Payments giant Mastercard has filed 15 nonfungible token (NFT) and metaverse trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, according to a Cointelegraph report Monday (April 11).
Mastercard is planning a digital community to allow interactions with digital assets, metaverse-based payment card processing, an eMarketplace for buyers and sellers of downloadable digital goods, virtual reality events and more, the report said.
One trademark filing for the company’s “Priceless” slogan includes artwork, text, audio and video that are authenticated by NFTs, while another shows Mastercard’s red and yellow logo for processing card transactions for goods and services in the metaverse and other virtual worlds.
Another patent would add the Mastercard name to concerts, sporting events, festivals, award ceremonies and financial education conferences in the metaverse, the report said.
Mastercard hired 500 new employees in February to consult with banks and merchants about adopting cryptocurrency-enabled technologies and NFTs. Visa and American Express have also submitted crypto-related patent filings.
Visa filed a patent application in 2020 to create a digital currency and is developing a native digital currency on its card networks. American Express submitted seven applications related to its branding with virtual payment cards, concierge services in the metaverse and using its cards at an NFT marketplace.
Related: Lego, Epic Games Building Metaverse For Kids
Last week, Danish toymaker Lego teamed up with Fortnite maker Epic Games to create a kid-friendly metaverse.
The news comes almost a year after Epic Games announced it had raised $1 billion, money it said it would use to fund its metaverse ambitions. Epic Games has spoken of building Fortnite, a massive, multiplayer survival game that has hundreds of millions of users, into a proper metaverse.
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