Visa launches an NFT-focused program to help creators build their business with NFTs

The digital art market has exploded in recent months after the report of a single piece of non-fungible token (NFT) art sold at Christie’s Auction for a record-setting $69.3 million, making it the most expensive digital art ever sold. Since the beginning of 2021, the digital art world has been dominated by human artists, musicians, and creators.

In the summer of last year, payments giant Visa jumped into the non-fungible tokens (NFT) craze with the purchase of CryptoPunk-based digital avatars for $165,000. According to the company’s official news-based Twitter account, Visa told its 114,000 followers it paid 49.5 Ethereum ($165K) for Cryptopunk #7610.

Since then, Visa’s head of crypto Cuy Sheffield said the company has been looking into the possibility of using NFTs to support small businesses in fields like music, fashion, and film to expand their operations through the use of NFTs.

Yesterday, Visa unveiled an NFT-focused program to help small businesses and creatives. According to Visa, the one-year immersion program will bring together a global cohort of creators interested in building their business with NFTs.

“To support this growth, today, we’re launching the Visa Creator Program, an initiative that aims to help digital-first artists, musicians, fashion designers, and filmmakers accelerate their small businesses through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Each cycle of the program will support a selected group of entrepreneurs looking to deepen their understanding of the technology and platforms underpinning NFT commerce.”

According to Signal Fire, some 50 million artists, musicians, and creators of all stripes publish content as a full- or part-time source of income. With an estimated market size of more than $100 billion2, the creator economy is one of the fastest-growing categories of small business.

In a statement, Sheffield said: “NFTs have the potential to become a powerful accelerator for the creator economy.  “We’ve been studying the NFT ecosystem and its potential impacts on the future of commerce, retail and social media. Through the Visa Creator Program, we want to help this new breed of small and micro businesses tap into new mediums for digital commerce.”

The Visa Creator Program is geared towards entrepreneurs working in art, music, fashion, and film who are serious about incorporating NFTs into their business model, whether they’ve just minted their first NFT or have several successful drops under their belt.

“In the early days of my NFT career, I relied on a community of NFT experts and advocates to ground me in this new world,” says Micah Johnson, former professional athlete, the artist behind Aku, and one of the first participants to work with the Visa Creator Program. “I’m excited to work with Visa in providing that same type of mentorship to emerging artists setting out on their NFT journey.”

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