Meta Announces NFT Marketplace on Instagram

Instagram will soon have a built-in NFT marketplace according to a November 1 announcement by Meta, the company behind social media apps Facebook and Instagram.

According to a statement from Meta, the marketplace will function as an ‘end-to-end’ NFT toolkit, allowing users to create, showcase and sell their NFT from within the Instagram app. Creators will be able to sell their NFTs — or digital collectibles as Meta calls them — both on Instagram and on other platforms.

The new marketplace will initially be tested with a small group of hand-picked US-based creators, including Amber Victoria, Dave Krugman and Isaac ‘Drift’ Wright, with plans to eventually expand access to creators throughout the world.

Marketplace Designed to Support Creators

Meta’s Head of Commerce and Fintech, Stephane Kasriel says the purpose of the new NFT marketplace is primarily to support creators and make it easier for them to monetise their work.

In a Medium post published the day after Instagram’s new NFT marketplace was announced, Kasriel made the case for blockchain and other Web3 technologies that solves many of the issues creators face, such as segmented audiences across multiple platforms and difficulty monetising their digital creations. 

“[Blockchain] makes it possible for creators to build more direct and profitable relationships with their audiences because it gives them more ownership over their work with blockchain-based assets that can be monetized, like NFTs. Blockchain also gives creators the ability to take their content and fans with them to different platforms.” 

Stephane Kasriel, Head of Commerce and Fintech, Meta

Marketplace to Run on Polygon, No Gas Fees

The new marketplace will use the Polygon blockchain, which is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, and will initially be entirely fee-less — Meta says for now it won’t charge fees to use the marketplace and will also cover any Ethereum gas fees. According to Kasriel Meta doesn’t plan to start charging fees until 2024. 

All transactions made through the Instagram marketplace will however still be subject to the 30 percent ‘Apple Tax’ which applies to all apps on Apple’s AppStore.

The marketplace will also support video-based NFTs. Support for Solana and Phantom wallets are to be added at some stage in the future.

Meta has demonstrated it sees a bright future in Web3 technology, having previously launched its own blockchain-based system known as Diem. In May of this year, Instagram added a feature allowing users to display their Ethereum and Polygon-based NFTs. The launch of this new marketplace shows a significant deepening of Meta’s interest in leveraging Web3 technologies.