Meta is winding down the support for NFTs on Instagram and Facebook apps – as noted by the company’s Head of Commerce and Financial Technologies.
This comes exactly a year after launching these ‘digital collectables’ on Meta apps, and letting users create, share and sell their work. Shutting them down, the company will focus on “monetization opps for Reels” and messaging payments across Meta.
Meta Killing NFT Support For Good
Meta is one of the few tech giants that embraced cryptocurrency and NFT technology in their early days. The company ventured into blockchain by creating its own cryptocurrency (Libra) and later shut down.
Last year, the company announced support for hosting NFTs on its partner apps – allowing users to create, share and even sell their digital collectibles for money. Well, this is now ending – as noted by Meta’s Head of Commerce and Financial Technologies, Stephane Kasriel.
Some product news: across the company, we're looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus. We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses. ????[1/5]
— Stephane Kasriel (@skasriel) March 13, 2023
In a series of tweets, Kasriel said they’re shutting down NFTs support on Instagram and Facebook “to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.” The company will be focusing on monetization opps for Reels and messaging payments across Meta,” says Kasriel.
While he didn’t explain the reason behind this shutdown, it’s understood that the company wants to focus on a single product – Metaverse – that has the scope for this feature in a much better way. Earlier, Zuckerberg said
“I would hope that you know, the clothing that your avatar is wearing in the metaverse, you know, can be basically minted as an NFT and you can take it between your different places.”
Also, this closure may be the direct result of the company’s recent moves to cut costs – where it dumped thousands of employees and shelved several internal projects, like Novi, Reality Labs, and more recently – the Reels Play program.
