Facebook and Instagram Jumps on the NFT Bandwagon

Meta’s main social media companies Facebook and Instagram are reportedly planning to let users display and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs). According to a Financial Times report, the social media giant behind Facebook and Instagram is currently working on prototypes that will allow users to mint collectible tokens. Additional plans include launching a marketplace that allows the buying and selling of NFTs. However, the report did not specify which blockchain network Meta would use for the marketplace. It should be noted that Meta's NFT efforts are still in their infancy phase, meaning that the mentioned features are unlikely to launch anytime soon. Should it go into fruition, Meta’s reported foray into NFTs could be a major catalyst for mass adoption and help popularize the use of the burgeoning digital assets industry. Just recently, leading NFT marketplace Opensea surpassed $3.5 billion in monthly transaction volume, indicating that over $169 million are being spent each day in NFT trading just within the platform. So far, the NFT market has had a total of $25 billion in all-time sales. In December, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri hinted that the company was 'actively exploring NFTs,' but provided no further details. However, the media sharing platform is now internally testing its NFT showcasing feature, according to people familiar with the matter. The Instagram NFTs project was started last year by Kristin George, Instagram’s director of product and creators, and David Marcus, the former head of Facebook’s payments and crypto arm, leaving the company in December. Replacing Marcus, Stephane Kasriel, the former CEO of Upwork took his place. Facebook initially made its intention to delve into the crypto space in June 2019 when it announced the launching of a Libra stablecoin, along with Novi crypto wallet. Since then, the project has had a rocky journey and has been rebranded to Diem and it’s still yet to launch.