- American Express filed seven patent applications with which it could be preparing its entry into the metaverse by offering its services virtually.
- With its patents AmEx seeks to secure its trademarks in software, for credit cards, virtual environment, virtual banking services and an NFT market.
- The company is constantly monitoring emerging technologies in search of improving the benefits that its clients receive.
Recently, it was revealed that American Express presented seven trademark applications for your logos and products that could be preparing your entrance into the Metaverse.
The possible foray of American Express (AmEx) into Web3 applications is not surprising. In fact, other big companies like JP Morgan, Mastercard and Visa have already announced their interest. According to USTO, AmEx may be considering offering “virtual services” related to credit card transactions “in the metaverse.”
Better safe than sorry
In patent filings, AmEx seeks to secure its trademarks in software, for credit cards, virtual environment, virtual banking services, and even a market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
In a registry section of patent can be read:
“Assistance with electronic money transfers in the metaverse and other virtual worlds; Banking services in the metaverse and other virtual worlds; Issuance and payment processing of virtual prepaid cards, virtual prepaid gift cards, virtual stored value cards, and virtual payment cards in the metaverse and other virtual worlds”.
Yahoo Finance noted that a spokesperson for AmEx explained that the company is constantly monitoring emerging technologies in search of improving the benefits received by its customers..
“The Metaverse is a space we’re following”, he assured.
However, the spokesperson closed by saying that AmEx has no plans in the Metaverse to share at this time, they are simply evaluating how this new sector evolves.
In this sense, it seems that American Express seeks to prepare for a possible incursion into the Metaverse, but without necessarily having plans, at least for now.
It is worth mentioning that it would not be the first contact between AmEx and the world of nascent technologies such as cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. In 2021, the company entered non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by offering a limited series of 14 NFTs.
Although some important companies still do not see the potential of cryptocurrencies and other technologies, others do not hesitate to venture and bet on it.
As previously mentioned, JP Morgan decided to invest in the Metaverse, specifically in Decentraland, not to mention the fact that it published a report detailing how companies should maximize their opportunities in this new sector.
For those unfamiliar with the term ‘Metaverse’, venture capitalist Matthew Ball defines as “a massive-scale, interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds that can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, rights , objects, communications and payments”.
Namely, The Metaverse, simply put, is a virtual reality world where users can interact just as they do in physical reality.
Although the concept may seem new to many, the reality is that different companies have been working on it for years. However, it gained popularity after Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (previously Facebook) announced that he was developing his own Metaverse.
So, taking this into account, more and more companies are showing interest in this nascent sector. In fact, analysts at Goldman Sachs are of the opinion that the Metaverse could be worth $8 trillion soon.
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