Web3 Founders Welcomed Walmart To the Metaverse: Report

Web3 founders welcomed Walmart and its NFT to the metaverse as its play could be slightly different from Facebook’s. Walmart filed trademark applications that were related to crypto and MEtavese at the end of 2021 as we reported in our blockchain news.

Many other companies are getting into the metaverse as well. Animoca Brands Executive Chairman Yat Siu noted:

“Walmart is more likely to be inspired by Adidas and Nike than say Facebook.

CNBC reported that Walmart quietly filed seven applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office in December and cleared the way for it to issue its own crypto and NFTs within the metaverse as the hot term for the online network of worlds which mixes elements of augmented, virtual reality and physical reality. The biggest American retailer is not exactly known for being technologically advanced but it has been mocked within the crypto circles and now with its metaverse pivot. Some of the biggest companies in the NFT space and Web3 founders welcomed Walmart nonetheless. The Sandbox COO Sebastian Borget noted:

“I’m pleased to see interest from many new players and would encourage them to embrace an open and community-driven approach.”

Walmart’s trademark applications include a digital currency and a digital token of value for use by the members of the online community. The retail giant also filed another application related to a store selling virtual merchandise like appliances, indoor and outdoor furniture, jewelry, and more or almost everything that the physical Walmart would sell but in a digital form. Yat Siu, the co-founder and executive chairman of the Sandbox publisher said that Facebook even poses a threat to the open metaverse company that it is trying to build. Siu noted:

“Facebook is looking to build a closed metaverse, one where they control the data and the network effects that the data derive, so what they are building is less competition than simply antithetical to what we are doing. We don’t know enough yet about what Walmart is doing but the fact that they are looking to issue a digital currency and NFTs, if they use a public blockchain, could be positive if they do so in the open metaverse.”

Walmart hasn’t made any announcements related to the metaverse and while the applications constitute an RSVP, the retailer hasn’t joined the party yet. Back in 2019, it filed a patent for a stablecoin cryptocurrency aimed at low-income households who need a place to store the wealth that can be spent at Walmart.