Meta to end support for NFTs on Facebook, Instagram

Social media giant Meta announced on Tuesday that it will end its support for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Facebook and Instagram.

The company first announced in March last year that NFTs was coming to Instagram, started testing them with select creators and collectors in May, expanded its support to more than 100 countries and also to Facebook creators in August, and began testing the ability to mint and sell NFTs directly on Instagram three months after that.

Around a year after its first announcement, Meta is ‘’winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses,’’ said the company’s head of commerce and financial technologies Stephane Kasriel on his Twitter account earlier today.

Instead, the company will now shift its attention to enhancing messaging and monetization opportunities across its products, and investing in its fintech tools like Meta Pay, Kasriel added.

Meta has been slashing costs throughout its business as it hustles to bring its virtual reality plans to life. In 2022, its Reality Labs division, which develops its AR and VR products, reported a whopping loss of $13.7 billion.

It also laid off 11,000 employees in November, which represents 13% of its workforce. The Washington Post reported last month that a new round of layoffs is on the horizon and will impact thousands of more employees.