Latest Visa Trademark Filings Hint at Crypto Wallet Plans

Global credit card giant Visa has made a number of recent trademark applications hinting at a larger move into crypto markets.

On Oct. 27, licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis revealed the latest trademark applications for credit giant Visa.

The applications suggest that the firm is looking to develop or launch its own digital asset wallet. The two trademark filings included software for managing digital, virtual, and cryptocurrency transactions, and cryptocurrency wallets.

Additionally, there were provisions for auditing cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, and blockchain assets.

Furthermore, the trademark applications did not stop at crypto transaction software and wallets. They also included provisions for nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

Visa also applied for trademarks for “non-downloadable virtual goods” such as NFT collectibles. There were even hints of Metaverse ambitions in the descriptions:

“Providing virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, leisure or entertainment purposes accessible in the virtual world.”

This sounds like a fully-fledged Metaverse rather than providing financial services in existing virtual worlds.

Visa has made some key partnerships with crypto companies over the past year or so. Its most recent was with Blockchain.com this week to offer a crypto debit card. Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, said at the time that worldwide acceptance was necessary for crypto adoption to continue to grow.

Earlier this month, Visa partnered with FTX to roll out crypto debit cards in 40 countries. The firm has also linked up with investment banking giant JPMorgan. The two will work on private blockchains to facilitate cross-border transactions.

Last year, Visa partnered with as many as 60 leading crypto companies including Coinbase, Binance, and Crypto.com. The move was to accelerate card programs to boost crypto adoption worldwide. Also last year, Visa CEO Charles Scharf said that the firm is open to accepting Bitcoin if there is enough customer demand.

It is clear that the company has big ambitions in the crypto space so its own digital wallet would be the next logical step.

Crypto markets retreat

The cryptocurrency market has seen some rare bullish action this week. However, as the week draws to a close it appears that momentum is fizzling out. Total market capitalization has declined by 2.4% on the day in a fall to $1.02 trillion at the time of writing.

Bitcoin has dropped around 2% in a fall to $20,255 and Ethereum is down 3% at $1,506 according to CoinGecko.

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