In the world of cryptography, patents are the kiss of death. If you patent an algorithm and do not provide royalty free, non-exclusive, transferable, permanent

In the world of cryptography, patents are the kiss of death. If you patent an algorithm and do not provide royalty free, non-exclusive, transferable, permanent grants, then no one (or very very few people) will use that algorithm. Sometimes an inventor can make a little bit of money from a crypto patent, but to do it you need to get an organization like the U.S. DoD to pay for it, and that's not easy. It's a lot easier to use one's cryptographic innovations to burnish one's reputation and leverage that into very high consulting rates, say, or founding a startup.