Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is discontinuing its NFT and digital collectibles features on Instagram and Facebook. The company’s head of commerce and financial technologies, Stephane Kasriel, announced the decision on Twitter, stating that they are winding down digital collectibles, for now, to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.
The NFT feature was only launched last May and was tested with select Instagram creators and Facebook users in June. By July, Meta expanded NFT support on Instagram to creators in 100 countries. However, less than a year later, the company has decided to move on from NFTs.
Check out Kasriel’s tweet on Meta’s NFT market decision below.
Some product news: across the company, we're looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus. We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses. 🧵[1/5]
— Stephane Kasriel (@skasriel) March 13, 2023
A spokesperson for Meta said that the company is shifting its investments away from NFTs toward products like Meta Pay, as well as features that enable creators to earn money directly on Meta platforms, like its tipping feature called gifts. The company is also testing ways for creators to earn ad revenue on Reels.
Meta’s struggle with modern time payment methods
While Meta has been cutting costs across the company as it tries to make its metaverse dreams a (virtual) reality, the hype around NFTs has died down significantly. Reality Labs, the division of Meta that works on AR and VR products, lost $13.7 billion last year. In November, Meta laid off 11,000 employees, or about 13% of its global workforce, marking the largest cuts in company history.
At the time, Meta’s interest in NFTs seemed like it could intersect with its plans for a virtual reality metaverse. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that he hoped users would one day be able to mint virtual clothing as NFTs, for example. However, the company has decided to focus its resources elsewhere for now.
Despite discontinuing its NFT features, Meta told that it will continue keeping an eye on crypto for the long term. The company is testing various features and products to enable creators and businesses to connect with their fans and monetize their content.
“We’ll continue investing in fintech tools that people and businesses will need for the future. We’re streamlining payments w/ Meta Pay, making checkout and payouts easier, and investing in messaging payments across Meta,”
-Stephane Kasriel
Trying to keep up
Meta’s decision to wind down its NFT and digital collectibles feature highlight the challenges of launching new products in a rapidly evolving landscape. While NFTs were once the talk of the town, the hype around them has died down considerably, and companies like Meta are now looking for new ways to support their users and grow their businesses.
Moving forward, Meta will continue to experiment with new features and products that enable creators and businesses to connect with their fans and monetize their content. The company is focusing on areas where it can make an impact at scale, such as messaging and monetization opportunities for Instagram Reels. While NFTs may not be a priority for Meta right now, the company’s continued interest in crypto suggests that it is keeping a close eye on this rapidly evolving space.
Rise and fall of NFTs
Unexpectedly, 2022 has not been a favorable year for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) enthusiasts, artists, and investors. After experiencing explosive growth in 2021, the NFT market has experienced a decline in trading volume and sales due to the crash of FTX, one of the largest global crypto exchanges, and the unstable cryptocurrency market.
Although these tokens have been around since 2014, it was only in 2021 that these tokens saw an enormous surge in trading and sales. However, just a year later, the NFT sector is struggling with stagnant sales and decreased trading volumes.
Although the market performed well in the first quarter of 2022, with nearly $8 billion in trades, sales globally decreased by 47% during the same period which tracks the NFT sector.
The second quarter of 2022 generated a net profit of $460 million, down from $2.3 billion in the first quarter. For the third quarter, a 77% fall was seen in terms of USD traded between Q2 and Q3 2022, with a global volume of $1.7 billion. A net quarterly loss of $450 million was recorded for the first time ever.
