Visa enters the NFT and buys “CryptoPunk” for $150,000

August 23, 2021 | 6:59 pm

On Monday, Visa indicated that it had purchased a “Cryptobank”, one of thousands of digital avatars based on Non-fungible token (NFT), for approximately $150,000 in Ethereum.

NFT is a unique digital asset designed to represent ownership of a virtual object, and is often less in comparison It houses physical collectibles such as rare trading cards and artwork.

While one bitcoin is directly tradable with another, meaning it is exchangeable, NFTs are the opposite because the underlying assets are unique in some way and cannot be traded peer-to-peer.

“Over the past 60 years, Visa has created a range of historic artwork, from the first paper credit cards to the zip-zap machine. Today, as we enter a new era of commerce in the NFT, Visa welcomes CryptoPunk #7610 to our collection,” the company announced in tweet.

Over the past 60 years, Visa has created an array of historic business crafts—from early paper credit cards to a zip-zap machine. Today, as we enter a new era of informal commerce, Visa welcomes CryptoPunk #7610 to our pool. https://t.co/XoPFfwxUiu

– VisaNews (@VisaNews) August 23, 2021

“We believe NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment and commerce,” Coy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, said in a blog post on Monday, according to CNBC.

Sheffield added that “to help our customers and partners engage, we need a first-hand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to buy, store and leverage NFT.”

Visa’s head of crypto highlighted that CryptoPunks has become a “cultural icon of the crypto community” and added that this is only the beginning of their plans for NFTs.

Visa said Anchorage, a federally licensed digital asset bank, made the purchase process easier.