Facebook-parent Meta to Release First Set of NFTs on Instagram This Week, Partners With Polygon

10. May 2022 Posted by Akolkar B on News

Meta Inc. shall be releasing its first set of NFTs later this week on the social media platform Instagram. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the disclosure during his recent interview with Tim Bilyeu.

Here, Zuckerberg said that Meta’s NFTs shall be powered by Ethereum’s Layer 2 scalability solution Polygon, and will be available to select creators. He also said that the company will start with Instagram and move down to Facebook. Down the line they also plan to bring NFTs to Meta’s other products.

Starting from the U.S, Instagram will allow NFT creators and collectors to link their crypto wallets with display-verified collectibles. Initially, the feature will support NFTs minted on Ethereum and Polygon. Later, Instagram will add support to NFTs minted on other blockchain networks such as Solana and Flow.

Some of the supported wallets include MetaMask, Rainbow, and Trust Wallet. Additionally, Meta also plans to add support for Coinbase Wallet, Phantom, and Dapper Wallet going ahead.

Interestingly, Zuckerberg has also proposed the idea of having augmented reality NFTs for Instagram stories through Spark AR, Meta’s native augmented reality effects software.

Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri said: “We wanted to start small and learn from the community. Web3 is all about distributing trust and power, but Instagram is fundamentally a centralized platform so there is tension.” 

He further added: “This week we’re beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of US creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on IG”.

Meta further noted that the NFT images available on Instagram will come with a unique shimmer” effect. This will visually set them apart from standard images and photos. Furthermore, these NFTs shall be attributed to the original creator as well as the collector.

For its NFT project, Meta is working with creators like Gary Vaynerchuk and Jen Stark. Besides, they have also partnered with projects such as Boss Beauties and Adam Bomb Squad to roll out its NFT initiative.

Meta’s recent NFT push comes as part of much larger initiative of launching the Metaverse. Furthermore, other social media companies like Twitter have already started experimenting with NFTs. Thus, Meta needs to keep up the pace to have the skin in the game.