Not even a year after announcing NFT for Instagram and Facebook, Meta has decided to wind it down. According to the company, there will be other ways to monetize your work, but from now on, selling it as NFTs will no longer be one of them.
[Related reading: It’s official: Instagram is becoming a place to mint and sell NFT. Sigh]
Meta’s Leading Commerce & FinTech Stephan Kasriel wrote in a statement on Twitter that Meta is giving up on the NFT market, at least for the time being. “Across the company, we’re looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus,” Kasriel writes. “We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.”
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
Kasriel adds that Meta will keep on “creating opportunities for creators and businesses to connect with their fans and monetize.” They will switch focus to other areas for this, such as messaging and monetization options for Reels. “We’ll continue investing in fintech tools that people and businesses will need for the future,” he continues. “We’re streamlining payments w/ Meta Pay, making checkout & payouts easier, and investing in messaging payments across Meta.”
Could it be that Instagram is slowly going back to its photography roots? I don’t know, and I doubt it. After all, it looks like the company still has high hopes for Reels and for turning them into the main monetization tool (minus the Bonus program, though) Anyhow, if you’ve been relying on Meta’s platforms to sell your work as NFTs, you’re going to have to find another place to do it.
[via Engadget]
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