Meta announces NFT Marketplace on Instagram
Expanding on its NFT rollout to build the ultimate creator economy, Instagram today announced that it’ll soon allow users to display, sell, and buy NFTs on the platform.
The latest update will let creators connect with and monetize their followers through digital collectible experiences. Creators will have an “end-to-end toolkit” that’ll let them create NFTs on the Polygon blockchain and then sell them either on Instagram or off the platform.
Instagram has also announced that the new features are currently being tested among a few US-based artists and will ultimately be released for creators worldwide. NYC based abstract artist and poet Amber Vittoria, LA-based new media artist Refik Anadol, illustrator Ilse Valfré, Miami-based ornate painter Jason Seife, and Brooklyn-based photographer Dave Krugman are among the few NFT artists who’ll test these new Instagram features.
Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is currently hosting its Creator Week 2022 event, which will run from November 1–7 in Los Angeles, London, Delhi, Bali, and São Paulo. And these updates regarding Instagram’s in-built NFT marketplace were released during the event on November 2, 2022.
Soon you’ll be able to make and sell #NFTs on @instagram, starting with @0xPolygon. You can also now connect to @solana and Phantom wallet, and see information about @opensea collection: https://t.co/aH8035Tk8n
— Meta (@Meta) November 2, 2022
Comment your #NFT below 👇 pic.twitter.com/dvHau9n9Yu
The NFT minting toolkits are initially rolling out on the Polygon blockchain, and META also announced added support for the Solana blockchain and Phantom Wallet, which will join already compatible blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon & Flow, and third-party wallets like Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, and Coinbase wallet.
New integrations with the NYC-based NFT marketplace “OpenSea” and the London-based Decentralized Storage Network “Arweave” were also announced. Meta will now utilize Arweave for the storage of their creators’ digital collectibles on Instagram. And information for Opensea NFT collections, such as collection names and descriptions, will now be available on Instagram.
Seeking new ways for creators to make, distribute, and monetize their content, META officially entered the blockchain space with NFT integration testing in May 2022. The initial testing involves connecting crypto wallets and displaying NFTs on the platform.
In August 2022, Instagram’s non-fungible tokens testing was rolled out in over 100 countries across the United States, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Then, in a big announcement on September 29, 2022, Meta unveiled wallet connection features for all US Instagram users to display their NFTs.
Today’s update regarding in-app minting, buying and selling of digital collectibles on Instagram, showcases the increasing adoption of Web3 technology to achieve creator economies. On top of Instagram pics, creators’ Instagram videos are also being tested to be minted as digital collectibles, and NFT buying will be handled through the traditional in-app purchases across iOS and Android.
🌐 NFT Updates 🌐
— Instagram (@instagram) November 3, 2022
You will soon be able to create, buy and sell digital collectibles directly on Instagram, starting with @0xPolygon.
Plus, new integrations with @opensea, @solana and Phantom Wallet. pic.twitter.com/waJK1WJXZB
