The rate at which technology moves is incredible. Each year looks different from the previous one with new products hitting the market and old ones fading away. The year 2005 looks nothing like 2015 — so much of what is being done today would have been considered impossible 10 years ago.

We can get a measure of this change by investigating patents. Technology that is valuable, either because it is new or because there is still money to be made, will see a lot of patents filed as companies try and keep an edge on their competitors. Conversely, as technology starts to lose its value there will be less filing activity.

Lets take a look at just what has changed in the past few years.

Digital Wallets (ie. Bitcoin)