NYSE files to protect trading platforms for crypto assets
22:26, 16 February 2022
The New York Stock Exchange is prepping for life in the metaverse, having recently applied for four trademarks related to trading a wide variety of digital assets, from crypto tokens, utility tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in a virtual or augmented reality, according to records filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Specifically, the NYSE applied for trademark protection for “software for users to perform e-commerce and financial tractions” using “virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality software,” the trademark application reads.
The trademarks, if granted, will allow the NYSE protection from competition from Coinbase, Nasdaq and other exchanges.
Is the NYSE ready to join JPMorgan in the Metaverse? - Photo: JPMorgan SecuritiesThe trademark would be for the software, downloadable and non-downloadable, called an application programming interface, allowing “trading and exchanging digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitised assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens and utility tokens.”
The NYSE is also seeking trademarks for “downloadable software for use in financial exchange, downloadable virtual goods, namely non-fungible tokens.”
NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange stock saw marginal gains Wednesday, closing at $125.72, up 0.40% versus Tuesday’s $125.22 closing share price. Intercontinental Exchange stock trades over the NYSE under the ticker ICE.
Intercontinental Exchange stock YTD - Photo: Koyfin“The NYSE has no immediate plans to launch cryptocurrency or NFT trading,” a NYSE spokesperson said in an email. “The NYSE regularly considers new products and their impact on our trademarks and protects our intellectual property rights accordingly.”
The four trademarks applications, under various classes of the US Patent Office’s Nice Agreement Tenth Edition.
- Class 009 ~ Electronic and digital apparatus for recording various events, including all computer programs and software.
- Class 035 ~ Services rendered by person or organization principally…in the working or management of a commercial undertaking.
- Class 036 ~ Services rendered in financial and monetary affairs and insurance contracts.
- Class 042 ~ Services provided in relation to the theoretical and practical aspects of complex fields of activities.
The NYSE has, however, minted six NFTs starting last year. Created to commemorate noteworthy IPO listings, NYSE NFTs highlight the first trade of new listings over the exchange.
The NFTs, for Coupang, Doordash, Roblox, Snowflake, Unity and Spotify, which executed the NYSE’s first-ever direct listing, are 10 seconds long and are available at the Crypto.com NFT platform.
The NYSE’s trademark application comes on the heels of JPMorgan Chase opening up a virtual bank branch in the Decentraland metaverse, dubbed Onyx, complete with a roaming Bengal tiger.
