Visa Buys a CryptoPunk for $165,000, Says It's Entering 'A New Era of NFT-Commerce
Visa Buys a CryptoPunk for $165,000, Says It's Entering 'A New Era of NFT-Commerce'
Visa's cryptocurrency head said the company was working on some new concepts and partnerships that supported NFT buyers, sellers, and creators.
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Larva Labs
Visa's unique CryptoPunk is marked by a distinct mohawk, among other features
Visa — the global payments technology company — is the latest major firm to join the burgeoning non-fungible token (NFT) craze. It has announced that it bought a CryptoPunk, one of thousands of NFT-based digital avatars, for nearly $165,000 (roughly Rs. 1.22 crores) by paying a little below ETH 50. An NFT is a unique digital asset that represents ownership of a virtual item. Unlike cryptocurrencies, an NFT cannot be exchanged for another NFT and can only have one owner at a time.
Visa announced the purchase on Twitter, stating, “Over the last 60 years, Visa has built a collection of historic commerce artifacts — from early paper credit cards to the zip-zap machine.” It said that the company has now entered “a new era of NFT-commerce.”
The purchase of CryptoPunk 7610 — a female Punk with a distinct mohawk — was made on August 18 for ETH 49.5 (roughly equivalent to $165,000). This CryptoPunk is one of the only 3,840 "female" Punks created so far. At the time of writing, Ether price in India stood at Rs. 2.57 lakhs.
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