20 Jan 2022 Samantha McLauren
Walmart Files For Several NFT Patent Applications
Walmart, dubbed as the largest retail business in America, is entering the crypto space in an unusual way – the company filed at least seven applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on December 30, setting up the needed legal work for custom NFTs within a metaverse.
NFTs and metaverse projects are among the hottest topics in the crypto sector, as they mix elements of physical, augmented, and virtual reality.
However, the company may still impose anathema on decentralized finance and technology, since the sheer size of Walmart may push the retailer into the same position as Facebook, which has been mocked within crypto circles for its metaversal pivot.
Nevertheless, some of the pioneers in the NFT and metaverse subsectors welcomed Walmart for its decision to delve into the scene.
For instance, COO and co-founder of The Sandbox Sébastian Borget noted that Walmart may choose a metaverse built upon public and permissionless blockchains such as Ethereum.
"I'm pleased to see interest from many new players and would encourage them to embrace an open and community-driven approach," Borget emphasized.
Indeed, Walmart's trademark applications are leading in the same direction as The Sandbox. One of the patent filings indicates the development of a "digital currency and a digital token of value for use by members of an online community via a global computer network," while the other describes selling virtual merchandise such as "electronics, appliances, indoor and outdoor furniture, home décor, toys … holiday and celebration supplies, jewelry, and pet products".
If the second option comes into life, Walmart would be eligible to sell everything from its shelves, but in a digital form.
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, however, is citing Facebook, which changed its name to Meta, in order to be more appealing to the metaverse pioneers.
"Facebook is looking to build a closed metaverse, one where they control the data and the network effects that the data derives, so what they are building is less competition than simply antithetical to what we are doing. We don’t know enough yet about what Walmart is doing but the fact that they are looking to issue a digital currency and NFTs if they use a public blockchain could be positive if they do so in the open metaverse." Siu added, explaining that the retailer might take an Adidas and Nike-like approach, rather than using Facebook’s style of metaverse interaction.
Speaking of Adidas and Nike, they have been exploring the vast NFT realm recently, with Adidas teaming up in December 2021 with Bored Ape Yacht Club to issue its own goods within the metaverse, while Nike closed a deal with a digital art studio to push out NFT-based sneakers.
Furthermore, tech giants like Microsoft are also stepping in, as Microsoft managed to strike a $69 billion acquisition deal with game-maker Activision Blizzard as a metaverse play.
However, Walmart’s dance with cryptos began back in 2019, when the retailer filed a patent for a stablecoin, aimed at low-income households who needed a fee-free, or fee-minimal place to store wealth that can be spent, for example, at retailers and, if needed, easily converted to cash.
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