Instagram is finally breaking into the weird wide world of NFTs. After months of speculation after Meta originally announced plans to create an Instagram NFT marketplace, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed today (May 9) that the beloved social media platform will begin testing NFTs on Instagram this week.
In a video posted to Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, the social media patriarch is seen talking with entrepreneur and prominent NFT influencer Tom Bilyeu about “digital collectibles” coming to Instagram.
“This week we’re starting to test digital collectibles on Instagram so creators and collectors can display their NFTs on their profile,” Zuckerberg wrote in the caption of his post. “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.”
Soon, Instagram users will be able to display NFTs via their profiles in Meta’s continuing efforts to expand the possibilities of self-expression across social media and the metaverse. Although Zuckerberg didn’t explicitly comment on what NFTs on Instagram might look like, he did mention that bother creators and collectors would be able to utilize the new feature, further feeding into the hype for a full-fledged NFT marketplace to be integrated into the app.
This latest news comes only days after CoinDesk reported on Instagram’s plans to move forward with NFT integrations for top NFT blockchains like Polygon, Solana, and Flow in addition to ever-popular Ethereum blockchain NFTs. This multichain approach will surely entice a wide variety of NFT enthusiasts to utilize Instagram’s forthcoming NFT tools, possibly even those worried about the environmental implications of NFTs.
This is a developing story and will be updated.