Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW
- Mark Zuckerberg said during an appearance at SXSW that Instagram is bringing NFTs to its platform.
- Zuckerberg wasn't specific, but said the move would happen in the next "several months."
- He said users may be able to mint new NFTs on Instagram as well as bringing over existing ones.
It looks like Instagram is getting ready to jump on the NFT train.
Speaking via videolink at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that Instagram is working on bringing NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to its platform in the next "several months," as reported by Engadget, The Daily Beast, and Protocol.
Zuckerberg did not delve into specifics, but he said users would be able to bring existing NFTs over to Instagram and "hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment."
Meta is not the first social media giant to tap into the NFT craze. Twitter launched a feature in January allowing iOS users on its subscription service Twitter Blue to turn NFTs into their profile pictures.
Twitter has not made any features that allow users to mint NFTs on its platform.
The Financial Times reported in January that Meta was working on allowing users to display NFTs as profile pictures. Two sources told the FT that the tech giant had discussed opening a marketplace for people to trade NFTs.
Zuckerberg's announcement plays into his broader ambitions for making Meta a metaverse company. The word "metaverse" is a term which describes a future vision of the internet which is primarily accessed through immersive technologies such as VR and AR headsets.
"Long-term, I would hope that the clothing that your avatar is wearing in the metaverse can be minted as an NFT," Zuckerberg told SXSW.
During the event Zuckerberg said any functioning version of the metaverse is "a few years off."