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Visa said its programme is designed for entrepreneurs in art, music, fashion and film who want to add NFTs to their business model.
Visa has launched a new creator programme to help groups such as artists and musicians scale their businesses through the creation and selling of NFTs.
Selected creators will join a one-year programme designed to build and deepen their fluency in crypto commerce and traditional payments. Each cycle of the programme will support a group of entrepreneurs looking to deepen their understanding of the technology and platforms underpinning NFTs.
Visa said the creator economy is one of the fastest-growing areas of small business, with an estimated size of around €90bn and 50m artists, musicians and creators publishing content as a source of income.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital files with ownership recorded and verified using blockchain technology. After a surge in interest last year, the NFT market surpassed an estimated $40bn in value.
As NFTs can establish ownership and authenticity of digital goods and media, Visa believes they can help creators generate revenue and grow their business.
“NFTs have the potential to become a powerful accelerator for the creator economy,” Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, said. “We’ve been studying the NFT ecosystem and its potential impacts on the future of commerce, retail and social media.
“We want to help this new breed of small and micro businesses tap into new mediums for digital commerce.”
The one-year programme is designed to help creators through mentorship, community creation, the opportunity to engage with Visa’s client network and access to thinkers and researchers. It will also provide a one-time stipend to help creators kick-start the next phase of growth.
Earlier this month, it was announced that LimeWire is set to return as an NFT marketplace, more than a decade after the file-sharing platform was shut down following a lengthy legal battle with the US music industry over piracy claims.
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