VISA Launches NFT Program

It’s always a good sign for an industry when large corporations begin publicly associating with and financially backing them. It proves not only is the industry reputable enough to support but also profitable enough to invest in. 

This is why Visa’s recent announcement of a new creator program specifically geared towards the NFT sector is so important. The program in question was announced on March 30, 2022, and will be dubbed the Visa Creator Program.

The purpose of this program is to help small business owners, specifically artists, designers, filmmakers, and other creatives to develop their businesses and better navigate the NFT space. 

Details About the Program 

As per the press release, the goal of the program is to help creatives better understand the technological and social aspects of NFTs and also how to better navigate them. By equipping creators with this knowledge, they can better leverage NFTs to grow their audience and income. 

Innovators will be selected for the program and once accepted, will be developed in five major areas. The first will be technical and product mentorship with support from Visa’s crypto product and strategy team. This will help the participants better understand the underlying structures behind blockchains and their by-products like smart contracts and NFTs. 

Then there will be community support in which participants can share ideas and solve problems with other artists who are already leveraging blockchains. Leaders in the fields of digital commerce, web3, and cryptography will also be on hand to give guidance and support to program participants. 

Those in the program will also be exposed to Visa’s client and partner network and get a first-hand experience in the use of Visa’s interfaces. Finally, Visa will be giving each participant a one-time stipend to support their creative and professional efforts.

Needless to say, participants in the Visa Creator Program will be getting a robust and in-depth support experience. 

Why Creatives are Needed 

As the NFT sector continues to soar, it is important to keep in mind that much of its progress has been pushed forward by creatives. When we hear of NFTs being sold for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, they are usually NFTs of some sort of artwork, video clip, meme, and so on. 

Most of the time, the value of the creative work and the cultural significance they create is why people are willing to invest so much in NFTs in the first place. Moving forward, it is important for all artists, not just the very successful ones, to have access to all the benefits of NFTs. 

With this program, Visa believes that it is serving the creator economy. As Cuy Sheffield, the head of Crypto at Visa, explains regarding the new development, “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.”