good or the service comprises one of: an event admission ticket, a music recording, a video, a text, game content, a live event broadcast, a software, an encryption key or a password. 
     
     
         20 . An apparatus comprising:
 a memory having executable instructions stored thereon; and   a processor configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the apparatus to:
 extract, from a scan of a quick response (QR) code, a cryptocurrency address; 
 determine, based on the cryptocurrency address, that a destination indication is to be conveyed in a cryptocurrency transaction to a peer-to-peer network for delivery of a good or a service in an electronic form to the destination indication; 
 generate the cryptocurrency transaction having encoded therein the destination indication; and 
 convey the cryptocurrency transaction to the peer-to-peer network based on the cryptocurrency address. 
   
     
     
         21 . An apparatus comprising:
 a memory having executable instructions stored thereon; and   a processor configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the apparatus to:
 detect a cryptocurrency transaction having encoded therein a destination indication for delivery of a good or a service in an electronic form; and 
 take one or more actions to convey the good or the service in the electronic form to the destination indication.