Facebook’s parent company Meta Platform Inc said it would remove non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital collectibles features from its social media platforms ten months after launch.
Last year, the technology company announced it had added support for NFTs on Instagram, allowing only selected creators to share their digital artwork on the photo and video-sharing platform.
Meta Ends NFT Support to Focus on Other Businesses
Initially, the feature was only made available to limited users across the United States before extending to 100 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and America.
The social media powerhouse also integrated the tools to support digital artworks on Facebook last year. However, less than a year after its NFT adoption, Meta said it was ending the business across its platforms.
In a Twitter announcement on March 13, 2023, Stephane Kasriel, the company’s head of commerce and financial technology, said Meta is “winding down” its NFT operations on Facebook and Instagram to “focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.”
Meta to Build MetaPay
Kasriel also noted that the company is still exploring other ways users can connect with their audience on its platforms and still be able to monetize their pages.
In that regard, the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company will focus on areas where it can impact users, such as messaging and monetization opportunities for Reels, a short-term video featured on Facebook and Instagram.
Kasriel further stated that the company would continue to invest in fintech tools despite shutting down its doors against NFTs.
Meta will also focus on building its payment infrastructure, dubbed MetaPay, which will make payments across its platforms easy.
“We’ll continue investing in fintech tools that people and businesses will need in the future. We’re streamlining payments w/ Meta Pay, making checkout and payouts easier, and investing in messaging payments across Meta,” Kasriel said.
According to the trademark registration filing, MetaPay will also adopt cryptocurrencies in the future.
While the company has ended its business with NFTs, Meta is still betting big on Metaverse opportunities. Kasriel disclosed that the company would continue to build products that will support creators in the digital universe.
