AmEx reveals its metaverse ambitions in a patent filing for tech to let people to use its payment cards in virtual worlds

• American Express seeks to have its real-world payment card services work in the metaverse, US Patent and Trademark Office filings showed.
• Trademarks filed by the company also indicated setting up a virtual marketplace for NFTs and providing cryptocurrency services.
• The payment titan’s entry in the metaverse comes as Wall Street considers the metaverse to be an opportunity worth trillions of dollars.

American Express is looking to provide its real-world services in the digital world, according to trademark filings by the payments giant.

AmEx is considering providing card payments, ATM services, banking services, and fraud detection to customers in the metaverse, the Wednesday filings at the US Patent and Trademark Office suggest.

The company is eyeing a range of other features as well:

• travel, transport, and travel agency services, including bookings and tours, in the metaverse
• entertainment and concierge services in the metaverse, including catering to personal and customer-specific needs
• cryptocurrency services, such as crypto management and trading services, and crypto payments processing

AmEx also wants to trademark its logo for an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. A non-fungible token is a unique identifier that can cryptographically assign and prove ownership of digital goods. 

In addition, the company filed a trademark application related to trading of digital and blockchain assets. Blockchain is the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

“Amex is always monitoring emerging technologies to see how they could benefit our customers, and the metaverse is a space we’re following,” an AmEx spokesperson said to Business Insider.

The metaverse has proven popular for major financial firms, with big Wall Street names considering it to be an opportunity worth trillions of dollars. Goldman Sachs strategists said the metaverse could be an $8 trillion investment opportunity. JPMorgan said the metaverse could generate $1 trillion in revenue annually.

Meanwhile, NFTs boomed in 2021 when total volume hit $23 billion, but the NFT market has slowed in 2022. Sales dipped 29% week-over-week as of Friday, and the ongoing sell-off in crypto is creeping into the NFT space.

Other payment companies have also ventured into the crypto space. Last year, Mastercard  announced it was launching cryptocurrency-linked payments cards in the Asia-Pacific region, while Visa said it would set up a crypto advisory group to help its clients use crypto.