The payment system acquired the CryptoPunk image under the number 7610. In total, 10 thousand of them were issued.
The Visa payment system announced that on August 18 it bought the CryptoPunk 7610 NFT token for $ 150,000. The company used the services of the first US federal-level cryptocurrency bank Anchorage.
Visa did not interact with Ethereum to buy the token, but instead executed the transaction using fiat currency. CryptoPunk 7610 is also stored by Anchorage.
The NFT CryptoPunk collection was launched in 2017 by Lava Labs. It includes 10 thousand images, each of which is unique.
In an interview with The Block, the head of Visa cryptocurrency business, Kai Sheffield, called CryptoPunk the pioneers of the technology and the wave of commercial use of NFT.
Visa reported high interest in NFT from merchants and brands. The company noted that it is creating tools for their participation in the new field.
Also, the payment system published a report on the sphere of non fungible tokens.
In March, Visa became the first of the major payment systems to start conducting transactions in cryptocurrency. The company transferred the USDC stablecoin using the Ethereum blockchain.
Also at the beginning of 2021, the payment giant announced the release of its own system (API) for the purchase of cryptocurrencies, which will be integrated with banks.
The product launch is scheduled for the end of the year. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for the benefit of Visa customers will be kept by the Anchorage depository.
