Meta Platforms Inc., a company that has been supporting non-fungible digital tokens for less than one year announced they will discontinue their support.
Meta was first reported to be working on NFTs in January 2022 before testing them on Instagram in May and rolling out international support in August. With NFTs on Meta, users could feature NFTs on their Instagram photos and connect to third-party crypto wallets, with support for NFTs minted on the Ethereum, Polygon and Flow blockchains.
Meta’s offering was limited to linking third party services with Meta and showing the users’ NFTs. Meta’s mission for launching the new platform is to empower the community “by allowing access to these emerging digital assets.”
Interest in NFTs nearly dropped in March 2023 due to a crypto winter with a decline in NFTs value. Meta is focusing on things other than NFTs. This is especially true with the U.S. economy in a sluggish state, job losses increasing, and even three banks failing just last week.
Meta’s indifference to the announcement was also apparent from how it had been made. Stephane Kasriel announced the news via Twitter (Meta’s head of commerce and fintech), rather than an official statement.
Kasriel stated that his company was “looking closely at” its priorities in order to better focus. Kasriel added that “for now we’re winding up NFTs so that we can focus on helping creators, business owners, and individuals in other ways.”
Along with some platitudes to partners, exactly what Meta is winding down in terms of NFTs is not clear, as Kasriel adds that the company will continue to “look forward to supporting the many NFT creators who continue using Instagram and Facebook to amplify their work.” Kasriel said that Meta was focused on monetization opportunities for businesses and creators. It was especially true of Instagram Reels, and for messaging.
Meta’s NFT efforts end with a bang. The shelf life is under 12 months. The company isn’t the only one that will leave the market.