Patent applications related to metaverse increased by 6% per year on average in the financial services industry since 2020 

The global financial services industry experienced a 6% increase in annual average growth rate (AAGR) in the number of metaverse-related patent applications between 2020 and 2022. The total number of metaverse-related grants increased by an AAGR of 30% during the same period, according to GlobalData's patent analytics database. 

Notably, the number of metaverse-related patent applications in the financial services industry was 1,672 since 2020, while 849 applications were granted.

Analysis of patent applications by assignee shows that Capital One Financial filed the most metaverse patents within the financial services industry since 2020. The company filed 115 metaverse-related patents since 2020.  

It was followed by nChain (83 applications), China Investment (54 applications), Alibaba Group (36 applications) and PayPal (36 applications). 

Analysis of patent grants by assignee shows that Capital One Financial was granted 92 patents related to metaverse within the financial services industry since 2020. It was followed by Wells Fargo (53 grants), Alibaba Group (43 grants), Bank of America (35 grants), and USAA (29 grants).

The largest share of metaverse-related patent publications in the financial services industry since 2020 was held by the US with 62%, followed by China (19%) and South Korea (5%).

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.  

GlobalData’s Patents Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official patent offices around the world. Proprietary analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries