Visa Inc. announced today that it spent $150,000 to purchase a piece of artwork represented by a nonfungible token named CryptoPunk 7610.

The announcement was made by Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, in a blog post who spoke to the purchase as an investment in the NFT market and Visa’s interest in the industry.

“We think NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment and commerce,” Sheffield said. “To help our clients and partners participate, we need a firsthand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store and leverage an NFT.”

NFTs use blockchain technology to represent one-of-a-kind digital goods – artwork, music or text – as a way to allow individuals to claim possession so that they can be bought, sold and traded allowing them to retain value.

The artwork is part of an algorithmically generated collection of 10,000 different 24×24 pixel images called CryptoPunks, no two are exactly alike. CryptoPunk 7610 is a female punk with a mohawk, green clown makeup and red lipstick. It was originally minted on June 23, 2017, and sold a month later for 0.6 Ether, which was approximately $114 at the time.

The company commented on Twitter that it is an avid collector of “historic commerce artifacts” and now CryptoPunk 7610 joins that collection.

Over the last 60 years, Visa has built a collection of historic commerce artifacts – 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. https://t.co/XoPFfwxUiu

— VisaNews (@VisaNews) August 23, 2021

Sheffield added that the company picked a CyptoPunk as a signal to support creators, collectors and artists who drive that particular cultural movement. He said that the company is using the collection as a sign that the company is “jumping in feet first” and it represents the beginning of the company’s work in the space.

In July alone, the NFT market raked in over $1.2 billion in sales and reached $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021 – this dwarfs the first half of 2020 when sales only reached $13.7 million. According to DappRadar.com, a website that tracks NFT trades, the CryptoPunks trading volume accounted for approximately $415 million in the past 30 days.

Although Sheffield believes NFTs have a strong potential as a collectibles market, he noted that there are numerous ways that brands can use them to connect with fans.

“Imagine discovering a new musician online,” Sheffield said. “You purchase an NFT of their album art, which can simultaneously serve as a piece of art that you can display online, an entry into an exclusive chat group where you get to connect with other superfans and a backstage pass for an upcoming show.”

Owning an NFT can act as a key to unlock access to exclusive content. For example, the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT avatars are both images used to represent individuals in the chatrooms and act as membership access keys. This month, a bundle pack of NFT from the website made headlines when it sold for more than $1 million.

“In the near term, we want to help brands and businesses better understand NFTs and how they might be harnessed for customer and fan engagement,” said Sheffield.

Image: Larva Labs