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- Visa moves forward with its crypto agenda by filing two diversified crypto-related trademark applications.
- Visa has partnered with over 60 crypto firms, including wallet service providers and crypto exchanges, to enable crypto payments for over 80 million merchants worldwide.
Global financial services behemoth Visa has filed two crypto-related trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) detailing plans to manage cryptocurrency transactions and create a virtual environment “in which users can interact for recreational, leisure or entertainment purposes.”
The applications, which were filed on October 22 and disclosed by Washington-based trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis on October 27 further showed that the company planned on launching cryptocurrency wallets and software for auditing cryptocurrencies.
The applications also showed that the firm has its eyes peeled on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and other digital collectables as it plans on providing temporary use of non-downable software for users to view, access, store, and transmit them.
Visa’s crypto journey dates as far back as 2014 when Charlie Scharf, its former CEO, noted that there were some “interesting things” about Bitcoin. Early last year, Alfred Kelly the firm’s current CEO noted that crypto could become “extremely popular” in the next five years adding that even though that was not the case, he wanted to make sure that the company was in the middle of the crypto revolution.
Visa has been slowly stretching its tentacles into the crypto-ecosystem partnering with more than 60 crypto firms, including wallet service providers and crypto exchanges, to enable crypto payments at over 80 million merchants worldwide. In 2020, the San Francisco-based payments giant filed a patent application to create digital currency on a centralized computer using blockchain technology.
In December 2021, it launched crypto advisory services to help educate more customers about the nascent asset class. Last August, the firm purchased a $150,000 Crypto Punk NFT for its corporate collection later launching a program to help creators navigate NFTs. Earlier this month, Visa partnered with FTX to help the exchange rollout FTX-branded debit cards for the Latin American Asian and European markets.
That said, Visa is not the only Institution that has been dabbling with the crypto sector. The number of firms making crypto-related trademark applications with the USPTO has been surging with Western Union and Paypal filing trademarks for various crypto services last week. Formula One, Ford, Facebook owner Meta, Ecommerce giant E-bay, Mastercard, and racing giant Formula One are some of the other global brands that have filed for crypto-focussed trademarks in the past year.
