Instagram to start testing NFTs

Instagram will start testing digital collectables to enable creators and collectors to display their non-fungible tokens on their profiles.

Instagram is working with a small number of users to test the feature, which will let users share Non-fungible Tokens or NFTs in their main feed as well as Stories and in messages by linking third-party digital wallets in-app.

The wallets will be Rainbow, MetaMask, and Trust Wallet, with Coinbase, Dapper and Phantom coming soon. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that there will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on Instagram.

Only a limited number of people have access to the Instagram test, but the company plans to roll out more functionality related to NFTs in the future once it gets feedback from its initial testing. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that similar functionality will soon come to Facebook and that the firm is also bringing augmented reality NFTs to Instagram Stories via the firm's Spark AR technology.

Mosseri said, “We think one really interesting opportunity for a subset of creators is NFTs—the idea of owning a unique digital item. The initial test, limited to a select few users, invites folks to share via Feed, Stories, or DM the digital assets they've made or bought. If this trial proves a success, Instagram will need to build a lot more functionality. We wanted to start small and learn from the community.”

“I want to acknowledge upfront that NFTs and blockchain technologies and Web3 more broadly are all about distributing trust, distributing power. But Instagram is fundamentally a centralized platform, so there's a tension there,” he added, adding that support for NFTs on Instagram may popularise the technology further.