The NFT feature will no longer be supported by meta.
Some product news: across the company, we're looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus. We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.
— Stephane Kasriel (@skasriel) March 13, 2023[1/5]
Instagram has just said that it will stop working on digital collectibles (NFTs). The Commerce and FinTech Lead at Meta, Stephane Kasriel, said in a Twitter thread that all features that supported NFTs would be disabled.
Many in the NFT community were taken aback by the news, especially considering the company had only recently released the features in question.
Kasriel clarified that Meta will not abandon its mission to help creators connect with their fans, but will shift its focus to other messaging and monetization products, such as Reels. Meta will also continue to collaborate with NFT and Web3 content creators who utilize its suite of tools to assist them in expanding their communities.
Instagram’s NFT timeline
In August 2022, Instagram added NFT integrations. That month, NFT users in 100 countries got new features. But there were not enough tools.
The features only showed NFTs that users had made or found. The platforms didn’t have the most important NFT features, like buying and selling NFTs. Before the end of the year, Instagram let some creators sell NFTs. The chosen artists hoped that the change would make the creator economy more fair.
Meanwhile, Connie Ansaldi, CEO and Founder of Carnaval Art, a blockchain-powered loyalty service for companies, said that the company lacked foresight and was led by fear. “You’re not thinking in the long run. What if you would have said goodbye to the internet when the bubble exploded back in the 2000s? There would be no Google. Or Meta whatsoever,” she said.
