For better or worse, NFTs are still a thing, and Instagram wants to help creators make and sell them on and off the social network.
Parent company Meta this week introduced new tools for building businesses on its platforms—starting with non-fungible tokens, or "digital collectibles." Currently in testing with a "small group of creators in the US first," the update includes a toolkit to walk folks through the process, starting on the Polygon blockchain.
"People can easily support their favorite creators by buying their digital collectibles directly within Instagram," Meta says.
The firm is also expanding its range of NFT types to include video, and will now accept the Solana blockchain and Phantom wallet in addition to those already supported. Information for select collections where metadata has been enriched by OpenSea, such as collection name and descriptions, will also be available on Instagram.
A unique unit of cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens are digital certificates for intellectual property stored in the blockchain. They're typically used for art, gaming, and collectibles, and brands like Starbucks and Tiffany & Co have embraced them. Others are skeptical, including Minecraft, which banned blockchains and NFTs for taking focus away from the game and encouraging profiteering.
Instagram in May began working with select US artists and collectors to share their non-fungible tokens via News Feeds, Stories, or DMs. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the time tipped "similar functionality" coming to Facebook "soon," alongside augmented reality NFTs (or "3D NFTs") on Instagram Stories via Spark AR. In August, Meta then added the option for US users to cross-post NFTs on Facebook and Instagram.