Facebook owner files trademark applications for crypto and DeFi
Social media giant Meta, formerly Facebook, is registering eight new trademark applications related to the metaverse, cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi).
The trademark applications, which are on track for approval by January 2023, include crypto trading, blockchain software, digital asset wallets and exchanges.
One of these applications filed by Facebook owner with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) includes a trademark for online networking and dating services. In this sense, the authors of the document propose a subdivision specifically customized for people interested in cryptocurrency investing.
As for non-cryptocurrency trademark applications, it referenced virtual reality and augmented reality advertising that better aligns with a recent commitment to the “metaverse.”
Meta also applied in January for trademark registration in Brazil that would allow the firm to design, develop, and provide hardware/software for bitcoin and a variety of crypto-related services.
“These filings reflect the company’s strategy for moving into the metaverse. Meta clearly has significant plans for the virtual economy that will drive it. Meta’s latest trademark filings will surely be of interest to participants in the financial sector and beyond,” said Mike Kondoudis, Washington, D.C.-based trademark lawyer, in a statement.
Major brands are gearing up to enter crypto space
Last year alone, several major companies applied for blockchain-related patents. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) filed last month an application to provide an online marketplace for various digital goods including virtual reality and augmented reality software, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and online marketplaces.
If the exchange operator follows up with these plans, it would offer cryptocurrency trading services that would facilitate the “financial exchange of virtual currency.”
In turn, it’s been obvious that the social media conglomerate was going to dip its toes into crypto territory for months now. It has also shifted its focus to Web3 and the Metaverse after Facebook’s embattled cryptocurrency project came to an end.
Facebook Inc. and its partners were redesigning the proposed cryptocurrency to ensure that Diem is not being built to compete with sovereign currencies or interfere with monetary policy. The changes were apparently an effort to woo reluctant global regulators and rebuild momentum for the plan, which ultimately didn’t see the light of day.
More than two years after it was first announced, crypto-friendly bank Silvergate Capital bought the assets of the Diem Association, which runs the Facebook-backed cryptocurrency venture for $182 million.
