Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta is reportedly working on its own plans for allowing users to create, trade, and display non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from their social media platforms.
The plans, which have yet to be confirmed, are likely to involve a new feature that would let users display NFTs they own on their Facebook and Instagram profiles, the Financial Times reported today, citing unnamed several people “familiar with the matter.”
According to two sources, the plans also involve a marketplace for trading NFTs among users, as Meta seeks to challenge the massive dominance NFT marketplace OpenSea has in the space. Among other things, OpenSea has been criticized by the community for its 2.5% commission fee on trades and a high degree of centralization.
The report from the Financial Times stressed that Meta’s NFT plans are still at an early stage, and could change.
The report today follows comments from Instagram head Adam Mosseri in December, saying the popular social media platform was “actively exploring NFTs,” and that they were looking into making them “accessible to a broader audience.”
According to one source, Instagram’s NFT project was initially led by David Marcus, the head of Facebook’s Libra/Diem stablecoin project, and Kristin George, director of product and creators at Instagram. After Marcus left the company in December, however, his role has been taken over by Stephane Kasriel, freelancing platform Upwork’s former CEO.
Facebook’s own digital wallet Novi is likely to be an important part of the company’s NFT plans, several sources said, with one person noting that “a lot of the supporting functionality relating to Novi will be powering the NFTs.”
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Learn more:
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