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With NFTs, a Visa Program to Assist Creatives in Growing Their Businesses

A one-year NFT immersion program will be offered to selected creators.

Visa (V) has announced a Creator Program in which selected small company entrepreneurs in sectors including as music, fashion, and film would be assisted in expanding their businesses using non-fungible tokens (NFT).

- Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto, stated in a statement that "NFTs have the potential to become a tremendous accelerator for the creator economy." "We aim to enable this new breed of small and micro companies tap into new mediums for digital commerce through the Visa Creator Program."

- The Visa Creator Program offers a one-year immersion into the world of NFTs, including technical and product mentorship, community building, access to thought leaders, exposure to Visa clients and partners, and a one-time stipend, according to Visa.

- According to Visa, which cited data from Influencer Marketing Hub, the so-called creative economy has a market worth more than $100 billion.

- Micah Johnson, a former Major League Baseball second baseman who debuted his NFT character, Aku, last year, is one of the first Creator Program participants.

  • The announcement comes less than a week after the company's crypto product head left for a new job in Web 3 payments.

The initiative will teach creators on NFTs for a year in cohorts, and will include painters, musicians, fashion designers, and filmmakers.

"As creators become more invested in this medium, NFTs can take many forms, and we want to be positioned to assist and impact creators utilizing NFTs as a bridge to new audiences, goods, and services," Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto, told The Block.

But how does Visa benefit from this program? Sheffield said the company wants to learn about the potential and challenges that creators face, as well as the role that NFTs could play in monetizing their work.

"This is only the beginning," Sheffield remarked. "At Visa, we're always working on new products and solutions for our clients, which might include creators and creative platforms."


Visa first showed interest in NFTs when it purchased a CryptoPunk in August of last year. Sheffield stated at the time that Visa intends to play a role in NFT commerce by assisting customers in purchasing NFTs and merchants in accepting payment for NFTs in the same way that they accept payment for traditional commodities in e-commerce.

Micah Johnson, a former professional baseball player turned NFT artist, established Visa's creator program. After overhearing a conversation in which a small child inquired, "Can astronauts be black?" Johnson developed Aku, an NFT collection featuring a boy in an astronaut helmet.

Johnson hopes to provide guidance to new artists embarking on their own NFT journey through Visa's creator program.

Visa has yet to decide how many creators it will train through this program. Sheffield explained that the organization aims to keep the cohort small enough to allow for community building and technical mentoring.

Creators who want to participate in the program must fill out a questionnaire. According to Sheffield, they will next be questioned for final consideration.

Visa will also pay a one-time stipend to help creators kickstart their next growth phase, though Sheffield declined to say how much that stipend will be.

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