Walmart Entering The "Metaverse" And Offer Its Own Virtual Currency

We are going to keep going with this overused term. Nevertheless, it is what the media keeps promoting so we will have to oblige.

That said, the fact that Walmart is looking to enter this realm is very telling. In a number of articles I presented the case that Walmart is no longer just a retailer. Instead, we need to look at them as a technology company. Here is further evidence of that transition.

Many companies are starting to see the value of the digital realm. With the development of cryptocurrency, especially non-fungible tokens (NFTs), we are seeing a complete rewriting of what is possible. A lot of these major corporations are starting to see the opportunity presented.

For this reason, the Metaverse is getting a lot of publicity. Naturally, this is something that will not be realized for decades. Nevertheless, companies can take advantage of what is taking place.

There is one component that should raise some eyebrows however.

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Walmart Files For Trademarks

It is unlikely that we see "trademarks" and the Metaverse go together. This is another indication of how far off things truly are. We are going to see a complete shift in laws, mentality, and business models before the Metaverse is at our doorstep. That is going to take a spell.

For now, the move that Walmart is making does reveal a great deal. The company realizes the potential of NFTs and the digital world. This is going to augment what they are already doing, turning their platform into a powerful digital mechanism.

The big-box retailer filed several new trademarks late last month that indicate its intent to make and sell virtual goods, including electronics, home decorations, toys, sporting goods and personal care products. In a separate filing, the company said it would offer users a virtual currency, as well as NFTs.

The last sentence should catch you attention. We often discuss when are some of the bigger players going to start offering their own currency. Facebook stir up a storm with their announcement a few years ago about offering a stablecoin. Now we see Walmart looking to enter the mix.

It also appears this is not something they just threw together.

“They’re super intense,” said Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney. “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.”

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Life sure does change when the largest retailer in the world decides to enter the realm of cryptocurrency. While it is unclear what their plan is, we can foresee this being a bridge to massive user adoption. Even if it is just an in-house token, it will get people accustomed to digital wallets and using assets of this nature. Of course, there is the chance that they ultimately end up with something that is traded on exchanges.

Either way, the publicity that this is going to generate will help to push the cryptocurrency industry even further ahead.

Crocs Files NFT Trademark

Not to be outdone, shoe manufacturer Crocs is also getting into the digital game. It is also following the same path as Walmart by filing trademark applications.

The foam show manufacturer is also looking to access the NFT market.

A United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) report filed on January 11, 2022, indicates that Crocs has an eye on the non-fungible token (NFT) industry. The company Crocs is well known for its injection-molded foam clogs since the firm secured exclusive rights to the proprietary foam product called Croslite in 2004.

The USPTO report shows a product that is entirely different from foam clogs. The “registration is intended to cover the categories of downloadable digital media namely, digital assets, digital collectibles, digital tokens, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs),” the Crocs trademark filing notes. It further continues by mentioning things like leveraging blockchain tech and smart contracts in order to showcase Crocs’ products. The filing adds:

[The registration is intended to cover] downloadable virtual goods created with blockchain-based software technology and smart contracts, in the nature of footwear, clothing, bags, accessories, and charms for decorating footwear, clothing, bags, and accessories; Downloadable computer software for creating, managing, storing, accessing, sending, receiving, exchanging, validating and selling digital assets, digital collectibles, digital tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

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Could Crocs regain its former popularity with this move? It is hard to tell. However, we do know that adding NFTs to physical products can really open up many more options. If the NFTs are integrated into a game, as an example, this could be redeemed for a discount (or even free) on the physical shoes. It can also bring the brand to an entirely new generation of shoppers.

The reality is the innovation of marketing teams is not even started yet. When these people start to brainstorm what can be done, we are likely to see some incredible ideas. It is likely that we start to see company NFTs embedded in everything.

Of course, those who are building some digital platform, like Walmart started a number of years ago, stand to benefit the most. They are not going to be dependent upon others to reach their audience. Through their application, they can target shoppers with their virtual assets.

As we can see, this is starting to get very serious. There are some major players entering this space. Here is something that the regulators and governments are going to have to deal with.

Technological innovation is happening before their eyes. While the likes of Walmart and Crocs are going to follow the traditional path of regulation, most of us prefer to operate on platforms that are striving to be outside the reach of these people.

Nevertheless, having a Walmart developing around this technology means that it is not going away. If anything, we can count this as one of those industry changing moments.

Image from first article linked.


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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 89 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
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It is very excellent to hear such positive news about large institutions that enter this world of crypto day after day.

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It is all growing. While I dont think they will dominate, the key is they will offer more insulation against what governments are trying to do.

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(Edited)

Gonna be pretty comical when these guys try to corner the market with a litany of patents... and the greater network just ignores the patents and allows anyone to copy them. I'm floored that every single one of these corporations assume the trademarks can be enforced. Did they not see what torrents did to music and movies? Oh well, probably for the best they find out the hard way.

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I didn’t think of that, but your example could clearly come to pass, as many people would beyond the jurisdiction of the US where Walmart is headquartered.

I wonder if they will develop an international body to enforce these rules, and how much this lesson will cost them.
:)

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Governments are ill-equipped to deal in the digital world. As @edicted mentioned, how did the stop of illegal music downloads work?

If the governments of the world cant stop that, how are they going to stop what is happening with decentralized platforms?

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Yeah as I was reading it, I had the same thought.

They are going through the traditional mechanism while the entire infrastructure is being altered.

Ah well, they are going to bring attention is nothing else.

Do not forget, the first websites (outside of porn) was news agencies. They figured they would dominate too.

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Now this makes me question whether or not NFT makers need to file trademarks for this. It's like the legacy system wants to have some hold over the new markets.

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Good question. I think they have decided that other people might make these NFTs first and then they will be cut out of the revenue they think their intellectual property is producing.

I think they will try to frontrun those the perceive negatively with these legal maneuvers, but it remains to be seen if there are international patent and trademark laws which extend to the Metaverse.

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Trademarks and all of that tend to be a barrier of entry for most people. Any issues or arguments tend to happen in court as well so it highly benefits the companies or wealthy people. The current laws are not up to date and I don't think they are valid for the digital world.

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Why good is a trademark it is appears on something that is decentralized? To make matters worse, what if a community is formed that completely hijacks the brand from the company?

How can they stop it?

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I don't think they can. There is the entire NFT market and how people are just using whatever image they find online to make NFTs.

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IMO as the adoption of crypto and NFTs becomes more normalized these announcements will stop generating any buzz since the market will be highly saturated. I'm already becoming annoyed by brands such as Crocs trying to revamp things and trends that are already dead. Fairly sure the rest of the market will get fed up soon.

The Wallmart metaverse play could be useful, if it generates a bit of success that is. I have a theory that all these currency wars will be in vain because creating your own crypto will be simple enough that every city, neighborhood, family, or community could have its own version of money eliminating the need of adopting BTC, LTC, DOGE or any other crypto currently dominating the markets.

Can't wait to see how all Walmart coins end up performing in the long run. They should be a clear indication of what is to come.

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I agree with you that there will be millions of tokens, designed for all kinds of use cases. The idea of a single "reserve currency" is going to be obliterated. This is where the maxis are way off course.

It will come down to use case. When in Rome...

So whatever network one is on, that is what he or she will utilize. At some point, wallets will do instant swaps.

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Wow. Not sure what else to comment really. But, life as we know it is definitely changing!! Go all things Hive.

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The world of cryptocurrency is certainly changing rapidly. So much advancement means a lot of moving parts. This is going to take a while to all settle out.

Nevertheless, the building that is taking place within an ecosystem like Hive is going to provide a foundation for a lot that is still to come. It is going to be very exciting when we get a but further down the road.

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This is really interesting as we are Walmart Veterans Lol. Walmart entering the crypto market is huge because Walmart has not been Just a Retailer for decades now.
Just to give an idea of how big Walmart is in 2013 the people Walmart serviced in a day were equal to the population of Canada.
Walmart has government-type power, with heavy cash reserves. I have never feared the US being taken over by a foreign government but now I see Walmart and Amazon are battling for global domination, and I am not talking retail.

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