Instagram, the media sharing platform owned by Meta, will soon feature NFTs. This has been confirmed by the social media conglomerate’s CEO himself, Mark Zuckerberg, during a talk at the ongoing South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas.

Details on how the digital collectible will be implemented onto Instagram are still unknown for now, but Zuckerberg did hint users will be able to showcase their collection and potentially mint new NFTs on the platform. As to when, the CEO hinted that the upcoming feature will arrive “in the near term” over the course of “several months.” It is unclear whether Meta will charge a gas fee for minting new NFTs or, like the OpenSea marketplace, let its users do it for free.

Zuckerberg noted that beyond Instagram, NFTs could also one day play a significant role in the company’s upcoming metaverse. In a potential use case example, he said that users can mint their avatar’s clothing and “take it between [their] different places.” The CEO further revealed that the company is currently sorting out “a bunch of technical things” before such implementations can make its way onto its yet-to-be-revealed virtual world.

Meta’s decision to include NFTs as part of its Instagram platform is likely its answer to Twitter’s own implementation earlier in January. As we’ve previously reported, the rivaling platform now allows NFT owners under its Twitter Blue subscription to showcase their collectibles via their profile pictures. Specifically, a hexagon-shaped profile picture indicates that the NFT shown is available for sale, and tapping it will reveal details such as its description, creator, and current owner.

If we were to speculate, it is quite possible that Instagram’s implementation may mirror Twitter’s NFT feature, along with other additions of their own (such as the aforementioned minting service). Whether this is the case, we’ll only find out when Meta is ready to spill the details in a couple of months or more.

(Source: Engadget)

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