Meta has filed new trademark applications related to Meta Pay – a payments platform that will allow both fiat currencies and crypto.
The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has filed five new applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
It is another in a succession of plans that highlight the company’s determination to enter the payments space. The patent filing covers the whole gamut of terms used to describe crypto-assets.
“To provide a financial exchange for trading digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens and utility tokens,” reads the application.
Filed on May 13, other details from the trademark filings show that the social media giant may also venture into lending and investment services. This put it into the finance space and invite a lot of scrutiny from lawmakers.
Separately, Meta launched a payment button on contact cards for WhatsApp users in Brazil and India. This will allow users to send funds to their contacts more intuitively, company executives said.
Meta’s finance ambitions materializing, but challenges await
The company launched its Libra stablecoin project a few years ago, which quickly met with concern from lawmakers around the globe. The concern was that the stablecoin could threaten the national sovereignty of fiat currencies.
Facebook, as it was known at the time, renamed the project Diem, but eventually met its demise. Diem’s assets were sold and Facebook reworked its financial ambitions.
Meta Pay, non-fungible tokens, and the payment of content creators in its VR app are all being closely monitored by the tech world and lawmakers.
Meta has come under intense scrutiny from regulators, but a foray into lending can be particularly worrisome. Other loan companies have been the first victims of regulatory measures in the United States
