Meta Discontinues NFT Integration, Pivots Focus to Support Creators in Other Ways

Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has decided to discontinue its integration of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its platforms. According to Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s head of commerce and financial services, the company’s decision to shut down NFT integration will enable it to concentrate on supporting creators, people, and businesses in other ways. Kasriel expressed gratitude to the company’s partners who have been doing great work in the dynamic space and indicated that the knowledge gained from this experience would be applied to new products for creators, people, and businesses in the metaverse.

Despite abandoning NFT integration, Meta plans to continue its mission of connecting creators with their fans by pivoting its focus to other products such as Reels for messaging and monetization. Moreover, the company will continue to work with NFT and Web3 content creators who use its tools to help them develop their communities.

Meta launched its Digital Collectibles feature in May 2022, allowing some platform users to showcase their NFTs. The company later opened up support for the feature in September, and by November, it permitted a small group of U.S. creators to mint and sell NFTs on the Polygon blockchain directly from its platforms. Although the feature gained some popularity, it seems that Meta has decided to explore other areas, including decentralized social media platforms.

In addition, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Meta is planning to lay off employees in multiple rounds over the next few months. Insiders told the WSJ that the company was expected to discontinue some projects and teams.