[NEWS] Visa Jumps into the NFT Market, Buying ‘CryptoPunk’ for $150,000

August 24, 2021 

Courtesy of Somag News

Visa Inc. said that it purchased a “CryptoPunk” digital artwork non-fungible token, or NFT, for nearly $150,000, entering the growing frenzy around digital assets that some argue could be a gamechanger in the realm of art, music and ownership of virtual assets.

 

CryptoPunks are 10,000 collectible characters built on the ethereum blockchain. First released in June 2017 as one of the first NTFs on the ethereum blockchain, CryptoPunks project has been developed by American studio Larva Labs. CryptoPunk #7610 is a female character with a mohawk, clown-green eyes and “hot lipstick” — one of only 696 punks with that feature, which is basically just a bright-red lip color. Moreover, CryptoPunks are among the most sought-after NFTs in the world. After “Everydays: The first 5000 days" by Beeple, CryptoPunk #3100 and CryptoPunk #7804 are the most expensive NFTs, which were sold for $7.58 million and $7.57 million, respectively.


An NFT — which stands for non-fungible token — is a unique digital asset that can be used to certify the provenance, authenticity, and ownership of a piece of digital media. Like cryptocurrencies. Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, NFTs can’t be exchanged like-for-like with another NFTs.


CryptoPunk #7610. Courtesy of Visa Inc.

Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa and avid collector of NFTs himself, said that Visa purchased the CryptoPunkt to show that it would not shy away from taking part in an ascendant sector of the art market. Sheffield wrote on Twitter, “While Visa may be one of the first major brands to do so today, we expect that over time, many brands will recognize the value of collecting NFTs to express their brand identities as well as to support and connect with passionate communities of creators and collectors."


Also several big firms have been experimenting with NFTs lately. Christie’s has auctioned off several NFTs, some worth millions of dollars. The auction house set records in March when an image created by the digital artist Beeple sold for $69 million. Meanwhile, a number of media publications, including CNN, The New York Times and Fortune magazine, have sold NFTs of their own. But some critics are skeptical of NFTs. While such tokens represent a digital certificate of ownership, buyers don’t own the underlying item, and internet users can still view the associated media online. Some people have even stolen other artists’ work and gone on to sell them as NFTs.




 
 


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