Instagram, the video and photo-sharing service owned by Meta, is planning to add non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to its platform.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, revealed that they are aiming to bring NFTs to Instagram in the near future. He anticipates the availability of NFT minting in the next months.
Undisclosed Deployment
In an appearance at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, Zuckerberg reportedly expressed his hopes. The Facebook founder did not say when the deployment will take place.
Casey Newton is a Platformer newsletter writer. From the conference, he tweeted that Zuckerberg expressed hope that Instagram users will be able to mint their own NFTs in the coming months.
Meta did not answer to a question about when the NFT capability would be available.
Crypto-related Projects
Meta notably changed its name from Facebook to focus on its Metaverse-related projects in October of last year.
For the first time, financial details of the company’s virtual and augmented reality research and development division were released in company filings from the fourth quarter of 2021. According to Reality Labs, the losses totaled more than $10 billion. To be fair, because Meta’s piece of the metaverse isn’t yet operational, it’d be difficult to profit from it.
This isn’t Meta’s first foray into the crypto world. The company announced plans to launch “Libra” (later rebranded to “Diem”) in 2019. It’s a USD-pegged stablecoin that failed owing to regulatory issues and community opposition. Silvergate Capital purchased the project. However, several former Meta staffers are now attempting to resurrect the open-source stablecoin by establishing their own network.
Various Companies Implement Crypto
Companies like Facebook and Twitter have been experimenting with incorporating cryptocurrencies and NFTs into their platforms. This comes after Twitter’s well-publicized announcement in January to support NFT profile images.
In December 2020, pornographic site OnlyFans introduced NFT profile images using avatars from Reddit’s own library.
Not only are social media behemoths interested in getting in on the crypto action. Traditional financial institutions are expressing an interest in the field. According to trademark registrations, American Express, a large credit card business, has hinted at its entry into the Metaverse.
This week, the US Patent and Trademark Office revealed that American Express is planning to offer virtual banking and exchange services. It also offers bitcoin services and allows users to utilize their credit cards on an NFT marketplace.
Following Facebook’s October 2021 announcement of its rebranding to Meta, many corporations have hinted at a venture into the metaverse. At the time, the social media behemoth stated that it intended to develop a virtual environment that would combine online social activities with the real world.
