Meta to Withdraw Support for NFTs on Instagram and Facebook
- Meta has announced that it will shut down support for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.
- Stephane Kasriel, the head of commerce and financial technologies at the company, took to Twitter to confirm the news.
- Kasriel added that the tech giant is looking into “other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.”
- The billion-dollar company announced support for NFTs on Instagram and Facebook last year, but it was made available to only select users.
Social media and tech giant Meta, previously known as Facebook, has announced that it will shut down support for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, which have billions of users across the globe. This confirmation comes during a bearish period in the crypto market as the popularity of NFTs remains low and capital inflow into blockchain-based art has reduced significantly.
As per a series of posts on social media platform Twitter by Stephane Kasriel, the head of commerce and financial technologies at Meta, the company is “winding down” its support for non-fungible tokens and plans to focus on “other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.” An official word from the executive via Twitter confirmed this news.
Interestingly, Meta announced the support of NFTs on Instagram and Facebook around 10 months ago as a part of the company’s big push into the metaverse and digital collectibles space.
The CEO of the company, Mark Zuckerberg, made the announcement at the SXSW conference last year that NFTs will come to the social media platforms, and very soon, people will be able to mint blockchain-based art on the applications by connecting their wallets.
The service was made available to only a few users and was never released on a wider scale.
“A big Thank You to the partners who joined us on this journey and who’re doing great work in a dynamic space. Proud of the relationships we built. And look forward to supporting the many NFT creators who continue using Instagram and Facebook to amplify their work,” said Kasriel in another Twitter post.
Kasriel noted that Meta will continue its investment in the metaverse and “fintech tools that people and businesses will need for the future.” He also brought the attention of his followers to Meta Pay, a payment application that might also support cryptocurrencies in the coming days. Kasriel added that the company continues to prioritize ways for users to “connect with their fans and monetize.”
As noted in the trademark filings from May 2022, Meta Pay might integrate crypto payments. The company filed five trademark applications that included the usage of the company’s name in an “online social networking service for investors allowing financial trades and exchange of digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens, and utility tokens.”
According to a previous report from BitcoinWisdom, Meta announced in August that it would allow users of both Instagram and Facebook to post their NFTs on their accounts by linking their wallets. The tech giant also enables Instagram users across 100 countries to post NFTs minted on either the Flow, Polygon, or Ethereum blockchains.
However, Meta’s heavy investment in the metaverse industry, combined with the worsening global macroeconomic situation, led to the company facing significant losses. Zuckerberg’s company decided to trim staff in the second week of November 2022, with thousands of employees finding themselves without jobs.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
