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Meta Platforms' (FB) Instagram Shows Interest in Entering NFTs

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Meta Platforms owned Instagram is planning to enter the fast growth non-Fungible token (NFT) space.

Per a recent article from FXEMPIRE, which cited CEO Adam Mosseri’s Twitter feed, Instagram is actively exploring NFTs and how to make them more accessible to a wider audience.

Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, recently rebranded itself as Meta and believes metaverse is the future. Hence, Instagram’s foray into the NFT space, which is a virtual asset, does not come as a surprise.
 

 

Instagram has previously hosted a panel for NFT creators in a bid to attract talent to its business. Instagram is developing its platform to support NFT trading and generate significant revenues from the fastest-growing asset in the cryptocurrency industry.

Techs Exploring Wider Use of Blockchain

The NFT space has experienced massive growth since the beginning of 2021. NFT trading volume has surpassed the $10-billion mark for the first time. Enterprises like Meta Platforms have been lured by this rapid wealth creation and are extensively participating in the industry, which will further increase the trading volume.

For instance, Microsoft’s (MSFT - Free Report) M12 venture fund recently invested in NFT startup Palm NFT Studio. The company has raised a total of $27 million that will be utilized to develop projects on the Palm Protocol, an energy-efficient Ethereum sidechain.

A sidechain is a separate blockchain, which runs in parallel to Ethereum Mainnet and operates independently. Microsoft is looking to go beyond private, permissioned blockchain and into broader user cases.

Another major participant in this investment is AT&T (T - Free Report) . Through its subsidiary Warner Bros., AT&T along with Nifty’s has created The Matrix Avatars using Epic Games' MetaHuman Creator. These are minted on the Palm platform.

Currently, AT&T and Nifty’s have minted 100,000 avatars, which were all sold out and can only be bought or traded in the secondary market like Coinbase, FTX and Binance.

These avatars were minted in an eco-friendly 99.99% more energy-efficient platform, so ESG compliant investors might be interested in buying these NFTs thus pulling new investment into the industry.

Twitter boss jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for more than $2.9 million.

Twitter is exploring the crypto universe and supporting NFT trading. Artists can use the platform to connect their crypto wallets and take payments directly through Twitter and take tips in the form of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum or through crypto wallet apps.

Battle to Control Metaverse and Cryptocurrency

Crypto die-hards and big tech companies are fighting each other to gain the upper hand in the metaverse.

Crypto fans are worried that their idea of a decentralized world free of rules and NFT trading is at stake as big tech companies like Meta Platforms and Microsoft are entering the space.

Meta Platforms’ initiative to develop applications for metaverse and NFT space is a huge positive.

The company’s shares have returned 19.1% year to date against the Zacks Internet Software Industry’s decline of 22.3%.

Meta Platforms currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


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