Instagram to begin testing NFTs with select creators in the US

The social media platform will allow test participants and creators to share NFTs through their main Instagram feed, messages, or stories

Instagram has reportedly announced that the platform plans on testing NFTs (non-fungible tokens) with select creators in the United States this week, without implementing any fees on posting or sharing a digital collectible on the social media platform.

The launch will leverage supported blockchains – like Ethereum and Polygon – to represent NFTs on Instagram and will be followed by support for Flow and Solana in the near future, whereas third-party wallets like Trust Wallet, Rainbow, and MetaMask are compatible for use at the launch.

Meanwhile, candidates like Dapper, Coinbase, and Phantom will be coming soon.

Speaking on the latest development, Adam Mosseri (Head of Instagram) explained why the platform is tiptoeing around NFTs by shedding light on the core objective of blockchain technologies, which is to distribute trust and power, contradicting Instagram’s centralized platform – necessitating solid expertise of the subject.

Mosseri further highlighted the significant opportunity in making web3 technology more accessible to a larger spectrum of people and promoted the potential impact of NFTs on not the creators who create NFT art but also on people wanting to collect it.

Despite the importance of creator economy for Instagram, Mosseri notes that the availability of multiple alternatives for creators to make money presents a challenge in that these several different ways grow more unpredictable and are undergoing substantial change.

According to the platform, the latest launch will offer a unique opportunity for a subset of creators.

Notably, both creators, as well as participants of the test, will be allowed to share NFTs that have been either created or purchased on their respective Instagram stories, feed or even through messages. 

As of now, the NFT-Instagram tests will only be open for a limited number of people, however, Instagram plans to introduce new functionality associated with NFTs in the coming future based on the feedback from the initial testing.

Source Credit: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/09/instagram-testing-nfts-select-creators/