Visa is showing some bullish behavior around NFTs. As reported on at our sister network Bitcoinist today, Visa made a splash by purchasing a CryptoPunk to kick off the week. The purchase was made late last week for around 49.50 ETH – approximately $150,000.
The company is showing clear optimism on the future of the NFT market. If that purchase wasn’t enough to convince you, the firm also released a new NFT report.
“Crypto And Commerce”
The brief report can be found as the latest white paper to feature the company’s crypto research tab on the Visa.com website.
Titled “NFTs: Engaging Today’s Fans In Crypto And Commerce,” the report positions NFTs as having “vast potential in the sports and entertainment world.” While many early NFT projects are bound by a sense of community, a unique identity, or early adopter positioning, there is also no question that NFTs have massive potential in being the next wave of sports collectibles. Of course, with the recent CryptoPunk purchase, it’s clear that Visa understands that the potential goes well beyond just collectibles.
Nonetheless, the report goes on to provide a fundamental layout of what NFTs are, and why collectors, fans, teams, leagues, and talent are finding them attractive.
The FLOW blockchain is highlighted with Ethereum in the latest Visa report. | Source: FLOW-USD on TradingView.com
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Lay It All Out There
The report goes on to talk about various NFT use cases, including in sectors like art and gaming (our team emphasized the importance of project use case in a recent Altcoin Evolution report). Additionally, the analysis highlights Ethereum and Flow blockchains as pivotal players in the NFT space.
The document approaches it’s close by laying out the importance of storage and access, and highlights the different types of marketplaces that can be utilized for distribution.
In sports particularly, the end of the Visa document outlines several different verticals that the company sees as notable areas of potential: loyalty and gamification, utility across metaverses, ticketing, fan governance and decision-making, and fan data with pseudo-anonymity. Indeed, several of these verticals are already seeing fruitful growth (fan tokens, for example, are already empowering fans across different sports and teams to have a say in impactful decisions).
The final ribbon on the report outlines some anticipated considerations and risks, including environmental impacts, fees, and licensing, legal, and regulatory considerations. The company also makes note to highlight emerging efforts in crypto, including Visa Crypto APIs, blockchain research from the firm, and their own Digital Currency Innovation Hub.
As per the aforementioned Bitcoinist article, the Visa wallet data from OpenSea has been gifted a variety of NFTs. Visa of course knows that “innovations such as crypto and NFTs are likely to shape sports, entertainment, and other communities going forward.”
What will be the next big purchase for the Visa wallet?
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