Visa has paid approximately $150,000 in Ethereum to purchase a CryptoPunk non-fungible token (NFT) as it looks to enter the fast-growing NFT market. Visa purchased the CryptoPunk 7610.
Kept on the Ethereum Blockchain, CryptoPunks are 10,000 unique digital collectibles with proof of ownership. In a Q&A on the company’s website, Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, says NFTs would “play a significant part in the “future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce.” The CryptoPunk acquisition was carried out – with Anchorage Digital – to help get an understanding of the “infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store, and leverage an NFT”. The company is investigating how it might assist businesses in harnessing customer engagement through NFTs and is “working on some new concepts and partnerships that support NFT buyers, sellers, and creators.”
With NFTs accounting for $1 billion in payment volume in August, Sheffield says it’s “not surprising” that Visa is looking into “how we can apply our expertise in enabling seamless and secure digital payments to make NFT-commerce accessible and useable for buyers and sellers”.
What is NFT
NFT is a non-fungible asset that is one-of-a-kind. It implies that an NFT cannot be replaced with another object that is “identical.” Its copies cannot be made after the purchase, making it a one-of-a-kind commodity for buyers.
NFT is the next logical step for those interested in unique intellectual properties, from collectors to companies. In a recent NFT-based deal, Twitter creator Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet for $2.9 million. These assets are beneficial to Artists, publishers, and other stakeholders who want to push digital sales while maintaining their copyrights intact.
WazirX has launched India’s first NFT market.
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