One and all, please! Instagram NFT minting and trading to be introduced by Meta.
Instagram, a social media network, is getting ready to launch a number of tools connected to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that will let creators produce, display, and trade NFTs.
At its Creator Week 2022 event on Nov. 2, Instagram parent firm Meta said that the network would let its creators produce “digital collectibles” and sell them “both on and off Instagram.”
The Polygon blockchain has been selected by Meta as the initial partner for this capability. Meta claims that producers will have an “end-to-end toolkit” for generating, displaying, and subsequently 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.
Meta announced support for the Solana blockchain and its well-known Phantom wallet in addition to its current list of supported blockchains, which also includes Ethereum, Flow, and Polygon.
Additionally, metadata for specific NFT collections, including names and descriptions, will be retrieved from the NFT marketplace OpenSea. Support for video NFTs will also be enabled.
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.
NFT transactions would continue to be subject to “app store costs,” Kasriel added, alluding to Apple’s 30% commission on NFT sales, which has come under fire for being higher than the typical 2.5% charge imposed by NFT 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 NFT 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.