Payment giant Visa bought CryptoPunk # 7610 for $150,000? International payments giant Visa has joined the NFT race by purchasing one of the CryptoPunk collection's non-fungible tokens. The management's choice fell on CryptoPunk #7610, a female punk with aggressive makeup. Visa said they purchased this virtual avatar from Larva Labs back on August 18th. It cost them 49.5 ETH, the equivalent of $150,529 at Huobi exchange rate at the time of purchase. Today this acquisition would cost Visa $165,231. CryptoPunk #7610 has joined a collection of other “trade historical artifacts” owned by the payment system. Among them, you can find zip-zap machines for credit cards, paper credit cards, which became the progenitors of plastic cards, and other “assets” of bygone financial eras. Like most other institutions looking to catch the NFT hype wave, Visa officials said they were optimistic about the future of non-fungible tokens. Visa's head of cryptocurrency, Cuy Sheffield, noted the growing interest in NFT within the crypto industry, saying their company expects to see more high-profile sales of these digital goods in the next couple of years. According to him, NFTs can play an important role in retail in the foreseeable future, because they strive to provide customers and partners with comprehensive information about what infrastructure features non-fungible tokens have, how they should be bought, stored, and received profit. Sheffield also mentioned that Visa is currently working on new concepts and collaborations with other businesses that intend to support both the creators of NFT and the platforms that trade them. Visa will publish more information about this in the coming months. Subscribe to our Telegram , Twitter and Facebook to be the first to know about cryptocurrency news! Coin Shark is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content posted on the site. This article is for informational purposes, prepared on the basis of materials and information from open sources. Cryptocurrency is a risky asset, investments in it can lead to losses. Users should do their own research before taking any action.