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Visa has recently taken the first step to enter the NFT commerce business. It was reported that the American financial services company headquartered in Foster City, California, has purchased a CryptoPunk to begin its venture in the world of the non-fungible token (NFT).
The Block Crypto shared that on Monday, Aug. 23, Visa announced it bought CryptoPunk #7610, a female CryptoPunk, for $150,000. The firm said this marks the beginning of its business in the fast-growing NFT market.
For people who are not well-versed in cryptocurrency and NFT, CryptoPunks are considered as the original NFT that was launched by Larva Labs in 2017. The item that was purchased by Visa last week is just one of the 3,840 existing female punks.
These are a collection of 10,000-pixel art images of eccentrics and misfits. There are thousands of CryptoPunk, but each one has its own unique personality and features.
In any case, it was learned that Visa already has a number of vintage art pieces in its collection that are related to commerce, such as antique credit cards made from paper and knuckle busters, a manual credit card imprinter used to record transactions in the old times when POS terminals were still unheard of.
As to why Visa made the decision to buy a CryptoPunk, Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s resident crypto and NFT expert, explained that it was because NFTs will have a bigger role in almost all the businesses in the future.
“We think NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce,” he said in a statement that was posted in a blog post. “To help our clients and partners participate, we need a firsthand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store, and leverage an NFT. Having worked with Anchorage Digital to complete this process, we’re better positioned to help our partners navigate the process.”
Finally, he went on to say that the company wants to support the artists, creators, and collectors that they believe will be the main driving force for the future of NFT commerce. This will also be helping small business owners get online and make business transactions with companies easier.
