Wells Fargo signals deeper push into crypto, filing trademark for WFUSD

Wells Fargo (WFC), one of the largest U.S. banks overseeing $1.7 trillion in assets, filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a new digital asset-focused platform branded WFUSD, signaling a deeper push into crypto and blockchain services.

“Wells Fargo signals deeper push into crypto, filing trademark for WFUSD The move mirrors JPMorgan's similar trademark filing that foreshadowed the bank's introduction of tokenized deposits on Ethereum layer-2 network Base”

@coindesk

According to a Tuesday filing for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), WFUSD would offer services such as "cryptocurrency payments processing," "execute trades of digital assets" and "services featuring software for tokenization of assets," among others.

@coindesk

The bank did not return requests for a comment by press time.

The WFUSD filing mirrors JPMorgan's similar, digital asset-related trademark filing last year for "JPMD," which foreshadowed the launch of a permissioned USD deposit token under the same name on Base, the layer-2 network built on Ethereum.

In Wells Fargo's case, the "WFUSD" trademark may hint that the offering would be a tokenized deposit or stablecoin.

@coindesk

The filing therefore draws direct comparisons to recent large-bank experiments with tokenized deposits.

The filing comes as traditional financial institutions and global banks increasingly embrace digital assets, exploring tokenized assets and stablecoins.

“Wells Fargo signals deeper push into crypto, filing trademark for WFUSD The move mirrors JPMorgan's similar trademark filing that foreshadowed the bank's introduction of tokenized deposits on Ethereum layer-2 network Base”

@coindesk

Last May, the Wall Street Journal reported that several U.S. banks including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) held early-stage discussions to jointly launch a stablecoin.

Wells Fargo previously unveiled plans in 2019 to pilot an internal settlement service called Wells Fargo Digital Cash, running on the bank's own distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform.

Key details about WFUSD remain unclear because Wells Fargo did not comment, including whether the offering will operate as a deposit token, a stablecoin, or another digital-asset service.

The USPTO filing explicitly lists payment processing, digital-asset trading and software for tokenizing assets among the services covered by the trademark, which suggests a broad set of possible functions.

@coindesk

Overall, the filing signals Wells Fargo is advancing deeper into crypto and blockchain services alongside other major banks.