SINGAPORE — Nonfungible tokens or NFTs have opened up the market for crypto assets to many more people this year, according to an executive from Visa.

These unique digital assets are called NFTs and they can only be replicated. This makes them a rare collector’s item. Ownership of these assets — which can include everything from music, digital artwork and website domain — is recorded on a blockchain, or a digital ledger.

According to Cuy Sheffield (Visa’s chief of crypto), a “whole new group” of mainstream customers have entered crypto because NFTs. He added that those who enjoy art, music and culture, in general, are setting up “crypto wallets in waves” to support creators of NFTs.

Sheffield explained that crypto assets had been used before NFTs enjoyed a boom in this year’s market. He said so during Monday’s panel discussion at Singapore Fintech Festival.

He said that “Crypto has become culturally accepted, and it is becoming trendy.”

Sheffield said, “It used be that crypto investing was kind of strange.”

According to him, the purpose of a cryptocurrency wallet is changing. Previously, it was a secure place to store digital assets, but now, it could be a place where people discover new music — becoming more of a “super app” that influences a consumer’s life, he explained.