Meta Rolls Out Instagram NFT Support Across 100 Countries
Meta, the biggest social media firm in the world, has announced plans to expand its NFT offerings to 100 countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. According to the company, the new feature would enable Instagram users to share their NFTs by simply connecting their digital wallets to the social media app.
Meta also announced that the NFT feature would have no added charges. The expansion supports Polygon, Ethereum, and Flow NFTs, and the social media giants intend to allow users to connect to Trust Wallet, MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Dapper Wallet, and Rainbow.
Formerly called Facebook, Meta is one of the Web2 companies making a quick transition to Web3. The company has announced a series of blockchain-focused initiatives over the past few months. Meta first showed signs that it was ready to embrace the growing blockchain space last October when it announced a name change that reflected its new ambitions in the metaverse.
The metaverse and digital collectibles are two core areas that the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm intends to focus on in the coming months. Meta has invested roughly $10 billion into its metaverse department, Reality Labs, and has employed about 1,000 staff.
In May, Zuckerberg announced plans to roll out NFT support for selected creators in the United States, adding that Meta’s involvement in NFTs was beneficial to the entire crypto industry. Meta’s foray into the NFT market comes as many critics suspect that NFTs have lost their spark and will soon fade from mainstream attention.
Meta and Its Digital Ambitions
Meta recently announced that its metaverse division suffered huge losses in Q2. According to reports, Meta’s Reality Labs lost about $2.8 billion during the past quarter, worsening its already poor returns.
Despite the huge losses, Zuckerberg remains hopeful that his firm’s investment in the metaverse will yield maximum returns. The tech billionaire said during Meta’s Q2 earnings call,
The Metaverse is a massive opportunity for a number of reasons. I feel even more strongly now that developing these platforms will unlock hundreds of billions of dollars if not, trillions over time. This is obviously a very expensive undertaking over the next several years. I’m confident that we’re going to be glad that we played an important role in building this.
Zuckerberg is one of the few world billionaires heavily interested in the blockchain space. However, his enthusiasm for the industry has been tagged as overly ambitious, especially his interest in the metaverse. Several regulatory bodies believe Meta is attempting to monopolize the growing metaverse industry by purchasing possible competitors and throwing its full weight into the space. The company has repeatedly denied such claims.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
