Meta to Launch NFT Showcasing Features for Facebook and Instagram
Meta wants to allow users on Facebook and Instagram to create and sell non-fungible tokens. The company is the latest mainstream player to hop into the NFT craze. Last week, Twitter launched an NFT profile picture verification feature that allows owners to use distinguishable NFT profiles that link to their NFT collections.
FT reports that Facebook and Instagram teams are working on a new crypto feature that will allow social media users on the platforms to display their NFTs on their social media profiles. The teams are also developing a prototype that will enable users on both platforms to mint NFTs.
The report says Meta is also looking into launching a marketplace where users can buy or sell NFTs.
All of Meta’s NFT efforts at the moment are still at an early stage and the plans may change along the way.
This is coming on the back of Twitter’s recent NFT verification feature that has the potential to take NFT to the mainstream. Also experimenting with NFT is Reddit which has already launched a collection of NFT avatars.
NFTs, dismissed by some as a speculative bubble, is currently seeing tremendous growth and its global market is worth $40 billion.
The most dominant NFT marketplace OpenSea was recently valued at $13 billion following a $300 million fundraising. This came six months after it raised $100 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
Coinbase, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, is also set to launch an NFT marketplace soon.
Last year, Mark Zuckerberg stated that NFTs could one day be used in the market for digital goods in Meta’s planned metaverse.
Should Meta go big into the NFTs, it will inject a new hype into this freewheeling industry and will further help digital artists monetize their work. It will expand the scope of opportunity at a time when most of the money into NFTs is going into a limited set of very expensive NFT collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks.
Buyers of exclusive NFT collections usually post their purchases as profile pics as a sort of bragging rights. With verifiable NFT support on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, those bragging rights will have something to back them up.
Instagram Already Testing NFT Display Feature
The Financial Times report, citing two people familiar with the plans, says Instagram is already internally testing its NFT showcasing feature.
Instagram’s NFT project was steered by its director of products and creators Kristin George and by Facebook’s former head of payments and crypto David Marcus, who left in December. Marcus’ role has now been taken up by Stephen Kasriel, former Upwork boss.
Facebook piloted a digital currency wallet in October known as Novi and it is likely to play a role in the company’s NFT plans. According to the source, “a lot” of the supporting functionality in Novi will power the NFTs.
https://virtualrealitytimes.com/2022/01/23/meta-to-launch-nft-showcasing-features-for-facebook-and-instagram/https://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Twitter-NFTs-600x487.pnghttps://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Twitter-NFTs-150x90.pngTechnologyMeta wants to allow users on Facebook and Instagram to create and sell non-fungible tokens. The company is the latest mainstream player to hop into the NFT craze. Last week, Twitter launched an NFT profile picture verification feature that allows owners to use distinguishable NFT profiles that link to...Sam OchanjiSam Ochanji[email protected]EditorVirtual Reality Times - Metaverse & VR