New York Stock Exchange Files For NFTs, NFT Marketplace Trademarks: Report

A leading stock exchange could be getting into the non-fungible token market, according to a trademark filing.

What Happened: The New York Stock Exchange, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc ICE, has filed for several metaverse- and NFT-related trademarks, according to attorney Mike Kondoudis, who first shared the trademark filings on Twitter. The NYSE has filed for trademarks related to:

• Downloadable virtual goods, like non-fungible tokens
• Online marketplace for buyers, sellers and traders of digital goods authenticated by non-fungible tokens
• Financial exchange of virtual currency that could include virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital tokens, crypto tokens, utility tokens and NFTs.

The report says the trademark filings were registered on Feb. 10.

UPDATE: “The NYSE has no immediate plans to launch cryptocurrency or NFT trading. The NYSE regularly considers new products and their impact on our trademarks and protects our intellectual property rights accordingly,” a NYSE spokesperson told Benzinga on Tuesday. 

Related Link: How To Buy NFTs 

Why It’s Important: The filing by the NYSE follows several public companies that have filed to protect their brands or explore getting into the NFT and metaverse space.

McDonald’s MCD and Panera filed trademarks for their brands in regards to NFTs and virtual restaurants in the metaverse.

Walmart Inc WMT also filed for several trademarks related to making and selling virtual goods.

Gaming company Roblox Corp RBLX has been onboarding companies into the metaverse. The company has partnered with Nike Inc NKE, the National Football League and others.

The move by the NYSE could be to protect its brand in the metaverse or could signal a major push by the stock exchange to get a piece of the growing sales volume of NFT transactions.

OpenSea was valued at $13 billion in a January funding round. Coinbase Global Inc COIN has a highly anticipated NFT marketplace launch that could lead to increased NFT sales volume and valuations for NFT-related products and companies.