Cody McGrath 
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, may be looking to establish a cryptocurrency-friendly payment platform called Meta Pay according to five trademark applications made to the USPTO.
Meta filed five applications for its namesake to be used in a platform named Meta Pay, according to papers submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, on May 13.
Meta’s name was listed in the applications for an “online social networking service for investors allowing financial transactions and exchange of digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens, and utility tokens.”
Meta filed eight trademark applications with the USPTO in March, all of which were related to the Metaverse and blockchain technology.
On May 9, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the firm has begun testing digital collectibles on Instagram, indicating that nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, might be added. Meta now manages a number of popular apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook.
Other US-based corporations, such as Gatorade maker Stokely-Van Camp, the Air Force, the New York Stock Exchange, and Mastercard, have filed similar applications relating to possible Metaverse additions or other crypto-related expansions.
As of March, trademark applications take about eight months to process the initial step, according to the USPTO website.
Since changing its name from Facebook to Meta in October 2021, the social media behemoth has unveiled a slew of measures ostensibly geared at helping cryptocurrency users.
Meta has increased its real-world presence with the creation of a metaverse-themed retail store in the San Francisco Bay Area, in addition to its online activity.