In a method of providing funds to a monetary repository, information is received identifying a payee and request by the payee to convert a negotiable instrument made to the payee to funds. In response to the information, confirmation is received whether to convert the negotiable instrument to funds. An image of the endorsed negotiable instrument is received. If a determination is made to convert the negotiable instrument to funds, an amount of funds corresponding to a value of the negotiable instrument is directed to a repository.

Apparatus and associated methods relate to presenting for selection services comprising at least one bundled set of healthcare services to be performed separately by respective providers, determining a bundle price for the at least one bundled set of healthcare services, and in response to receiving payment in an amount of the bundle price, generating a purchase data record selectively redeemable to receive each of the at least one bundled set of healthcare services, and transmitting a unique confirmation number generated for the purchase data record. One or more service of the bundled set may be a dental or veterinary service. The bundle price may be based on a location or time at which at least one service will be performed and may be determined using a user's remaining insurance deductible. Payment may be disbursed to multiple providers of the bundled set of healthcare services. A payment may be virtual funds.

The present invention relates to a novel coin counting lottery vending machine with selective cryptocurrency support. The machine combines the functions of enabling users to buy lottery tickets using coins, cash and/or cryptocurrency and converting coins into cash or cryptocurrency. The machine includes a coin receptacle, a ticket scanner to check the winning status of a previously purchased ticket, a ticket slot for receiving play slips for draw tickets, a cash slot, a touch screen, and a dispensing tray. The machine can also be connected to a lottery provider server for checking status of a ticket and storing information about dispensed tickets. The machine can also be connected to a cryptocurrency exchange for performing cryptocurrency transactions.

A method and system are provided to support a decentralized distributed ledger in which transactions are recorded by parties to the transactions without the use of a blockchain. A distributed ledger system provides a protocol framework that supports the development of protocol flows. A protocol flow is computer code that controls the performance of a transaction by the party or parties to the transaction. Protocol flows can be developed for different types of transactions. The distributed ledger system allows transactions to be proposed, accepted, and notarized by a notary and stored without the use of a blockchain ledger. The distributed ledger system can avoid the expense of the computational and storage resources needed to redundantly verify a transaction and store evidence on the many nodes of a blockchain distributed ledger.

A method for a protocol in digital asset trading includes step as follow. Trading information is exchanged between the first and the second nodes, in which a first digital currency belonging to the first node and a second digital currency belonging to the second node are expected to be exchanged, and prices of the first and second digital currencies are time-dependent. An atomic swap script and a smart contract are generated. A compensation fee to be paid to the second node by the first node is computed. A redeeming or refunding event is performed in response to the atomic swap script and the smart contract with paying the compensation fee to the second node, in which the compensation fee is dependent on the prices of the first and second digital currencies such that is time-dependent.

An intermediary application enables loyalty program members to redeem their loyalty points or miles through purchases with a merchant different from the business entity associated with the member's loyalty program. Members of a loyalty program pay merchants using loyalty points in exchange for goods and services. A virtual credit card is created to complete the purchase from the online merchant. Customer behavior is collected at the SKU level to help a loyalty program get to know their members better and further enhance the customer experience overall.

An example computing device is programmed to: (a) detect an attempt to secondarily access a user account, the user account being involved in an ongoing primary financial session with a primary device; (b) raise the level of authentication required to secondarily access the user account beyond that which was required to access the account for the primary financial session; (c) when successful authentication at the raised level is achieved, permit secondary access to the user account through a secondary financial session and compare one or more user activities occurring during the secondary financial session to a plurality of fraud profiles; and (d) indicate fraud when comparison of the user activity is consistent with one or more of the plurality of fraud profiles.

An open electronic commerce system includes a user computing device holding a virtual currency, as a node of a blockchain network; a virtual currency exchange server configured to support virtual currency trading; a point exchange service server configured to determine a reference price parameter from the virtual currency exchange server when there is a request for exchange of the virtual currency that the user computing device holds, and to exchange the virtual currency for a point corresponding to the virtual currency requested to be exchanged; and an electronic commerce server configured to provide support for purchase of an item with the point.

A method for mediating an atomic swap includes: receiving a swap request from a first computing device including a first address associated with a first blockchain and a network identifier associated with a second blockchain; identifying a second computing device using the network identifier and a second address associated with the second blockchain; generating a proof value and a hashlock using the proof value; transmitting (i) the hashlock and second address to the first computing device, and (ii) the hashlock and first address to the second computing device; verifying a first blockchain transaction on the first blockchain for transfer to the first address, and a second blockchain transaction on the second blockchain for transfer to the second address; and transmitting the proof value to blockchains node associated with the first and second blockchains.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system for minimizing computational processing for converting user resources to resources supported by third party entities. In particular, the system may be configured to determine that a user has scanned a code projected on an entity device via a third party application present on a user device of the user, wherein the entity device is associated with an entity, establish a first connection with the entity device, establish a second connection between the user device and the entity device based on determining that the user has scanned the code, determine that the user has inserted user resources into the entity device, via the first connection, convert the user resources to resources supported by a third party entity, and display in real-time, information associated with the resources on the third party application.