Facebook brings NFTs to its 2.9 billion users

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have finally made their way to the world’s largest social media platform. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) recently announced that Facebook users can now show off their digital collectibles months after introducing them on Instagram.

We’re introducing the ability to post digital collectibles across @facebook and @instagram. You can now connect your digital wallet to either app to share your #NFTs on both.

What NFT are you excited to share? 👀https://t.co/wa2wkWfI7p pic.twitter.com/SlpwAuY02c

— Meta Newsroom (@MetaNewsroom) August 29, 2022

In a blog post, Facebook stated, “We’ve started giving people the ability to post digital collectibles that they own across both Facebook and Instagram. This will enable people to connect their digital wallets once to either app in order to share their digital collectibles across both.”

Like Instagram, which started supporting NFTs in May, Facebook will allow users to link their digital wallets to their accounts. If users choose to delink their wallets and take down their digital collectibles, the associated public blockchain data will no longer be associated with their account.

Linking a digital wallet to one’s Facebook account could prove risky as it will make a user the target of scammers and phishing campaigns. What’s more, even though Facebook promises to protect users’ data, its track record casts these pledges in doubt.

Judging by a screenshot shared by the social media giant, NFT posts on Facebook will be similar to regular posts, but with a ‘digital collectible’ label attached.

For now, Facebook only supports NFTs minted on Ethereum, its layer-2 scaling solution Polygon, and FLOW, the blockchain developed by VC darling Dapper Labs and best known for the NBA Top Shot NFT collective.

Facebook’s foray into NFTs comes at a time when the market has cooled down significantly. According to data by DappRadar, trading volume on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, has been down 99% in the past four months. The number of users has also dipped by about a third.

However, Facebook is hoping to play the long game, just like OpenSea. A spokesperson for the latter recently stated, “We’re playing the long game because we see what’s possible, so we’re not that concerned about short-term volatility.” 

Low volume isn’t all that OpenSea is grappling with. As CoinGeek reported, the platform has been struggling to deal with NFT theft and plagiarism, recently changing its theft policy to now require police reports. 

Watch: The BSV Global Blockchain Convention panel, Metaverse, NFTs & Blockchain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf2LcdDLerQ