Meta trademark filing hints at plans for crypto payments platform

Published at: May 18, 2022

Social media giant Facebook's parent company, Meta, may be planning to launch a payments platform with support for cryptocurrency. 

According to records submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, on May 13, Meta filed five applications for its namesake to be used in a platform called Meta Pay. The filings included Meta’s name for use in a “online social networking service for investors allowing financial trades and exchange of digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens and utility tokens.”

Meta Platforms Inc. (i.e. Facebook) has filed 5 new trademark applications for:"META PAY"The filings indicate that @Meta plans to launch a payment platform called "META PAY" for users to exchange old-fashioned regular money and cryptocurrencies.#Meta $FB#Metaverse pic.twitter.com/W2ObxgAWfl

— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) May 18, 2022

In March, Meta filed eight trademark applications with the USPTO related to Metaverse and blockchain technology. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said on May 9 that the company had begun testing digital collectibles on Instagram, signaling a move toward adding nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Meta currently controls several major apps including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Facebook.

Other companies based in the United States including Gatorade producer Stokely-Van Camp, the Air Force, the New York Stock Exchange, and Mastercard have filed similar applications related to possible entries into the Metaverse or otherwise expanding into the crypto space. According to the USPTO website, trademark applications take roughly eight months to process the first action as of March.

Related: Meta’s Reality Labs posts $2.9B loss: ‘I recognize it’s expensive,’ says Zuck

Since rebranding from Facebook to Meta in October 2021, the social media giant has announced many initiatives seemingly aimed at extending a hand to crypto users. In addition to its work online, Meta also recently expanded its real-world presence with the opening of a brick-and-mortar metaverse-themed retail store in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tags
Related Posts
Facebook-backed Libra welcomes Blockchain Capital as new member
The Facebook-initiated Libra blockchain project continues to grow as its governing body adds a new major industry partner. Blockchain Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in the blockchain industry, has joined the Libra Association, according to an official announcement Friday. Alongside the other 26 association participants, Blockchain Capital will now be working to create a “more equitable payment system” with Libra. Bart Stephens, co-founder and managing partner at Blockchain Capital, said, “Leveraging blockchain technology to improve financial access and promote innovation has been at the core of Blockchain Capital’s portfolio strategy.” The Libra Association was formed in June …
Blockchain / Sept. 18, 2020
Switzerland’s top online retailer completes transaction with digital franc
Galaxus, the largest online retailer in Switzerland, could start accepting payments in a stablecoin issued by local cryptocurrency bank Sygnum. According to an Aug. 27 tweet by Sygnum, the companies have just completed an electronic commerce payment using Sygnum Bank’s stablecoin known as Digital Swiss Franc (DCHF). As officially announced, the e-commerce transaction was enabled by Denmark-based crypto payment processor Coinify. Launched in March 2020, Sygnum’s DCHF stablecoin is pegged one-to-one to with the Swiss franc, and intends to eliminate the need for card systems, reduce settlement costs and fraud, as well as provide instant transactions. As previously reported, Sygnum …
Bitcoin / Aug. 27, 2020
Major Asian Ticketing Agency Accepts Bitcoin on Lightning Network
Vietnamese online ticketing agency Future.Travel now accepts Bitcoin (BTC) payments via the Lightning Network (LN), with funds being converted into local currency at the time of sale. To enable LN-based Bitcoin payments, Future.Travel collaborated with Canada-based tech firm Neutronpay, which will provide Future.Travel its multi-currency merchant platform, according to an April 20 announcement. With the newly integrated option, the BTC transaction processing time will ostensibly be cut down to three to four seconds in most cases. Eliminating fraud, reducing transaction processing time Overall, Future.Travel has been supporting BTC payments for over six years and recently added other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin …
Adoption / April 20, 2020
Billionaire Demands Facebook Reveal Who Placed Scam Bitcoin Ads About Him
Janet Jackson’s billionaire ex husband, Wissam Al Mana, has demanded that Facebook reveal who was behind ads on the platform that used his image to promote a crypto scam. The case stems from late February when Al Mana filed a lawsuit against the social media giant about a cryptocurrency scam using his name to promote itself in the Middle East. Al Mana claimed defamation, malicious falsehood and false advertising from the purported cryptocurrency firm ‘Bitcoin Trader’. One man to sue them all Facebook has since deleted the offending ads, but Al Mana is concerned fraudsters can publish similar ads containing …
Business / March 25, 2020
European Commission Exec Questions Facebook’s Libra Stablecoin
Executive Vice President-Designate of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, has questioned the motives behind Facebook’s forthcoming Libra stablecoin. In an interview with the Financial Services Union of Denmark, a fragment of which was published on Oct. 1, Vestager addressed the possible impact from Libra’s launch — such as competition due to Facebook’s multimillion user base and distortion of competition in the payment services market. Vestager argued: "It's a pretty new thing that we are starting to question something that does not exist yet. But it is so far in the future that we cannot tell if this is going to …
Altcoin / Oct. 1, 2019