Payment card giant Visa Inc has further extended its involvement in NFTs and cryptocurrency, this time, through the launch of the Visa Creator Program which will provide mentorship to people who are involved in NFTs and creation-related entrepreneurship.
The launched Visa Creator Program is an educational and training course for the digital-first artists, and existing small businesses of fashion, music, film and creation-related entrepreneurs to accelerate and monetize their businesses through the integration of NFTs.
The year-long program is open globally for enrollment application until May 11, 2022.
Visa and its involvement in NFT and cryptocurrency
Visa’s support for cryptocurrency is not new. Visa payments using Debit, Credit, and Prepaid cards had been implemented quite a few years back.
Almost all the bonafide and even lesser-known crypto exchanges have Visa Card payment systems available for deposit and withdrawal while buying/selling cryptocurrency.
- On August 18, 2021, Visa purchased the famous NFT titled CryptoPunk [#7610] for a price of 49.50 Ethereum; which was announced on Twitter later on the 23rd of August 2021. The NFT purchase was carried out for gaining first-hand experience with a multinational company in understanding, holding, and leveraging an NFT.
- In October, Visa partnered with Micah Johnson, an ex-baseball player in the MLB who later took up the career of an NFT creator and the owner of the Media company and NFT character AKU.
The purchase of the CryptoPunk and partnering with the famous Micah Johnson were all part of the Visa Creator Program at a seed stage.
“In the early days of my NFT career, I relied on a community of NFT experts. I’m excited to work with Visa in providing the same type of mentorship to emerging artists setting out on their NFT journey”- said Micah in a blogpost of Visa.
“Creators like Micah Johnson are at the forefront of NFTs. His work with Visa is an exciting introduction to the Visa Creator Program, a global opportunity for digital creators and artists looking to deepen their understanding of NFT commerce” – Visa tweeted on their official Twitter account.
The floorplan of the Visa Creator Program
The Creator Program is designed to bring together a global cohort of creators where they will receive mentorship from Visa’s crypto products team and the strategy leaders.
They will get to work with thought leaders of digital commerce, Web3, and crypto payments.
Also, there will be the opportunity to engage with Visa’s network of clients and payments and obtain a one-time stipend which will help creators start the next phase of their business growth.
“Enabling buyers and sellers is what we do – whether it’s helping small and micro business owners get online, or making it easier for companies to pay their partners across borders, we’re excited to work with this growing community to make NFTs usable and accessible in a variety of contexts.”
“NFTs have allowed small businesses to harness public blockchains for producing digital goods which can be delivered instantly to a crypto wallet.
We can envision a future in which your crypto address becomes as important as your mailing address”- Said Coy Sheffield, the Head of Crypto Department at Visa.
Nowadays, NFTs have turned into popular avatars and icons among high-profile celebrities’ social media accounts. More celebrities, sports stars, and singers are stepping into NFTs; some of them through investing in NFTs and some of them by creating their own NFTs. Various merch, games, songs, real-life events, parties, after-parties, and themes have circled around the NFTs.
As well as an effective means of getting monetary gains, NFTs have turned into a medium of interaction between celebrities and their fans. More Venture Capitals [VC], and crypto enthusiasts are getting involved in the NFTs, Metaverse, Web3, and their DAOs [decentralised autonomous organisations].
Visa has rightly chosen to become an active and important part in the Crypto and NFT communities just like most other successful businesses, by foreseeing the hidden and probable potential opportunities. And the Visa Creator Program is a project that will benefit the crypto community at the start and Visa itself in the long run.
