Non-Fungible-Tokens (NFT) has become extremely popular in the last year or so. Over 1 billion NFTs are already available on the market, and an average of 8 million new ones are produced each month. As more people become aware of how valuable they may be in transferring value, this figure is anticipated to increase even higher.
Instagram, the famous social media network, is getting ready to launch a number of tools connected to NFTs that will let creators produce, display, and trade NFTs.
At its Creator Week, 2022 event on 2 November 2022, Instagram parent firm Meta said that the network would let its creators produce “digital collectibles” and sell them “both on and off Instagram.”
Meta has picked the Polygon blockchain as an initial partner for this functionality, claiming that creators will have an “end-to-end toolkit” for developing, presenting, and finally selling NFTs within the platform.
It states that only a “small group” of American authors will be permitted to test the new capabilities and that expansion to other nations will follow, although it makes no mention of when this will happen.
In addition to the blockchains it now supports, such as Ethereum, Flow (FLOW), and Polygon, Meta recently announced support for the Solana blockchain and the well-known Phantom wallet.
Selected NFT to be pulled from OpenSea
Additionally, metadata for specific non-fungible token collections, including names and descriptions, will be retrieved from the NFT marketplace OpenSea. Support for video digital collectibles will also be introduced.
The blockchain gas fees for buyers will be covered by Meta “at launch,” according to Stephane Kasriel, head of commerce and financial technology at Meta, who did not specify how long the launch timetable would be. Meta will not charge fees to manufacture or sell NFTs until 2024, he added.
According to Kasriel, these deals would still be subject to “app store fees,” which refers to Apple’s 30% royalty on the sales, which has come under fire for being higher than the typical 2.5% charge imposed by marketplaces like OpenSea.
Given that both Apple and Google only permit in-app transactions made using fiat currencies and both restrict buttons, external links, and other actions that provide customers a method to avoid their commissions, buyers apparently won’t be able to buy Instagram NFTs using cryptocurrency through the Instagram app.
It is unknown if Meta will follow the recent moves from marketplaces to migrate to opt-in royalty models because Meta has not disclosed how much of a commission it expects to take from NFT sales or what its creator royalties scheme would look like.
