Meta Expands NFT Showcase Feature on Instagram to More Than 100 Countries

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has informed that Instagram support for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is expanding to more than 100 countries. The feature will let artists, businesses and others across Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the US to share NFTs on Instagram, Meta said in a blog post. Instagram began testing NFTs in May, allowing a handful of the US-based artists and collectors to share NFTs on the social media platform. Only a few US creators had access to this prior to the expansion.

The expansion initially supports Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow NFTs. Instagram also plans to let users connect to Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, and Dapper Wallet. The feature will have no associated fees.

“It’s critical that our early efforts in this space empower diverse voices and that underrepresented groups have access to emerging digital assets like NFTs. By building support for NFTs, we aim to improve accessibility, lower barriers to entry, and help make the NFT space more inclusive to all communities,” the Zuckerberg-led company mentioned in a post.

Once a wallet is connected, Instagram members can choose which NFTs they want to display on their profiles or share on the platform. Once posted, it will be identifiable with a particular shimmer effect and other users can view information, public metadata in particular, in its description. These posts will be attached to the public profile of the users who display the information.

Since NFTs are part of a creator and collector culture and designed to stir conversation, Instagram will also allow them to be automatically attributed with this information. Of course, this is subject to privacy settings as well.

Meta, the social media giant formerly known as Facebook, showed first hints that it was ready to embrace Web 3 in October 2021 when it rebranded in a push to help the metaverse grow. The company has since sunk $10 billion (roughly Rs. 79,105 crore) into its metaverse arm, Reality Labs, and added 1,000 to its payroll, but the company’s Web3 plans have largely been kept under wraps.