  Although blockchain technology was first introduced in 2008 and materialised
in 2009, the early usage of blockchain were mainly limited to financial
technologies, particularly cryptocurrencies. Later, blockchain became a
widespread emerging technology, utilised in multifaceted sectors and
applications. In fact, various new and innovative application of blockchain and
distributed ledger technologies are still continuously being researched and
explored. On the other hand, smart-contracts were first introduced in 1990s,
however, it did not gain enough popularity until being integrated with
blockchain technologies lately. The duo lately been seen as the key to many
innovations in various industries and sectors. So, we took data from 1445
blockchain-related patent documents and tried to map out the historical and
current trends in patenting activities in the blockchain field. This helps us
get a better grasp of how blockchain technologies are evolving and being
tracked. In addition to serving as an indicator of science and technology
growth, patents are also used to judge the research potential and development
of a particular technology.
