U.S. Trademark Filing Sparks Debate Over XRP as a Payment Method

• Old 2013 USPTO trademark resurfaces sparking confusion, with some wrongly claiming XRP had US approval.
• Ripple’s filing shows brand protection only, not government recognition, yet debate fuels speculation in crypto circles.

A United States trademark registration dating back more than a decade has reignited debate around XRP’s status as a payment method. The certificate, which resurfaced recently, was first issued on December 31, 2013, by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under Registration Number 4,458,993.

OpenCoin, Inc., later known as Ripple Labs, had initially filed the application on May 17, 2013. The records indicate that the trademark applied to International Class 36, which includes financial services. The description indicated that XRP was intended for secure payment options across global networks using both digital as well as conventional currencies.

Ripple had made its first commercial use of XRP on March 1, 2013. The registration was limited to the name “XRP” in standard character, meaning it served as a service mark for financial dealings rather than identification of the token as a regulated payment network

Ripple’s 2013 Registration Sparks Misleading Claims

The resurfaced registration has stirred up speculation within the crypto space. Certain holders took the filing as a form of official U.S. government endorsement of XRP as an accepted mode of payment. Community influencer Amelia even went so far as to suggest that

Influencer JackTheRippler posted similar commentary,  bolstering the idea of government backing. A review of official records, however, does not support that assertion.

Verifications from Justia Trademarks, uspto.report, and Trademarksoncall.com all present the same information: serial number 85935696, owner as Ripple Labs, and registration as confirmed on December 31, 2013.

UC Davis Law Review has also cited the registration, and USPTO’s Trademark Status and Document Retrieval system includes the mark as active, frequently updated, and kept by Ripple. It establishes ownership but serves not to translate into official acknowledgement of XRP as a recognized U.S. payment tool.

Patent Portfolio Shows Ripple’s Long-Term Legal Strategy

Although current controversy could be the result of overinterpreting, the filing still denotes Ripple’s initial moves in safeguarding its intellectual property. Records indicate that the company has 39 patents in the United States, and the government has issued 18. More than 62% of these patents are active, emphasizing Ripple’s long-term legal foothold in financial technology.

Ripple has continued to safeguard its brand with more recent initiatives, including applying for a trademark for covering its proprietary stablecoin RLUSD in 2023. These applications are more branding tools rather than endorsements from regulators.

At the trade level, XRP is at $2.88, recording a 0.39% decline in the past 24 hours. Trading volume declined by 13.35% in the same period, reaching 16.5 billion.