Meta Files for Eight New Crypto Trademarks

Key Takeaways

Meta has filed for eight crypto-related trademarks, a D.C. trademark lawyer has disclosed on Twitter.
The trademark applications reportedly concern such matters as “crypto tokens,” “blockchain software,” and “virtual currency exchanges,” among others.
Since October, Meta has been increasingly focused on crypto as opposed to its social media applications.

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Meta, formerly Facebook, has filed applications for eight cryptocurrency and Metaverse-related trademarks. The trademarks apply to a variety of blockchain and cryptocurrency subjects, including “virtual currency exchanges” to “crypto tokens.” 

Meta’s Metaverse Moves

Following Facebook’s major pivot and rebrand to all-things Metaverse last October, the company has filed for trademarks hinting at plans for crypto and blockchain applications. 

A trademark lawyer based in Washington, D.C., Michael Kondoudis, announced in a tweet today that Meta had filed eight trademark applications related to its Logo. He wrote that the applications included coverage on “crypto tokens,” “blockchain software,” “virtual currency exchanges,” “financial + currency trading,” and “digital, crypto, and virtual currencies.” 

In a press release, Kondoudis wrote, “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.” 

At the festival South by Southwest this month, Meta’s chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg previewed the company’s NFT plans. This was after a string of moves the company made related to the digital assets space, beginning when company kicked off a wider Metaverse craze in the industry last Fall by announcing it would change its company name to Meta. It spent around $10 billion last year on related plans. In December, Meta made payments on WhatsApp via the Paxos Dollar stablecoin available in a pilot to some users in the United States. On Jan. 31, it joined the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, which served as a pledge not to enforce its cryptocurrency-related patents, in a move that came only days after it sold its Diem stablecoin intellectual property for $200 million. 

In February, the company lost nearly $250 billion in market capitalization in one day in the greatest single-day loss in U.S. equities history. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies.

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