By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 22nd, 2024
With this announcement, American Express joins the list of major financial brands to put their foot into the metaverse.
Global payments firm American Express has filed trademark applications in readiness for its entry into the metaverse.
The second-largest payment processor filed trademarks for seven products, including Amex, Centurion, and Shopsmall. According to the filing at the US Patent and Trademark Office, AmEx wants to provide banking and ATM services in the metaverse and also help fraud detection.
The company is also looking to explore features related to entertainment, travel, transport, and travel agency services in the metaverse. Also spelt out in the list are plans to provide cryptocurrency services and set up an online marketplace for NFTs, all within the metaverse.
Strategists at Goldman Sachs believe the growing metaverse could be worth $8 trillion soon. While many traditional financial institutions continue to be wary of blockchain and cryptocurrency, others like Amex are embracing them on all fronts.
A spokesperson for Amex noted that the company is always monitoring emerging technologies to see possible benefits to its customer base. The spokesperson said:
“The metaverse is a space we’re following. We have no plans to share at this time but are watching as this space evolves.”
American Express Joins the Metaverse Train
With this announcement, American Express joins the list of major financial brands to put their foot into the metaverse. Before that, the company launched a series of 14 NFTs for members for $100 per asset.
Last year, Visa announced a decision to set up a crypto advisory group to advise its clientele on investing in the crypto space. Visa also purchased CryptoPunk 7612 for its collection for 49.5 ETH. Another payments company, Mastercard launched cryptocurrency-linked payment cards in 2021.
More recently, JPMorgan leaped into the metaverse with the launch of the Onyx lounge on Ethereum-based Decentraland. It also released a publication detailing how businesses can maximize the opportunities in the metaverse, adding that the ecosystem could generate $1 trillion revenue annually. Likewise, US financial broker IMA Financial Group started a research and development facility in Decentraland also.
Despite the growing interest, a cryptocurrency sell-off continues. The NFT boom of 2021 also seems to have slowed, dipping about 29% week-over-week as of last Friday.