Mark Zuckerberg Teases NFTs Integration With Instagram

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that NFTs are coming to Instagram while speaking at the Southwest Conference (SXSW). He explained that users would be able to mint NFTs on the platform. 

Instagram Users to Start Minting and Showcasing NFTS Soon

Zuckerberg explained that Instagram would integrate NFTs in the ‘near future’ but did not offer more details on the technical part of the development. However, he hinted that users would have a chance to showcase their current and mint new NFTs on the platform.

During his speech at the SXSW conference, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that NFTs would be coming to Instagram soon. While he did not elaborate on the technicality of the integration, he shared that users will be free to display their non-fungible assets on the platform.

He revealed this development yesterday where he also expressed hope for the testing phase to begin in the coming months. The report comes after Twitter, another social media giant, confirmed that it was exploring the integration of NFTs with its systems in January 2022.

Casey Newton, a writer for the Platformer Newsletter, also tweeted on the story from the conference. Newton also expressed that he hopes that the feature will be available on the platform in a few months. It is not the first time Meta has revealed its interest in the crypto space, nor is it the first time it has mentioned NFTs.

The Story So Far

The company has been focussing on crypto projects for some time now. Recently, it sold its failed Diem/Libra coin project after giving up on making its cryptocurrency.

However, that was not the end of its push for investing in the crypto space. It already has a metaverse project in development even though it is yet to register profits from its $10B capital.

The company rebranded to Meta in Q4 of 2022 to signify its plans to offer metaverse products alongside its social media platforms. Mark Zuckerberg has also repeatedly said that the metaverse would be the future of the internet and other social media companies seem to have heard him.

Social Media Giants Rally to the Crypto Space

Currently, several social media platforms have rallied towards the crypto space through innovations like metaverse and NFTs. These competitors look to improve the user experience of their customers. 

Companies like Onlyfans, Twitter and Reddit have joined Meta to pursue the crypto space to bring diversity to their users. Twitter has been figuring out how to best bridge its services with the crypto sphere for a long time. It began by enabling tipping using BTC and ETH and is now exploring NFTs. In January 2022, it announced that it was introducing hexagonal NFT profile pictures for Twitter blue subscribers on iOS only. 

Adult content creation social platform Onlyfans also enabled the NFT profile picture feature in December 2020. The NFT market was way younger and preceded the 2021 bull market. The assets are there to maximize the adult content creators’ gains from the platform.

Reddit also revealed that it tested the NFT profile pictures integration feature pending official directives last January. These platforms eye the potential that lies in the NFT industry. Even though there is a craze surrounding the crypto space, learn to DYOR before investing in any project.