Meta ends NFT support on Facebook and Instagram

Meta is dropping support for NFTs on Facebook and Instagram to better focus on other important aspects.

Meta is halting its support for NFTs on Facebook and Instagram less than a year after introducing the feature in an attempt to gain acceptance of “digital collectibles”on its platform. The initiative comes after the social network laid off several thousand employees and closed a number of projects as part of what Mark Zuckerberg called the company “a year of efficiency.”

Meta ends NFT support on Facebook and Instagram

“We are currently pausing digital collectibles (NFT) related features to focus on other ways to help creators, individuals and businesses,” Stefan Kasriel, head of technology for commerce and finance at Meta, said in an update posted on Twitter. “We’ve learned a lot of things that we can apply to our products to support creators, users, and companies in our apps, both today in the real world and in the metaverse.”He added that the company will now focus on “reel monetization”and “payments within the Meta ecosystem.”

The announcement comes almost exactly one year after Mark Zuckerberg stepped onto the SXSW stage to announce that Instagram is working on NFT support, a feature that arrived last May. The American giant announced another major expansion in November when it announced its intention to allow creators to create and sell NFTs directly on Instagram.

To better focus on other important aspects

Stefan Kasriel did not elaborate on why this shift in NFT is happening, which Mark Zuckerberg has suggested could play a role in the company’s plans for the metaverse. “I hope you know that the clothes your metaverse avatar wears can be minted as NFTs and you can carry them with you everywhere,” he explained during his SXSW keynote last year.

But this is not the only failed initiative in recent months. Meta has also shut down its Novi crypto wallet, which was also rumored to support NFT some time ago. The company also closed various projects from its Reality Labs metaverse division and its Reels creator bonus program.