Meta-owned Instagram is starting to test digital collectibles or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) this week, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday, as the global NFT market sees downturn.
Zuckerberg confirmed that the social network is testing NFTs on Instagram, with “similar functionality” coming soon to Facebook.
“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,” he announced.
In a video, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said a small group of US users will get to display NFTs on their feed, stories and in messages.
Clicking on the tag called “digital collectibles will showcase details like the name of the creator and the NFT owner.
“This week we’re beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of US creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on Instagram,” said Mosseri.
“I want to acknowledge upfront that NFTs and blockchain technologies and Web3 more broadly are all about distributing trust, distributing power,” Mosseri added in the video.
“But Instagram is fundamentally a centralised platform, so there’s a tension there,” he said, adding that support for NFTs on Instagram may popularise the technology further.
The Instagram’s push for NFTs comes at a time when sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have fallen a massive 92 per cent since September last year, shows data from popular website NonFungible.
The sale of NFTs fell to a daily average of about 19,000 last week, a 92 per cent decline from a peak of about 225,000 in September.
