Financial services giant, Visa, is partnering with Aku creator and former Major League Baseball player Micah Johnson, to build a program that will support artists who want to use NFTs to sell their work.
The press release stated, “We’re excited about the future of NFT commerce and what this technology can offer to small and micro business owners in the creator economy.
That’s why we’re partnering with Micah to build a program designed to help creators understand this technology and how to harness public blockchains for producing and selling digital goods.”
What this means
The announcement stated that Visa will select a small group of creators through an application process and then help them learn about the crypto and blockchain industry. It stated, “Following an open application process, we will select a group of creators to serve as our inaugural class. We’ll be sponsoring this small group and providing consultative services to navigate the world of both crypto and traditional payment infrastructure.”
Micah Johnson joined the digital art space in 2020 and is the creator of Aku, an animated black astronaut character, which has become the first NFT to be optioned for a feature film. Aku was released in February 2021 on Nifty Gateway and sold more than $2 million in NFT tokens in 24 hours.
The NFT Space
The NFT sector has grown into one of the biggest in the blockchain and cryptocurrency world and many already established and new market participants are trying to gain market share.
A large number of NFT marketplaces have launched in recent months. On Tuesday, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced the launch of its NFT marketplace to launch sometime towards the end of the year. Coinbase created a waitlist for individuals to have early access and just within 24 hours, the platform has over 1 million sign-ups.
According to a report by the data analysis company DappRadar, the NFT market passed $10 billion in sales volume in the third quarter of 2021. It stated, “The NFT space generated $10.67 billion in trading volume during Q3, an increase of 704% from the previous quarter. Ethereum and Ronin accounted for 77.73% and 19.53% respectively from the record numbers.”
Bottomline
Micah Johnson stated, “I’m excited about the opportunity to work alongside and learn from a trusted brand like Visa. Working together, we want to arm creators with the resources they need to stay at the forefront of this revolution.”
Visa trades on the New York Stock Exchange at a market price of $222.46, down 0.71% as of yesterday’s close. It is however up, 0.063% in pre-market skirmish.
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