Instagram will soon enable artists to issue and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs) using an “end-to-end toolbox,” the platform’s owner, Meta Platforms Inc. said on Wednesday.
ygon blockchain, the tool will first be made available to a select set of producers before being given out to a broader audience of users.
Meta said that it would not charge fees for displaying or exchanging digital collectables until at least 2024, although transactions are still subject to any relevant app store costs.
The company also said it would pay “gas expenses” at launch, but did not indicate when this policy would terminate.
Instagram, which has more than 2 billion active users, already allows the display of NFTs from the Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Flow blockchains.
This move is part of Meta’s larger shift towards the Web3 ecosystem, which was best highlighted by the company’s rebranding from Facebook around one year ago, in which it attempted to make the metaverse a core component of its economic strategy.
Following the NFT news, Meta’s share price dropped 4.9% to US$90.54 on Wednesday, bringing its 12-month decline to around 70%.
Also Read: Macro-strategist thinks Bitcoin’s ‘decoupling’ from the stock market would enable it to flourish
