Instagram Introduces NFT Feature to 100 More Countries, Adds Coinbase Wallet, Flow Blockchain 

Meta-owned Instagram has announced that the NFT feature will now be available “in 100 more countries,” along with the integration of Coinbase Wallet, Dapper Wallet, and Flow blockchain. 

The regions now include the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.

Meta (formerly known as Facebook) first started testing the feature in July. The feature allowing Instagram users to showcase NFT collections they own was previously only available in the U.S. to a limited number of creators.

To post an NFT, users need to connect their accounts to a digital wallet. The social media platform currently supports Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow blockchains and third-party wallets like MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, Rainbow, and Dapper Wallet.

“Every day, creators inspire people and push culture forward around the world. With the incredible opportunity of blockchain technology, they can now leverage new tools to earn income, and fans can support their favorite creators by purchasing digital collectibles – art, images and videos, music, or trading cards – as non-fungible tokens (NFTs),” the announcement reads.

Facebook, which had a fallout in public perception after a series of scandals around data ownership and its usage, underwent a rebranding in October 2021, changing the company’s name to Meta and announcing its plans to focus on online interactions and building a metaverse and introducing Reality Labs, a division responsible for building apps and hardware for the digital space.

Despite the lofty intentions around a digital reality, the public perception was still skeptical, with 77% of people not wanting Meta to be the one building a metaverse, opting for a decentralized platform to do it.

The company further showed its determination to grow with a recent trademark filing. Meta filed five new trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May 13, including an application for a crypto payment platform.

“Providing a financial exchange for the trading of digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens, and utility tokens,” the application says.
The company’s latest earning report shows that it lost $2.8 billion on the Reality Labs division during Q2, missing the overall analysts’ expectations.