Visa Buys CryptoPunk NFT for $165,000 In Ethereum

Visa has purchased a CryptoPunks NFT for 49.5 ETH—the equivalent of approximately $165,000.

"Over the last 60 years, Visa has built a collection of historic commerce artefacts—from early paper credit cards to the zip-zap machine. Today, as we enter a new era of NFT-commerce, Visa welcomes CryptoPunk #7610 to our collection," VISA said in a tweet announcing the news.

The purchase was made on August 18, 2021.

Visa and NFTs

Visa is bullish on NFTs. The payments giant not only believes "NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce," but it is putting its money where its mouth is.

"To help out clients and partners participate, we need a firsthand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store, and leverage an NFT." To that end, Visa's CryptoPunk purchase symbolises—at least from Visa's perspective—an NFT that "symbolises the excitement and opportunity of this particular cultural moment."

Cut Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, has also found particular interest in the cross-section of NFTs and sports. "NFTs are gaining momentum as digital-first sports memorabilia," he said in a prepared statement published today, adding "We expect a huge range of new cases in the years ahead."

How Visa can play a role in an NFT market

According to Sheffield, Visa can enable "secure commerce" in the NFT industry.

In the near term, that involves helping brands and businesses to better understand the NFT market—and how it can assist those entities when it comes to customer engagement.

Further on the horizon, Visa is working on "new concepts and partnerships" that it believes will support NFT buyers, sellers and creators. "We look forward to sharing more in the months ahead," Sheffield said.