Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the company is starting to support the international expansion of NFTs on Instagram. The expansion comes after the social network first launched NFT tests in May. With this expansion, users and businesses in more than 100 countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas can now share their NFTs on Instagram. Before the expansion, the support was only available to select creators in the US.
The company also announced today that Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet are now accepted as compatible third-party wallets. Instagram is also expanding its supported blockchains to include Flow.
Instagram’s NFT feature allows users to connect digital wallets, share NFTs and automatically attribute creators and collectors. You can share NFTs in your main Instagram feed, stories or messages. Once you publish a digital collectible, it will have a flash effect and can display public information, such as the NFT’s description.
In order to post digital collectibles on Instagram, you need to connect your digital wallet to Instagram. As of today, Instagram supports connections to third-party wallets, including the upcoming Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, and Dapper Wallet. Supported blockchains include Ethereum, Polygon and Flow. The social network notes that there are no fees for posting or sharing digital collectibles on Instagram.
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg said Meta would be working on augmented reality NFTs, or 3D NFTs, that you can bring to Instagram Stories using the company’s software AR platform, Spark AR. Today, the company revealed that it started allowing people to showcase and share their digital collectibles in Instagram Stories as AR stickers.
Meta said today’s expansion reflects its work to expand access to web3 technologies through NFTs and support creators looking to monetize their work and build communities with fans and collectors.
“We understand that blockchain technology and NFTs raise important questions about sustainability,” the company said at the initial NFT test launch in May. “Meta will help reduce emissions impacts that may be associated with displaying digital collectibles on Instagram by purchasing renewable energy.”
The Instagram expansion comes a few weeks after Meta began testing NFTs with select creators on Facebook. At the time, the company said it would not offer the ability to turn digital favorite posts into ads for the time being.
Instagram’s expansion of NFT capabilities comes as Twitter enabled NFT profile pictures for premium users earlier this year. Instagram and Twitter aren’t the only digital giants looking to embrace NFTs, with YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki suggesting that the platform may employ web3 technologies, including NFTs, to help YouTube creators make money. Additionally, Reddit recently launched a new NFT-based avatar marketplace that allows users to buy blockchain-based avatars for a fixed price.
