Meta starts NFT testing with select creators on Instagram
According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company has started testing digital collectibles and NFTs with a small group of Instagram creators.
Founder and CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that a select group of creators and collectors on Instagram would be able to use NFTs as profile pictures this week as the company begins tests to integrate blockchain technology on its platforms.
Creators who are part of the test can share NFTs that they have made or bought on their main Instagram Feed, Stories, or messages at no cost. Furthermore, the company plans to release more NFTs-related functionality in the future after receiving feedback from its initial testing.
In the Statement released by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, he said:
"This week we're starting to test digital collectibles on Instagram so creators and collectors can display their NFTs on their profiles. Similar functionality is coming to Facebook soon, along with augmented reality NFTs on Instagram Stories via Spark AR so you can place digital art into physical spaces."
While commenting on the ongoing test, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri highlighted the awareness of the platform on the tension involved with a centralized platform like theirs integrating blockchain technology since the bedrock of the technology is decentralization. Hence, testing the feature with a small group is to receive feedback from the community and fully embrace the tenets of distributed trust and distributed power.
He also commented on the benefit of the company's move for the web3 ecosystem:
"We do think this is one of the unique opportunities we have to make web3 technology accessible to a much broader range of people. And NFTs specifically we think will be interesting not only to creators who create NFT art, but also to people who want to collect it."
At launch, the supported blockchains for showcasing NFTs on Instagram are Ethereum and Polygon, with support for Flow and Solana coming soon. The third-party wallets compatible for use at launch will include Rainbow, MetaMask, and Trust Wallet, with Coinbase, Dapper and Phantom coming soon.
