Instagram jumps on the NFT bandwagon as the wheels spin off

Mark Zuckerberg’s sense of timing is truly impeccable.

On Tuesday, Instagram announced a plan to introduce in-app NFTs. Coming immediately on the heels of a significant non-fungible token market downturn, the new feature would let users connect digital wallets to their Instagram accounts and share verified NFTs.

“We’re beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of U.S. creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram that they have created or bought,” reads Instagram’s blog post in part. “Once a creator or collector posts a digital collectible, it will have a shimmer effect and can display public information, such as a description of the NFT.”

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Instagram says it’s initially supporting NFTs on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, and promised that support for Flow and Solana are coming soon. Crypto wallets MetaMask, Rainbow, and Trust Wallet will be the first wallets compatible with Instagram.

When it comes to rolling out new products and ideas, Zuckerberg’s Meta (formerly Facebook), which owns Instagram, is perhaps best known for shamelessly copying features from competing apps once they’ve already found success. In the case of bringing NFTs to Instagram, the feature not only comes well after Twitter incorporated NFTs, but right as the general public’s interest in NFTs cools and marquee projects like the Bored Ape Yacht Club see prices tumble.

To be clear, non-fungible tokens are still big business — a hyped NFT sale wreaked havoc on Ethereum earlier this month — and Instagram’s digital asset plan doesn’t end at adding a “shimmer effect” to posts.

“Soon, we’ll be rolling out digital collectibles on Facebook, and allow people to display and share their digital collectibles as AR stickers in Instagram Stories,” continued the blog post.

That’s right, if all goes according to Zuckerberg’s plan, NFTs are also coming to Facebook. That is, unless this is all some major Metaverse-like diversion and the scandal–plagued CEO gets distracted trying to rip off another competitor first.