Stephanie Douse 
Visa has announced the official launch of the Visa Creator program, a one-year product strategy and mentorship program for entrepreneurs who want to use nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, to grow their small businesses.
The Creator Program’s purpose, according to Visa, is to bring together a global cohort of digital innovators and empower them through blockchain technology and NFT commerce education.
Micah Johnson, the developer of the Aku World NFT community, is the program’s first Visa Creator, as revealed in October 2021. Johnson is a former professional baseball player who retired in 2018 due to several injuries and went on to pursue a career as a graphic artist.
Aku, the first NFT art piece to digitally go to the International Space Station, is a young Black astronaut who has matured to ink his own film and TV deal.
According to CryptoArt at the time of writing, Johnson’s painting had sold for a total of 6,178 ETH, or nearly $20.9 million. He is one of the first class of content creators and gig economy employees who is already using NFTs, according to the global payments giant. To participate, candidates must apply and be chosen.
“NFTs have the potential to become a tremendous accelerator for the creator economy,” Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, said in a statement. The Visa Creator Program, he continued, is their way of assisting “this new breed of tiny and micro-companies tap into new means for digital commerce.”
Apart from mentorship and the community aspect of the program, Visa claims that other benefits include opportunities to engage with Visa’s network of clients and partners, as well as access to Web3 thought leaders. Participants will also get a one-time stipend to assist with the company’s next round of business planning.
Following its $150,000 purchase of a CryptoPunk in August 2021, the launch of its Universal Payment Channel interoperability project, and the success of its crypto-enabled cards, the Visa Creator Program confirms the company’s commitment to the Credit card giant.