By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 15th, 2024
Nike is allegedly joining the crypto party after speculations that it’s about to circulate its own cryptocurrency named CRYPTOKICKS. The news came into to light after a trademark law attorney Josh Gerben noticed the trademark application.
American multinational footwear corporation Nike Inc. filed for a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the term “cryptokicks”. That indicates that Nike might have plans to launch some kind of a cryptocurrency by this name.
The crypto industry is still quite young, but is rapidly growing and is slowly infiltrating the world of mainstream finance.
The ecosystem has seen a huge increase in the number of exchanges and newly listed tokens. But the main reason for this can be found in non-financial institution’s interests for it. First, there was Facebook, then Telegram, and then the latest and maybe most unexpected was sporting giant Nike.
Apparently, Nike is joining the cryptoparty after speculations that it’s about to circulate its own cryptocurrency named CRYPTOKICKS.
The news came into light after a trademark law attorney and founder of Gerben Law firm, Josh Gerben, seems to be the first to notice the trademark application.
He tweeted information related to an interesting filing that Nike made on April 19, 2019. The tweet said:
Nike has filed a trademark application for CRYPTOKICKS.
The filing indicates that Nike is intending to launch a cryptocurrency called CRYPTOKICKS.
Below is my analysis of the filing and its implications 👇#nike#cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/82gAPlzrXy
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) April 24, 2019
Gerben explained that Nike’s competitors have 30 days to oppose this trademark application. If the applications is approved, Nike will have the rights to the name “cryptokicks” for four years. However, the company will have to launch a commercial product with that name in order to actually get the trademark. He said:
“If you submit things just for the purpose of submitting things, it will tie up the trademark system unnecessarily. Nike does not have a history of filings that are speculative.”
Although the details are not open, Nike does note that they want to provide information relating to “crypto-collectible customization,” but it remains unclear as to whether or not this refers to crypto-themed Nike products.
Furthermore, Nike also explains that they are looking to provide a website that features technology that “enables users to mine, earn, purchase, receive by any other means, store, and transfer blockchain-based tokens, coins, cryptocurrencies, and other crypto assets.”
Everyone Wants a Piece of Crypto Cake
A wide array of companies have either already launched coins, are secretly developing them or planning to release them soon. In February, J.P. Morgan, the American financial giant, launched its own stablecoin.
More recently, it has become known that Facebook is allegedly developing a coin of its own. It is said that they are raising as much as a 1B dollars in outside funding for its cryptocurrency project.
Vkontakte, the Russian equivalent of FB, is also planning to launch its own crypto soon. The sources said that the project involves the creation of individual cryptocurrency accounts for all the users of the platform.
Telegram is also launching a blockchain. We already wrote of how they launched private testing of its Telegram Open Network. The new blockchain is available to several development teams at the moment.
And we shouldn’t forget Samsung who is also reportedly planning to launch its own token platform -like building with Ethereum for the S10 wasn’t enough.
One thing is for sure, crypto is definitely finding its space among millennials and pop culture as well. The Samsung, Facebook and Nike are just the cherries on top.
Moreover, a movie aptly titled “Crypto” was recently released, starring major actors including Kurt Russell, Luke Hemsworth, and others.
Although the movie was met with mixed reviews and loads of criticism, it is another demonstration of how cryptocurrencies are rapidly finding themselves at the center of a pop culture shift in favor of digital and decentralized technologies.