Stephanie Douse 
Meta, the company of Facebook has announced its plans to launch a crypto exchange platform. The Meta logo has been trademarked for crypto tokens, blockchain software, virtual currency exchanges, financial and currency trading, and digital, crypto, and virtual currencies.
The trademark numbers were given on Twitter by trademark lawyer Mike Kondoudis, who specializes in NFT and metaverse trademarks. He also mentioned that “these filings reflect the company’s strategy for moving into the metaverse. Meta clearly has significant plans for the virtual economy that will drive it.”
According to recent reports, Meta, Facebook’s main company, maybe aiming to start its own cryptocurrency exchange. The Meta logo has been trademarked for crypto tokens, blockchain software, virtual currency exchanges, financial and currency trading, and digital, crypto, and virtual currencies.
The trademark numbers were given on Twitter by trademark lawyer Mike Kondoudis, who specializes in NFT and metaverse trademarks. “These filings reflect the company’s goal for pushing into the metaverse,” he added. Meta appears to have big plans for the virtual economy that will power it.”
Meta Exchange is a cryptocurrency trading platform with a lot of promise. Because of the growing popularity of the metaverse, NFT real estate could sell for $1 billion in 2022. Digital asset regulation, in particular, is currently at the forefront of government policy. It would be a natural step for Meta to add NFTs to the Facebook Marketplace when assets and land in the metaverse become more widely transferable via social media.
From a trademark standpoint, this week’s filing would allow them to do so under the Meta brand. NFTs, on the other hand, might be classified as financial assets and subject to financial trading laws in the United States. If this were to happen, Meta would have to safeguard its brand in this category if it wished to provide NFT trading on its platform.
In some senses, this is already in play, since Mark Zuckerberg just announced that NFTs would be coming to Instagram.
Other than trademarking your brand to be legally able to exchange financial assets, there are other legal and regulatory minefields to navigate.
While there is no straight word on whether the trademark indicates that a Meta crypto exchange is on the way, it does appear increasingly likely that one is on the way. Meta has stated that she wishes to be at the cutting edge of metaverse technology. It’s right there in the company’s name and mission statement.
A metaverse-focused trade would be a reasonable next step in the metaverse’s conquest. Without hundreds of billions of cash, Meta cannot manage every metaverse endeavor. Sandbox has a market cap of $4.2 billion, and due to the decentralized nature of blockchain, they can’t just buy the competitors as they did with Instagram.
Another option is to become a center for all metaverse projects—a single area where metaverse tokens, NFTs, and other digital assets can be traded. For all initiatives, the Meta exchange would serve as a conduit into the metaverse.
From there, popular coins like Ethereum and Bitcoin could be listed as on-ramps to the metaverse for crypto investors. Suddenly, Facebook has become the global metaverse’s, centralized heart. They already dominate a big portion of everyday international attention through Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Will they also be able to take control of the metaverse?
Meta has also submitted trademark applications for two new names, Meta Portal and Meta Horizon, that will encompass virtual reality, augmented reality, social networking, and mixed reality software. Horizon is a metaverse project built on the Oculus VR platform, which is owned by Meta.
The inclusion of the Meta moniker in the branding could signal a broader effort by the corporation to expand the metaverse beyond virtual reality.
In recent years, Meta’s hopes for crypto supremacy have sunk. Diem, their stablecoin initiative, was a flop, and it was sold to Silvergate early this year. However, all of this was done under the Facebook banner.
“The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. Our company’s vision is to help bring the metaverse to life, so we are changing our name to reflect our commitment to this future.”
The switch to Meta appears to have opened certain legal gaps, which the business is now working to close. “Is Meta merely safeguarding its IP by trademarking its logo for use in crypto and financial trading, or is there more to it than that?” a question now arises.
Please share your thoughts on Meta’s planned foray into crypto exchanges. Do you believe it will happen in 2022? After the failure of Diem, what is Meta’s next step in the blockchain space? Please contact me via Twitter or email.