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Portfolio > Alternative Investments > Cryptocurrencies

Fidelity Files NFT, Metaverse Trademark Applications

By John Manganaro

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What You Need to Know

  • Fidelity’s push into digital investment products and services advanced with the recent filing of key trademark applications.
  • The emergence of the trademark applications comes just a month after Fidelity launched a retail crypto trading service.
  • Fidelity launched a metaverse experience earlier this year.

Newly uncovered trademark applications first spotted by a well-known trademark attorney show the investment giant Fidelity has filed trademark applications in the United States covering a host of digital investment products and services.

Mike Kondoudis, a licensed trademark attorney and author, took to Twitter earlier this week to share the news that the massive investment and recordkeeping company has filed multiple trademark applications covering non-fungible tokens (NFTs), NFT marketplaces, metaverse investment services, virtual real estate investing, cryptocurrency trading and more.

As Kondoudis and others point out, the emergence of the applications comes just a month after Fidelity brought online a new retail crypto trading service for a select group of customers who signed up for early access.

In a copy of the new trademark applications being circulated online, Fidelity is apparently seeking to position itself to provide a wide suite of investment services based in and around the metaverse. Beyond mentioning the “provision of an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of digital media,” one application describes “mutual fund investment services in the metaverse and other virtual worlds.”

The application also mentions both “retirement fund investment services in the metaverse” and “digital currency services,” such as trading services and digital wallet storage services.

Asked about the trademark applications, Fidelity said in a statement that “it is premature to discuss” them, adding that the firm “is committed to innovating in how we deliver financial education and service through emerging platforms.”

Earlier this year, Fidelity added, it introduced “the Fidelity Stack in Decentraland, and in doing so, became the first brokerage firm to develop an immersive educational experience in the metaverse targeted to U.S. retail investors.”

Metaverse Moves

Financial services companies and organizations from many other industries are fast laying the groundwork for the expansion of the metaverse, a catch-all term often used to describe a more experiential and tactile version of today’s point-and-click internet.

While the precise shape and scope of the metaverse is yet unfolding, some analysts expect the emerging, next-generation version of the internet to greatly affect the global economy.

The idealized version of the metaverse spoken about by tech companies, such as Meta and Facebook, might be a far way off. However, there is a clear sense of momentum behind the emerging technologies that will be essential for the metaverse’s smooth and widespread operation.

While McKinsey sees a possible $5 trillion impact by 2030, Citi expects even more. In a report published earlier this year, Citi predicted the metaverse’s total addressable market could reach $8 trillion to $13 trillion, with up to 5 billion users, by 2030.

(Image: Shutterstock)

John Manganaro

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