Industry 2 min, 5 sec READ

by Mike Dalton

Visa is expanding its crypto efforts by minting a series of charity soccer NFTs and filing other unrelated trademarks.

Visa has announced that it will release a series of five NFTs related to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It has also filed a number of unrelated crypto trademarks.

Visa’s Masters of Movement Series

Visa is auctioning a series of five soccer-themed non-fungible tokens as part of FIFA’s 2022 World Cup. Titled “Masters of Movement,” each token in the series features an abstract image that is based on past World Cup goals.

The series will feature representations of World Cup goals from top players such as Maxi Rodríguez (Argentina, 2006), Michael Owen (England, 1998), Carli Lloyd (U.S., 2015), Jared Borgetti (Mexico, 2002), and Tim Cahill (Australia, 2014).

The complete collection of NFTS is shown below, in that order:

Each non-fungible token is minted on the Ethereum blockchain and includes printable files and signed memorabilia. The auction is being held on the NFT marketplace operated by Crypto.com, a major crypto exchange. Bidding will remain open from Nov. 1 to Nov. 9, 2022. Each token has a starting bid of $1,000.

Proceeds from the auction will go to Street Child United, a charity that organizes sports tournaments for street children and otherwise engages in advocacy.

Fans who attend the FIFA Fan Festival in Doha, Qatar this winter also have the opportunity to create their own similar pieces with motion-tracking technology.

Visa Files Crypto Trademarks

The news comes shortly after Visa filed trademarks for technologies related to non-fungible tokens, crypto wallets, and the Metaverse.

Visa filed two trademark applications toward that goal on Oct. 22, 2022. Various parts of those applications suggest that Visa is working on “non-downloadable virtual goods” including a “collectible series of non-fungible tokens.”

Other sections indicate that Visa is working on virtual environments in which users can interact and “a digital currency wallet and storage services software.”

These trademarks do not appear to be related to Visa’s Masters of Movement NFTs. Furthermore, the fact that Visa has filed for trademarks does not necessarily mean that the technologies described will come to fruition.

Nevertheless, Visa has launched various other crypto services in recent years. Most notably, the firm is powering various exchange payment cards, including those from FTX, Coinbase, Binance, and Crypto.com. In 2021, Visa said that $1 billion worth of crypto had been spent through those carts in the first half of the year.