Mastercard steps up its crypto game with new trademark filing

Despite putting its spread into the cryptocurrency realm on hold earlier this year over fears driven by multiple crashes of crypto businesses and growing regulatory scrutiny, Mastercard (NYSE: MA) seems to have resumed its advances in this sector.

As it happens, the payment processor has recently filed a trademark application to introduce software for cryptocurrency and blockchain transactions, as well as create links between virtual asset service providers for crypto transactions, according to the information shared by trademark attorney Michael Kondoudis on June 19.

Mastercard crypto trademark application. Source: Mike Kondoudis

Specifically, the application, filed on June 12 under serial number 98038563 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), consists of three international classes (IC) that refer to different identification categories of the goods and services covered by the filing – 009, 036, and 042.

Mastercard and crypto

Meanwhile, the above filing is just another among the recent steps taken by Mastercard to move back onto its crypto path after, alongside Visa (NYSE: V), its management decided to take a break from the crypto push amid poor market and regulatory conditions.

In early March, Finbold reported on one of the most prominent crypto exchanges in the world, Bybit, announcing the release of a debit card issued by Moorwand and powered by the Mastercard network, allowing users to transition easily between crypto and fiat worlds and make purchases or withdraw cash from ATMs.

More recently, in late April, Mastercard revealed the expansion of its crypto payment card program, stating it planned to partner with more crypto firms after already having done so with multiple major crypto trading networks, such as Binance, Gemini, and Nexo, letting these companies offer crypto payment cards in a number of countries.

It is also worth mentioning that the global payments facilitator had submitted fifteen new trademark applications to register Mastercard, its ‘Circles’ logo, and the ‘Priceless’ slogan back in April 2022, indicating plans for non-fungible token (NFT) backed media, payment processing and e-commerce in the metaverse, and more.