Meta taps Polygon to build NFT platform for Instagram, Facebook

Polygon has partnered with Meta to create an NFT platform for Instagram and Facebook, Polygon CEO Ryan Wyatt announced via Twitter.

The partnership will expose Polygon’s blockchain ecosystem to Meta’s combined 2.9 billion users. Wyatt said Meta chose Polygon due to its carbon-neutral footprint and high scalability.

🚨 We’re excited to share that @Meta is partnering with @0xPolygon as they make their push into web3. 🚨

Facebook is choosing Polygon due to:

🌍 Our carbon-neutral footprint

⛓️ The scale we can offer

💻 The developer ecosystem choosing to build on Polygon. $MATIC 🤝 $FB pic.twitter.com/lk7D5ixgcB

— Ryan Wyatt (@Fwiz) May 9, 2022

Meanwhile, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on May 9 that limited testing of NFTs on Instagram is underway and that “similar functionality” would come to Facebook “soon.”

Mark Zuckerberg just announced that we’re testing digital collectibles for creators and collectors to showcase NFTs on Instagram. NFTs allow creators to take control over their work, fanbase and income. Oh and they ✨shimmer✨https://t.co/gwCW0CiR3M pic.twitter.com/wraSdWvgLf

— Meta Newsroom (@MetaNewsroom) May 9, 2022

A post on the Instagram Creators page gave more insight into how the NFTs will work on the platform. It confirmed that “there will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on Instagram” and revealed more details regarding how NFTs will be displayed.

Digital Collectibles

The NFT integration for Instagram focuses on the term “Digital Collectible” rather than NFT, given the confusion around the term fungible for many people.

Instagram digital collectibles will allow users to connect a digital wallet, share digital collectibles, and automatically tag creators and collectors in posts.

The digital collectible Instagram posts will have a “shimmer effect” to allow them to stand out from regular posts in the feed. NFTs will likely be integrated into Instagram as standard posts in your Instagram feed.

Meta will initially only give access to NFTs to a small number of creators and NFT projects.

Users that will have access to digital collectibles first are @adambombsquad, @bluethegreat, @bossbeautiesnft, @cynthiaerivo, @garyvee, @jenstark, @justmaiko, @maliha_z_art, @misshattan, @nopattern, @oseanworld, @paigebueckers, @phiawilson, @swopes and @yungjake.

The most notable name is perhaps Gary Vaynerchuck, who launched his Vee Friends NFTs in 2021 with great success.

An NFT marketplace

The Facebook and Instagram marketplaces make up 250 million users per month and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. With the integration of web3 technology into the Meta tech stack, it could be possible for Meta to allow NFT sales on their marketplace in the future.

OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, currently has 1 million active users, while Meta marketplace has roughly 1 billion active users.

3D NFTs in the Metaverse

Zuckerberg is keen for Meta to focus on 3D NFTs used within a Metaverse. The name change from Facebook to Meta indicated a strong desire to take ownership of the space.

Further, given that Meta owns Oculus and their extremely popular VR headsets, it seems 3D NFTs will be used within the Oculus metaverse through Polygon. An additional option for 3D NFTs is the Sony glasses-free display that exhibits NFTs in 3D without a headset.

NFT adoption

The move to partner with Polygon over a layer-1 solution like Ethereum is likely to help increase adoption among crypto newcomers from Meta’s customer base. Minimal fees and a carbon-neutral footprint are aspects of Polygon that will appeal to those new to the space.

In the past few months, much of the mainstream attention for crypto has focused on the apparent high energy usage. Therefore, it is understandable that Meta would choose a carbon-neutral chain for their first blockchain partnership.