Bottom line: Starting this week, a small group of Instagram users will be able to display non-fungible tokens (NFTs) directly on the sharing platform. They're starting small in order to learn from the community, an important strategy considering Instagram is a centralized platform and NFTs fall into the decentralized category.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri said select users will soon be able to share NFTs that they've made or bought in Feed, Stories or in messaging.
There will be no fee associated with posting or sharing an NFT on Instagram, we're told.
NFTs on Instagram 🎉
--- Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) May 9, 2022
This week we're beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of US creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on IG.
See you next week! ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/VuJbMVSBDr
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg added that plans are in place to bring similar functionality to Facebook soon. Assuming success, Meta could expand NFT support to other apps or services in its family. Aside from Facebook and Instagram, Meta owns WhatsApp, Oculus and Giphy.
Zuckerberg further said they're working on augmented reality NFTs, which he also called 3D NFTs, for Instagram Stories using Spark AR.
Related reading: Daily NFT sales are tanking
Zuckerberg's full interview with Tom Bilyeu of Impact Theory is available over on YouTube.
Additional details on the Instagram tie-in including supported blockchains and third-party wallet support were reportedly shared by Meta employee Alexandru Voica on Twitter, but have seemingly been removed. 9to5Mac, who cited the post, said Ethereum and Polygon blockchains will be supported, as will wallets Rainbow, Trust and MetaMask.