Visa Acquires a CryptoPunk NFT as NFT Sales Hit $1 Billion in August 2021

Financial services giant, Visa, has announced acquiring a CryptoPunks NFT for 49.5 ETH, or about $150,000.

The NFT in question is CryptoPunk 7610, a pixel art image – in this case, a young woman with a mohawk.

The Cryptopunks is a collection of 10,000 uniquely generated artefacts by Larva Labs released in 2017.

In an announcement on Twitter, the firm indicated the NFT will be part of a collection of artifacts it has acquired throughout its history.

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SEE ALSO:  Visa Crypto Spending Tops $1 Billion in the First Half of 2021

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Larva Labs describes these NFTS as one of the earliest examples of a “Non-Fungible Token” on Ethereum and were inspiration for the ERC-721 standard that powers most digital art and collectibles.

Visa President and Head of Crypto, Cuy Sheffield, has indicated that the transaction for the NFT cost $150,000, and described it as “culture meets commerce.”

Visa paid for the digital art with the crypto known as Ether through its custodian Anchorage (49.5 Ether, to be exact).

The actual transaction was completed using dollars, according to Sheffield.

In a statement, Visa has also said it is taking a proactive approach in crypto, with ‘significant interest’ from merchants, brands, and content platforms seeking to participate in NFT commerce:

We think NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce.

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.

– Visa

Visa recognizes that NFTs are rapidly gaining traction and the company expect’s continued growth. Sheffield points out that already there has been $1B in payment volume in August 2021 alone up from less than $100M in all of 2020.

Other reasons behind the Visa NFT purchase are:

  • To signal our support for the creators, collectors, and artists driving the future of  NFT-commerce
  • To collect an NFT that symbolizes the excitement and opportunity of this particular cultural moment

The company plans to add more NFT’s into its collection.

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RECOMMENDED READING: Visa Becomes the First Major Payments Network to Settle Transactions in a US Dollar-Backed StableCoin (USDC)

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