American multinational technology conglomerate, Meta’s CEO Mr. Mark Zuckerberg has revealed the plans to let Instagram users mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the social media platform.
According to the statement, “Instagram will essentially be following Twitter, which has already begun to integrate NFT-related features to its microblogging platform, allowing holders of these digital collectibles to display their priced virtual possessions.”
Mr. Zuckerberg made the announcement during the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. NFTs are digital assets based on the blockchain that are inspired by a variety of things like people, photographs, food, cartoons, game characters and so on.
According to the statement, “NFTs will make for intrinsic elements of the metaverse, allowing people to engage and interact with them as virtual avatars.”
During his speech, Mr. Zuckerberg stated that he hopes one day the users will be able to mint the clothes of their digital avatars as NFTs, but admitted there is still work to do before that can happen.
As per the reports, digital artists will witness a boom in terms of reaching out to a wider section of the global audience with Instagram’s upcoming features. The debut date for these NFT features on the photo-messaging app is undisclosed.
Other social networking apps such as Reddit, OnlyFans, and YouTube are also testing NFT-centric features for their respective platforms. The volume of NFT sales crossed the mark of $25 billion in 2021, as per the reports.
Last month, Instagram launched a set of new features to make it easier for users to remove posts, comments, and other activity from the platform.
