Quick take:
- The New York Stock Exchange has filed a trademark application for its own NFT marketplace.
- The NYSE minted six NFTs last year to commemorate the listing of hot tech stocks on the exchange.
- Industry experts think it is an important public endorsement and validation to the underlying technology that powers NFTs.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has filed a trademark application for its own non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. The filing comes after the stock exchange organisation minted an NFT artwork of six companies last year to commemorate the debut of hot technology stocks, including Spotify, Snowflake, Unity, DoorDash, Roblox, and Coupang.
Although the company said it was not planning to sell the NFTs, it seems to be advancing its plans for the Web3-based digital products if it follows the filing with an NFT marketplace launch.
The move would put it in competition with the world’s largest NFT marketplace OpenSea alongside the likes of Rarible, SuperRare, and LooksRare, among others.
However, industry experts think that the NYSE might find it difficult to fully integrate its new venture into the decentralised world of crypto.
Palheiro, Board director at MythicalBeings, a blockchain-based trading card game around collectible, tradeable, and craftable creatures said NYSE’s trademark application for an NFT marketplace “demonstrates that the interest in digital artworks is not a passing fad, but a technology that solves relevant problems in the industry.”
However, Palheiro also told NFTgators that “if the marketplace comes to exist, it may not be able to displace decentralised alternatives,” adding that “the centralised model is inadequate for the ownership and exchange of NFTs.”
Nonetheless, this could also serve as “a very important public endorsement for the projects that have been betting on this format of digital works for years,” he said, noting that NYSE’s contribution to the industry may be “only regulations, formalities and all sorts of barriers to entry.”
The NFT space has become a focal point for several mainstream organizations and governments. Recently, China launched its own government-controlled NFT infrastructure despite remaining resilient on its ban on crypto trading.
Ben Constanty, CEO & Co-Founder of SmartLink, a crypto-native marketplace for digital assets, goods, and services based on escrow smart contracts thinks recent activities involving mainstream companies filing trademarks for NFT and metaverse related products and services validate the underlying technology that powers NFTs.
In an exclusive comment, Constanty told NFTgators that “having large corporations and the likes of the New York Stock Exchange exploring NFTs not only provides validation to the underlying technology but also indicates the vast application landscape for NFTs.”
“NFTs represent an innovative approach for intellectual property management and the industry is at a very nascent stage,” he added.
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