As NFT Prices Soar, Even Wall Street Wants a Cut.

The New York Stock Exchange wants to launch a marketplace for buyers and sellers of digital goods, including non-fungible token. The NFTs may include everything from artwork to augmented reality software. To protect their brand, the NYSE filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register their name as a trademark for their digital services, tokens and marketplaces.

The NYSE also said in a regulatory filing they may want to offer exchange services for cryptocurrencies. While the stock exchange says they have no immediate plans to launch cryptocurrency exchange services, they want to protect themselves. Last year, the NYSE minted commemorative NFTs to mark the debut of hot tech stocks on their exchange, like Roblox and Spotify. However, they did not sell the NFTs. Instead, they gave the NFTs to the companies as gifts. On their website, the NYSE says there will be more NFTs to come. NFTs sales are exploding. In 2020, NFT sales were at $94.9 million for the year, By 2021. This number rose to $24.9 billion.

To many financial analysts, the entry of a major Wall Street institution in to the world of blockchain and digital assets will bring even more players. It was only a few years ago that major financial institutions didn't trust digital assets. Tech companies are jumping on NFTs. though. Twitter is a popular platform for people announcing NFT projects. Unfortunately, many Twitter uses are asked to join Discord, which is not related to Twitter. On Discord, discussions can be limited to NFT holders only. Twitter is considering creating their own gated communities. Users can already have profile picture that is a verified NFT.

GameStop is also considering developing an online marketplace for NFTs. The struggling company could increase their revenues by taking a cut of each transaction, which is how other marketplaces operate. Some NFTs, like works of art, sell for millions of dollars.