Meta trademark filing hints at plans for crypto payments platform

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

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.

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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.