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Visa turns its eye to the NFT market.
By James Kouzinas
18th October 2021
Well-known crypto artist and creator of the Aku series, Micah Johnson, has teamed up with Visa to launch a program aimed at helping digital creators learn more about NFTs, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies.
Together, Johnson and Visa will run an open application process, where they’ll choose a group of creators to participate in the program as the inaugural class.
Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s vice president and head of crypto, shared the news in a series of tweets:
1/ I’m incredibly excited for @VisaNews to partner with @Micah_Johnson3 to build a new program focused on how we can help creators leverage NFTs to participate in digital commerce https://t.co/uH0X4kneTV
— Cuy Sheffield (@cuysheffield) October 13, 2021
This isn’t Visa’s first activity in the crypto space. The fintech giant purchased a CryptoPunk NFT avatar for approximately $150,000 worth of Ethereum (ETH) back in August 2021.
Visa is among a growing list of enterprise groups that have entered the industry, joining companies like Taco Bell, Arizona Iced Team, and Pizza Hut, to name a few. Out of this list, Visa is showing a strong commitment by opting to stay platform-agnostic and work with various partners in the space.
Visa discussed their plans for working with cryptocurrency back in July 2020. Their blog post titled “Advancing our approach to digital currency” covered their past involvement in the crypto space and how they will continue to move forward. Visa is bridging the gap between cryptocurrencies and its network of 61 million global merchants by linking with over 25 regulated crypto wallets, including Fold and Coinbase.
Visa’s philosophy is to focus on technology and security, remaining agnostic towards specific currencies or networks. Education is also a core tenant of their work, as they strive to educate policymakers and organizations about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Visa believes that “digital currencies have the potential to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places. As such, we want to help shape and support the role they play in the future of money.” It’s safe to say, that crypto will continue to be a big part of Visa’s platform into the future, with many other companies likely to follow suit.
While NFTs are still poorly understood by many, institutions are accelerating their activity in the space. And it’s not just around digital art. Businesses are using NFTs to bring liquidity to real-world assets like invoices and homes.
Through NFTs, we can verify the authenticity of assets and track ownership. The tokens become the single immutable source of truth of a document and its history. This brings transparency to assets and makes them easily accessible.
To learn more about NFTs, see our guide: What the heck is an NFT?