The American company Walmart, the largest supermarket chain in the world, has revealed its interest in creating a cryptocurrency and selling virtual goods in several trademark applications recently delivered to the Patent Office, CNBC reported this Sunday.
At the end of December, Walmart submitted almost a dozen petitions to the regulator in which it hints at its intention to launch a virtual currency and a collection of NFT (non-fungible token) assets, in addition to producing and selling virtual goods such as home appliances, clothing, toys or personal care products.
Walmart would thus join a growing list of companies that are preparing to operate in the metaverse -an immersive virtual reality-, including Facebook, which has changed its name to Meta for that reason; fashion retailers like Nike or GAP, or the entertainment giant Disney.
The supermarket chain avoided commenting on that possibility in a statement to the media, in which it said it is always "exploring how emerging technologies can shape future shopping experiences" and stressed that it "routinely" makes trademark requests to follow with his "innovation".
Walmart is the largest employer in the private sector in the US and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen its e-commerce business grow strongly, which according to its latest quarterly results -last November- has increased its sales in the country by 87% compared to two years ago.
