Membrane Labs wins patent for non‑custodial, credit‑aware multi‑chain settlement

Membrane Labs said it received U.S. Patent No. 12,555,099 B1 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Feb. 23, 2026; the patent is titled “Platform for Coordinated Credit‑Based and Non‑Custodial Digital Asset Settlement.” The announcement was distributed via PR Newswire with a NEW YORK dateline and a 06:00 ET timestamp.

The company said the new patent builds on its earlier U.S. Patent No. 11,651,353 B1 (2023) and “extends protection to coordinated, credit‑aware digital asset settlement workflows.” Membrane characterized the two patents together as a package that “establish a protected framework for managing counterparty exposure, netting obligations off‑chain, and orchestrating final settlement across multiple blockchain networks without requiring centralized custody.”

That language frames the patent as addressing a core operational challenge for institutional crypto counterparties: how to settle trades that span blockchains while limiting custodial risk and capital drag. Membrane’s materials emphasize workflows that manage counterparty exposure, perform off‑chain netting to reduce gross obligations, and then coordinate final settlement across separate chains. In in‑house promotional copy the company added that the system “oversees all trade requests, such as a trade of Bitcoin for Ethereum, each using its own blockchain.”

Carson Cook, chief executive of Membrane Labs, framed the patent as a strategic milestone. “Our second settlement patent reinforces our strategy to build the settlement layer for institutional digital asset markets,” Cook said. He added that the company’s intellectual property now “spans coordinated, credit‑netted settlement workflows designed to support capital‑efficient market structure without introducing custodial risk.” In expanded in‑house remarks Cook described the patent as recognition of Membrane’s technology and as a step toward making trading “simpler, faster, and safer” for institutional users.

Membrane pitched the patent chiefly at trading desks, lending desks, exchanges and other institutional participants, arguing that as institutional participation in digital assets expands across lending, trading, and tokenized real‑world assets, “robust settlement architecture becomes foundational to supporting institutional scale. Membrane’s expanding IP portfolio formalizes and protects the systems designed to support that evolution.”

The issuance matters to market structure in two ways. First, if the technology is adopted, coordinated credit‑aware settlement could lower margin and capital needs by enabling off‑chain netting before final on‑chain settlement. Second, a patent portfolio focused on non‑custodial settlement can shape vendor economics: it could be used to defend product differentiation or to license aspects of a settlement stack that institutional counterparties prefer to control without transferring custody.

Important details were not disclosed in the company’s releases. The USPTO grant publication, the patent claim language, named inventors, filing and priority dates, and any corresponding international filings were not provided. The release did not name customers, pilots, or commercial deployments. PR Newswire materials included a Membrane Labs logo credit (PRNewsfoto/Membrane Labs) and an infographic referenced in the in‑house release showing many cryptocurrencies linking to Membrane. PR Newswire also listed a contact phone number, 888‑776‑0942 (8 AM - 10 PM ET), for distribution inquiries.

For reporters and market participants the next steps are straightforward: review the USPTO patent text and prosecution history to assess claim breadth, ask the company for deployment and licensing plans, and monitor whether competitors or counterparties adopt similar non‑custodial, credit‑netted architectures.