Yesterday Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) would be coming to social media platform Instagram.
In January the Financial Times reported that teams at Facebook and Instagram were working on features to enable users to display and mint NFTs on the social media platforms. There were also reportedly discussions over Meta launching an NFT marketplace.
“We’re working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a conversation at South by Southwest Festival, according to Engadget. “I’m not ready to kind of announce exactly what that’s going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment.”
This announcement comes following Facebook’s rebrand to Meta last year, indicating the company’s intention to focus on the metaverse and virtual reality. At the time, Zuckerberg had personally outlined his vision of the future metaverse.
Earlier this year Meta-founded’s stablecoin project Diem was shut down over ongoing regulatory pushback. Originally introduced as Libra in 2019, the project faced heavy resistance from financial regulators across jurisdictions worldwide.
In August David Marcus, head of Meta’s Novi blockchain wallet at the time, said the project was exploring NFTs.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Big Tech, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said the company is exploring NFTs for creators
