Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Teases Instagram’s NFT Integration Plans

During the SXSW conference on March 15, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company plans to introduce NFTs on Instagram in the “near term.” However, Zuckerberg didn’t go into further detail. 

In addition, Zuckerberg characterized the integration of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into the photo and video sharing app as ‘on the way’ once the Instagram team worked out some of the technical challenges.

During the conversation with Shark Tank’s Daymond John, Zuckerberg said:

We are working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term, I’m not ready to announce exactly what that’s going to be today, but, over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, and hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment.

In December 2021, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri confirmed that the platform was actively exploring NFTs. Likewise, the company aims to bring the technology to a wider audience. “I think it’s an interesting place that we can play and also to hopefully help creators,” Mosseri said in his Instagram story.

Additionally, Instagram’s interest in NFTs coincides with its parent company Meta’s wider vision to bring a virtual world filled with digital goods. “I would hope that the clothing that your avatar is wearing in the Metaverse can be minted as an NFT and you can take it between different places,” Zuckerberg said.

Meanwhile, the company’s NFT plans are not much of a departure for anyone tracking Meta’s aspirations. The NFT inclusion might be a lot to stomach for some creators averse to the technology.