Earlier this year, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg announced that NFT support was coming to Instagram. Following a test in May this year, the function is making like an Autobot and rolling out. It’s not just turning up in one or two places, either.
Zuckerberg revealed, via an Instagram post, that NFTs on the platforms were heading to another 100 countries. The exact set of locations isn’t certain, but it includes “…Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas”. South Africa’s in there somewhere.
Instagram’s instant NFTs
Don’t expect broad-based support on Insta just yet, though. Yes, you can show off your apes on your feed, in messages, or as stickers in Stories. Yes, you’re automatically tagged if your Cryptopunk is used elsewhere. But your virtual items have to reside in specific places, or they’re not compatible.
Third-party wallets supported by Instagram include Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, and Dapper Wallet. The latter two have been newly added. Your Bored CryptoApe also has to live on the Ethereum, Polygon, or Flow blockchains in order to work. Flow is the newest chain to be added.
Read More: The risks of crypto and NFTs (as told by terms of service agreements)
And, to show willing, Zuckerberg himself will become an NFT. Well, an eight-year-old version of himself will. In baseball card guise, rather than an NFT of childhood photography. There’s nothing stopping people from minting baby photos as NFTs, though. It’s even possible that it’ll be possible via Instagram itself at some point.
Zuckerberg, speaking at SXSW in March this year, said, “We’re working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term…[and] over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time, be able to mint things within that environment.” The first step has been achieved. An NFT marketplace looks like it could be next.