Meta’s Instagram to Support NFTs From Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Flow
NFTs from some of the most popular blockchain networks for crypto art is coming to Instagram with the announcement of a pilot as soon as Monday.
The Facebook-owned social media platform is partnering with major NFT marketplaces such as Rarible, SuperRare, and Foundation to offer users the ability to buy, sell and view non-fungible tokens (NFTs) directly on Instagram.
This marks a significant change in policy for the social media giant, which has historically been hostile to cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. The news was first reported by CoinDesk, who spoke to sources familiar with the matter. The pilot is expected to launch on Monday, August 5th.
The Instagram team has been working on the project for several months and is said to be very excited about it. The move could potentially increase mainstream adoption of NFTs and blockchain technology more broadly.
The project is still in its early stages, and it remains to be seen how successful it will be. However, the fact that a major company like Instagram is even considering such a move is a positive sign for the industry.
The pilot will feature a small group of NFT aficionados based in the U.S. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Instagram would support NFTs from all four chains at launch.
Instagram will not charge users for posting and sharing NFTs, as Twitter initially did for its hexagonal NFT profile pictures in January. The project is a partnership between Instagram and the blockchain platform MetaKovan, which will help to power the NFT pilot on the social media network.
Instagram plans to eventually allow users to buy and sell NFTs directly through the app. It’s not clear how this would work, but it could potentially be integrated with the existing payment system that Instagram uses for its in-app purchases.
Currently, there is no way to buy or sell NFTs on the social media platform. However, users can link their MetaMask wallets to their profiles and share their Ethereum address with others. This could potentially be used as a way to trade NFTs off the Meta owned platform.
The Financial Times previously reported that Meta would follow up its NFT pilot on Instagram with minting and group membership options on Facebook.
In the past, few celebrities or well-known artists have been active in the NFT space. Justin Bieber, for example, sold an NFT of his 2014 track “Baby” for $500,000 as part of a charity auction in February.
The news also comes as major platforms like Etsy and NBA Top Shot enter the NFT market. On Thursday, NBA Top Shot announced it would mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of some of the league’s biggest moments. The Moments can be bought, sold, or traded on the platform using cryptocurrency.
And on Tuesday, ecommerce giant Etsy said it would start allowing sellers to list digital art and other virtual goods that use blockchain technology.
As the NFT market continues to grow, it’s likely that more platforms will start supporting the technology. For now, though, Meta is one of the only social media platforms to do so.
I am a bitcoin and crypto currency writer. I also work as a professional trader, and I have experience with stock trading and bitcoin trading. In my work, I aim to provide clear and concise information that helps people understand these complex topics.
