Instagram to launch NFT support this week

Instagram will start to support NFTs, making it the second social media platform to do so after Twitter. Following a small pilot, Instagram will make Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Flow NFTs, among others, available for publication on social media.

Mark Zuckerberg confirms NFTs on Instagram

Meta's CEO shared a video earlier today confirming that the company was about to begin testing support for digital art in its apps. In an interview with NFT and Web3 enthusiast Tom Bilyeu, Zuckerberg said Meta would begin testing NFTs on Instagram with a select few American creators and collectors. He said the following:

Zuckerberg said Meta would begin testing the new feature on Instagram this week, with "similar functionality" to follow on Facebook in the future.

Although Zuckerberg didn't elaborate any further on what the new feature would look like exactly, he said he thinks NFTs make it possible to "say something about yourself." He also noted that Meta had plans to add augmented reality NFTs to Instagram Stories through its dedicated augmented reality platform Spark AR.

Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Flow

Over the weekend, rumors surfaced that Meta was preparing to add support for Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL), and Flow NFTs. However, in a more recent video, Zuckerberg didn't clarify which networks the first rollout would be on.

It's possible that in theory Meta could launch its own blockchain to support NFTs, although it would require building an infrastructure and user base, while the vast majority of NFT collectors today are used to trading digital art on networks, such as Ethereum and Solana. This makes the choice for these blockchains only logical.

Adoption is rampant

This day was coming. When you think of photos, you think Instagram. When you think of innovation, you think NFTs. After this gigantic hype of 2021, this is a logical step for the platform. It could expand the mainstream adoption of NFTs – which is already rampant – even more.

The platform, which is part of Meta, naturally had to make this step. Meta is already working on a metaverse and its own coin, so the other social platforms can't stay behind. The two will go together like peanut butter and sprinkles.

An advantage of NFTs on Instagram, compared to NFTs on Twitter, is the cost. It was confirmed that Instagram will not charge users for posting and sharing NFTs. Twitter first did this in January. You may remember them; the hexagonal NFT profile pictures.

The blockchains of the NFTs

An interesting fact is that Instagram is coming with non-fungible token (NFT) integrations for various blockchains. For now, the networks of Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Flow are planned for the social media platform. These projects host a large proportion of all NFTs.

What this will do to the prices of the associated coins, we will soon notice. They have not really responded to this news yet. These altcoins are all down about 25% since last week.

Pilot only in the US

This NFT integration is tested first. There will be a pilot for a small part of NFT enthusiasts who will test the tokens on Instagram. Unfortunately, Europeans will not be part of the pilot, as all current participants are from the US.

Further developments will be closely monitored by the BTC Direct news platform. Should more news develop regarding Instagram and its NFT integration, you will read it on this website.