Visa announced on August 23 that it had purchased a CryptoPunk and had entered the world of non-fungible token (NFT) trading.
In this context, Visa bought CryptoPunk 7610, one of 3,840 female punks, for approximately $150,000 last week. CryptoPunks, as it is well known, are regarded as the original NFTs launched by Larva Labs in 2017. Each CryptoPunk is presented as a collection of 10,000 pixel art images, each with its own personality and distinct set of features.
Cuy Sheffield, head of cryptocurrencies at Visa, made the following statements on the subject:
“We think NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce,”
Sheffield emphasized that as part of Visa’s art collection, the company has many old trade-related pieces before the advent of old credit cards and merchants’ electronic point-of-sale terminals. When asked why the company added a CryptoPunk to the collection, Sheffield replied that CryptoPunks lead the wave of NFT technology and NFT trading,” which is why Visa wants to own a punk.
Sheffield also stated that Visa is working with Anchorage Digital to acquire CryptoPunk because Anchorage facilitates the transaction and retains NFT for Visa. In addition, Visa is also known to partner with Anchorage earlier this year.
NFTs are the Future of Trading
Visa believes NFTs will play an important role in the future of commerce.
Sheffield notes that NFTs can help individual creators and small and medium businesses in new ways. He also states that “NFTs are an intersection of culture and commerce.”
Finally, Sheffield said that as Visa’s core mission, the company wants to help consumers buy NFTs, and merchants accept NFTs as easily as they do for traditional digital products and e-commerce.
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