‘Flurry’ of Walmart Patents Show Willingness to Embrace Crypto, NFTs and the Metaverse
Walmart has developed plans that involve the creation of its own cryptoasset, launch collection non-fungible token (NFT) collections, and (yes, you guessed it) enter the metaverse, per reports citing filings made with the American Patent and Trademark Office.
CNBC reported that Walmart, which was one of the first major retailers to explore the use of blockchain technology in its supply chains, filed a number of trademark applications last month, indicating the firm wants to produce and sell virtual items including electronic devices, toys, sports goods, and grooming products.
One patent application detailed Walmart’s intention to patent the following:
“Financial services, namely, providing a digital currency and a digital token of value for use by members on an online community via a global computer network.”
Another made note of plans to create “downloadable software for use in managing portfolios of digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens and utility tokens” - and “downloadable software for electronic wallet services and downloadable e-wallets.”
Bloomberg called the patent applications “a flurry,” and noted that they had been filed on December 30. Three were made under the firm’s Walmart Connect banner, its “existing digital advertising venture,” and cover the creation of an “exchange for virtual currency and advertising.”
Walmart applied to trademark the use of the firm’s name and its logo in both healthcare services and education on VR and AR platforms.
CNBC quoted a trademark attorney named Josh Gerben as explaining that the filings were “super intense,” due to the fact that “there’s a lot of language” in the applications. This, he
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