Instagram NFTs: Zuckerberg announces the next stop on the hype-train

Austin, Texas - The bubble of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has yet to pop, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is calling all aboard the hype train, spending his time at SXSW to get the tech onto Instagram.

"All aboard the NFT hype-train! Next stop: Instagram!"
"All aboard the NFT hype-train! Next stop: Instagram!"  © Collage: IMAGO / Imaginechina-Tuchong, ITAR-TASS, imagebroker

Zuckerberg announced at SXSW that NFTs are coming soon to Instagram, according to Endgadget.

He didn't name a specific date for an NFT rollout, saying, "We're working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term."

NFTs are a sort-of proof of ownership of digital assets, like photos, videos, GIFs, and even virtual property and are treated as another investment opportunity by many buyers.

How exactly Instagram would make use of the tokens is unclear, as Zuckerberg only gave a bare-bones explanation of what adding NFTs to Instagram would look like.

"I'm not ready to kind of announce exactly what that's going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment," the 37-year-old said.

Minting an NFT involves the use of the energy-intensive blockchain, which is the backbone of the cryptocurrency market, to create a digital certificate of ownership.

Meta companies have already made waves for pending patents and announcements to explore adding crypto and NFTs to their brands, in a push to turn the "Metaverse" from a marketing buzzword into an (un)real place.

"There's like a bunch of technical things that need to get worked out before that'll really be seamless to happen," Zuckerberg said.

When those "technical things" will get worked out is unclear, but there's no doubt that the NFT craze is coming to Instagram one way or another.

Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO / Imaginechina-Tuchong, ITAR-TASS, imagebroker

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