Meta’s head of FinTech says the company is “discontinuing” NFT support

Monday 13 March, Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s Head of Commerce and FinTech, announced that his company will end support for non-fungible tokens and focus on “other ways to support creators, people and businesses.” The social media giant first rolled out digital collectibles in May for Instagram users, and in June for those on Facebook.

Meta to “Relax” support for NFTs

This Monday, Stephane Kasriel, Head of Trading and FinTech at Meta, revealed that his company has made the decision to “wind down” support for non-fungible tokens. Although Kasriel did not provide the reasoning behind the decision, he stated that the firm is instead “focusing on other ways to support creators, people and businesses.”

Furthermore, Meta’s executive also thanked “the partners who joined us on this journey and who are doing great work in a dynamic space” and added that the company looks forward to “supporting the many NFT creators who continue to use Instagram and Facebook to reinforce their work.”

Meta began seriously exploring NFT integration in May 2022 when they rolled out digital collectibles to users on Instagram. Throughout the previous year, there have been several updates, for example cross-platform usability between Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, the company gave no indication that support for digital collectibles would end before Monday.

Join our Telegram group and never miss a story about digital values.

While Meta is “winding down”, other companies are doubling down on Web3

Despite Meta’s recent decision and the general damage the sector has taken through the “crypto winter”, many large companies are still showing their enthusiasm for NFTs and web3 more broadly. Perhaps the biggest splash of 2023 came when it was revealed that Amazon is working on a non-fungible token-centric initiative in February.

The initiative is expected to see an official announcement in April and is seen as a way to bring NFTs further into the mainstream. While Amazon’s plans may not come as a surprise, another major company’s foray into web3 is perhaps somewhat more unexpected. In late January, Walmart also applied for a set of digital assets and web3-related trademarks.

The year is also likely to be big for web3 games. Last week, TSM, a major gaming organization with professional teams for titles from League of Legends and Fortnite to chess, announced that it has partnered with Avalanche to bring its competitive gaming app, Blitz, onto the blockchain.

Why is Meta suddenly pulling the plug on its NFT program? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

About the author

Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.