Social media giant Instagram is planning to integrate NFTs by as early as this week, reports suggested over the weekend.
The news, which was first reported by CoinDesk, comes at a time when interest in NFTs appears to have fallen sharply. This has also coincided with a crypto market crash.
The move would come just a few months after reports said Meta, Instagram’s owner, was testing NFT support for the platform. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri had last year also teased that the company was actively exploring the space.
The move could help launch a fresh wave of interest in non-fungible tokens. But it also comes on the heels of a nearly 30% drop in NFT volumes over the past week.
Instagram move could spur renewed interest in NFTs
The social media giant is reportedly planning to integrate NFTs from Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Flow. Ethereum and Solana by far are the biggest blockchains for NFTs, with the former featuring some of the most valuable collections.
Instagram will also add support for crypto wallets, including MetaMask. The launch is initially expected to be tested through a pilot program.
The launch could see interest in NFTs skyrocket to 2021 highs, given that Instagram has over 1 billion users. NFTs in general are also far more palatable to non Web3 users, based on the popularity of sports and historical tokens.
The move could also provide serious competition to established NFT platforms such as OpenSea and Looksrare- both of which are dwarfed by Instagram in terms of users.
Instagram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NFTs also affected by crypto crash
But Instagram’s launch would also come at a time when interest in NFTs has drastically fallen. Data from NFT data aggregator NFT Go shows that daily volumes in the space have consistently fallen since late-April.
A large reason for this is because of ongoing weakness in the crypto market, which saw nearly $500 billion in market capitalization erased in recent weeks. Given that a bulk of trading happens through cryptocurrencies, this could be a possible reason.
But other factors may also indicate diminishing interest in NFTs. For instance, crypto exchange CoinBase’s recent launch of its NFT platform barely crossed 1000 users.
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