MasterCard Creating its own Metaverse? Breakdown of Recently Filed Patents

Mastercard creating its own metaverse? Application number 97346112 details that MasterCard seeks to create its very own metaverse, from an online marketplace to full-fledged software to hosting an online community.

MasterCard logo and slogan in virtual worlds: Application number 97346083 with the USPTO gives details of using MasterCard’s famous red and yellow logo in virtual imagery of transactions, as well as its “Priceless” slogan in NFT products focused on audio distribution.

MasterCard in metaverse events and as an education provider: Application number 97346012 requires the use of MasterCard’s logo and slogan imagery for “Entertainment and educational services[...].”

Details on MasterCard’s NFT marketplace: Application number 97346029 most interesting details: “Promoting the goods and services of others by means of coupons, discounts, advertisements, rewards, incentives and loyalty programs in the metaverse and other virtual worlds.”

Recently approved MasterCard crypto patents:

• A system of multi-account checking using blockchain approved on April 19th.
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• System for user authentication through blockchain and location-compliant checking approved on April 14th.

On April 11th of this year, MasterCard made headlines across the crypto world and mainstream media for registering fifteen new patents for its business with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Although patent registration is a very common practice for any company, let alone a giant corporation, something in particular caught people’s eyes; the patents were fully related to NFTs and metaverse services.

In this article, we go through the most relevant patents in a combined breakdown of similar registrations and what they might mean for MasterCard’s business and their intentions for the company and its crypto future.

MasterCard creating its own metaverse?

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Definitely the most ambitious patent filed to the USPTO, application number 97346112 details that MasterCard seeks to create its very own metaverse. Don’t believe us? Here is the direct identification quote from the UPSTO filing, which can be searched at their official website:

“Entertainment services and educational services, namely, providing virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, educational, networking, shopping, leisure or entertainment purposes; creating and hosting an on-line community for digital assets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), metaverses and virtual worlds; providing on-line non-downloadable software for the creation, production and modification of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital animated and non-animated designs and characters, avatars, and virtual goods, for access and use in the metaverse and other virtual worlds.”

It’s a long but massively important quote, as it displays MasterCard’s desire to really create its own, full-fledged metaverse. From entertainment and education to an online marketplace and even its own browser-based software, MasterCard seems keen on diving head-first into its very own metaverse. Looks like Decentraland, Sandbox and others may be seeing a strong institutional competitor to their platforms in the future.

MasterCard logo and slogan in virtual worlds

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Application number 97346083 with the USPTO gives details of using MasterCard’s famous red and yellow logo in “Processing of virtual credit card, virtual debit card, virtual prepaid card, and virtual payment card transactions in the metaverse and other virtual worlds[...]”. Since they are specifically referencing the logo, we can get a solid picture of what that will look like; think metaverses like Decentraland and Sandbox with users buying a particular product and, when someone is using MasterCard, its logo pops up in 3D during the trade to signal that the transaction was concluded. Pretty neat!

MasterCard “Priceless” Slogan

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For application number 97346060, the focus is on MasterCard’s “Priceless” slogan, which has been active in the company since 1997. With this patent, the company wants to feature the slogan in “Downloadable music files authenticated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs); downloadable multimedia files containing artwork, text, audio, and video authenticated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs).”

The main questions here are: why is it specific to the slogan and not the logo as well? And if it’s focused on audio files, does that mean the slogan will come in the form of an audio note? Although the possibilities are endless since nothing is yet concrete, it’s easy to picture NFT exchanges where the word “Priceless” briefly pops in to indicate its origin. Why MasterCard wouldn’t include its logo for this though, it’s still a mystery.

MasterCard in metaverse events and as an education provider

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Application number 97346012 seems like the most straightforward of them all; it requires the use of MasterCard’s logo and slogan imagery for “Entertainment and educational services, namely, providing entertainment and educational information in the fields of cultural events, concerts, sporting events, festivals, and awards shows in the metaverse and other digital worlds.” Given MasterCard’s history as a sponsor for the most diverse events available, it’s no wonder that the company is looking to dip its toes into metaverse events.

What makes this patent more interesting is MasterCard’s desire to become an educational provider of content in the digital world. Could it simply be strategic phrasing to encompass all possibilities, or is MasterCard really preparing some educational projects related to NFTs and Metaverse?Only time will tell.

Details on MasterCard’s NFT marketplace

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Although the idea of a metaverse marketplace has been mentioned previously across the most interesting MasterCard patents, the patent under the application number 97346029 gives more detailed information on what that will actually look like. According to the identification title, MasterCard wants to register an NFT and metaverse marketplace for “buyers and sellers of downloadable digital goods and media authenticated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs); promoting the goods and services of others by means of coupons, discounts, advertisements, rewards, incentives and loyalty programs in the metaverse and other virtual worlds.”

Given these details, MasterCard is really saving no expenses when it comes to ideas on how to utilize their NFT marketplace. Amongst the ideas detailed in the patent registry, the use of coupons, discounts and loyalty programs in NFT form can be a novel technology never before seen in the crypto landscape. It also begs the question if MasterCard credit and debit cards themselves will take the shape of NFT token addresses for purchases in virtual worlds. Seems like a no-brainer, so let’s wait and see what the company does next.

Recently approved Mastercard crypto patents

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While this article focuses on the recent patent applications filed by MasterCard, the company just witnessed a couple of patents approved by the USPTO as recent as April 19th.

Patent number 11308460: Multi-account checking and processing via blockchain

Thanks to this recent patent, acquired on April 19th, MasterCard now has the rights to its exclusive and blockchain-based multi-account checking system. Further details on this system have yet to be revealed since the company just acquired the patent after filing for it almost four years ago, in September 2018.

Patent number 11301459: Method and system for data localization-compliant blockchain processing and storage

Similar to the previous patent and approved on April 14th, MasterCard now owns the rights to a blockchain processing system that’s based on localization compliance. We have yet to see how that will fit into real-world applications, but from the looks of it, MasterCard is working on a mixture of blockchain accessibility and geo-localized authentication processes.



Author: Gate.io Researcher: Victor Bastos
* This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
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