U.S. Representative Maxine Waters has asked Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta what it intends to do with five trademark applications it has filed with the USPTO that deal with cryptocurrency.
Since Meta has five ongoing trademark applications pertaining to blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, the US House Financial Services Committee is pressuring the company to reveal any intentions it may have about these topics.
The trademark applications were submitted on March 18, 2022, and according to committee ranking member Maxine Waters’ letter to Meta’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and operating chief Javier Olivan dated January 22, 2022, “appear to indicate a continued desire to expand the company’s involvement in the digital asset ecosystem.”
Despite Meta informing officials of the Democratic Financial Services Committee on October 12, 2023, “that there is no ongoing digital asset work at Meta,” Waters claimed that the applications demonstrate that Meta is engaged in digital asset development.
As a result of legislative pressure, Meta scrapped plans to launch its payment crypto stablecoin Diem (formerly Libra) in the middle of 2019. In January 2022, it sold Diem to the now-defunct Silvergate Bank for $200 million.
Novi, Meta’s digital wallet (formerly Calibra), was supposed to be released in 2020; however, the company has now canceled the project and has not provided a new delivery date.
The trademark applications include a wide range of services related to cryptocurrency and “blockchain assets,” including but not limited to trading, exchange, payments, transfers, wallets, and the underlying software and hardware.
Every application has been given to Meta with a Notice of Allowance (NOA), which states that the application fulfills the conditions for registration. Within six months, Meta must either file a statement stating that it will use the trademark or seek an extension of six months to file the statement.
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