Walmart’s Metaverse, NFT, and Crypto Plans

1/19/2022

Business

0 min read



	Image Credit: JJBers (Flickr)

Recent Patent Filings Show the Extent that Large Companies are Prepping for Blockchain Profits

What would a Walmart metaverse look and feel like? How valuable would a Walmart cryptocurrency become? Could the world’s largest department store, known for value-priced merchandise, successfully “stock” sought-after NFTs? As many as seven filings made Dec. 30 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) together could lay out a roadmap of Walmart’s intention to expand into digital assets and all the digital possibilities provided by the metaverse.

The world’s second-largest retailer by sales is following a number of other highly successful companies developing a digital arm with a look toward the perceived future. This includes blockchain products such as digital currency, NFTs, and the 3-D experiences available through the metaverse. If the business plan follows most others, one-of-a-kind digital products (NFTs) will be available on a metaverse platform with a virtual place to shop. The currency? A Walmart coin.

The filings at the USPTO include the provision of a Walmart virtual currency including exchange services via blockchain technology. A separate application to the USPTO describes downloadable software for uses ranging from managing a portfolio of cryptocurrencies to e-commerce and augmented reality creation.

Games

In one of the filings, Walmart details the possibility of a virtual reality game and an online retail service with a marketplace of digital goods authenticated by NFTs. These goods could range from coffee makers, to exercise bikes, children’s toys, easy chairs, whatever makes the user’s experience more fulfilling in the Walmart metaverse.

According to a quote in Barrons’ attributed to a “company spokesman” Walmart routinely files patents. The spokesman said, “Walmart is continuously exploring how technologies may shape the future of shopping experiences.” The filings are described as “super intense” according to trademark attorney, Josh Gerben, “There’s a lot of language in these, which shows that there’s a lot of planning going on behind the scenes about how they’re going to address cryptocurrency, how they’re going to address the metaverse and the virtual world that appears to be coming or that’s already here.” Gerben said that ever since Facebook announced it was changing its company name to Meta, signaling its ambitions beyond social media, businesses have been rushing to figure out how they will fit into a virtual world. “All of a sudden, everyone is like, this is becoming super real and we need to make sure our IP is protected in the space,’” said the trademark attorney.

Paul Hoffman

Managing Editor, Channelchek

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