Meta-release NFTs for Instagram and Facebook
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the main driver behind the company’s metaverse investment. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg via Getty Images
Meta is moving away from NFTs less than a year after launching them on Instagram and Facebook.
In a Monday tweet thread, the company’s head of trading and financial technology, Stephane Kasriel, said so the company changed its focus.
“We learned a ton that we’ll be able to apply to products we continue to build to support creators, people, and businesses on our apps, both today and in the metaverse,” Kasriel wrote.
The move comes as Meta prepares for another round of layoffs that will reportedly affect thousands of workers, after cutting 13% of its workforce in November. On the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg called 2023 the “year of efficiency” and promised to cut projects that aren’t performing well or are deemed non-essential.
The de-prioritization of NFTs has some on social media wondering if Meta’s multi-year and multi-billion-dollar metaverse investment may soon be reduced.
🚨 Meta will no longer support NFTs on its platform.
With NFTs thrown off the ship… will Meta’s metaverse survive?
— Chet Long (@RealChetBLong) March 13, 2023
The company’s metaverse division, Reality Labs, lost $13.7 billion in 2022, up from the $10.2 billion it lost in 2021. Still, Zuckerberg was unwavering in his support for the investment during the company’s latest earnings call.
Others added on Twitter that the move away from NFTs is a non-event because the company barely made an impact in the space since it launched NFT features for its apps last year.
Meta and instagram saying goodbye to NFTs is like the awkward goodbye from a distant family friend at a Christmas party.
We had no idea you were even here, but we wish you the best of luck😅
— Mitch | MVHQ S21 (@classicmitchup) March 13, 2023
In September, the company opened up its NFT features to everyone in the US after testing them with a select group of users a few months earlier. When it was announced, Meta’s dive into the NFT world was seen as a boon for smaller blockchains like Polygon and Flow.
Meta followed up in November by saying it would soon allow creators to create their own NFTs on Instagram and sell them through the platform directly to fans on those blockchains, as well as the most popular blockchain for NFTs, Ethereum.
In his tweet thread on Monday, Kasriel said the company will continue to support NFT creators who continue to use Instagram and Facebook to amplify their work.
“Let me be clear: Creating opportunities for creators and businesses to connect with fans and monetize remains a priority, and we’re going to focus on areas where we can have impact at scale,” he said.
