Noted NFT artist Micah Johnson will help Visa to educate more people about the potential of digital collectibles.
Visa wants to bring greater awareness of NFTs to an even larger audience of creators, thanks to a newly-launched initiative. Now Visa is launching a program to support artists who want to use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to sell their work. According to an announcement on Visa’s website, the financial services giant is partnering with former Major League Baseball player turned NFT artist Micah Johnson to help creators understand NFTs. And also “how to harness public blockchains for producing and selling digital goods.”
Johnson, who retired from baseball in 2018 and began dabbling in NFTs a year later, will serve as a collaborator in the program. “NFTs unlocked an opportunity for me to build a community of people interested in supporting my work — in a way that goes way beyond simply liking or sharing,” Johnson said. “With guidance from the early crypto community, I’ve been able to build a small business around my crypto-native character, Aku, that can grow into a global media company rooted in driving value back to that same community that evangelized my work.”
Visa vice president and head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, tweeted: “We believe that we are at the beginning of a digital renaissance in the world of art and content creation—a flourishing ecosystem of artists, musicians, writers, photographers, and curators building communities at the intersection of culture and commerce.”
Visa’s new NFT program seems to be focused on bringing the benefits of NFT commerce to small and micro business owners.
The company will reportedly select and sponsor a small group of creators for its inaugural class, following an open application process. In addition to providing this group with guidance on how to navigate crypto and traditional payment infrastructure, Visa will also facilitate relationships between its NFT artists and its network of payment partners.