Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company is expanding its NFT and digital collectable support on the Instagram social media platform to countries in Africa and other continents.
The international expansion follows the initial test launch of the product in May. Now users in more than 100 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas will be able to share their NFTs on Instagram.
Following the recent announcement, Instagram users in Africa will now be able to link their accounts to cryptocurrency wallets and add NFT collections to the social media platform.
A few supported wallets are MetaMask, Rainbow, Trust Wallet, and Coinbase Wallet. Additionally, NFT support will only be accessible across a small number of chosen chains, including Flow, Polygon, and Ethereum.
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, said that the move is based on user feedback indicating that NFTs are being used by creators to take control of their work, their relationship with their fans, and how they can monetize. The company has also emphasized that there are no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible.
African creator Elsa Majimbo, who has 2.5 million followers on the platform has been announced as part of Meta’s IG Alpha Digital Collectible program and is currently displaying 1 NFT on her account.
The NFTs can be shared by users on their main feeds as well as in stories and in direct messages. Digital collectibles will have a shimmer effect when posted.
“Once a creator or collector posts a digital collectible, it will have a shimmer effect and can display public information, such as a description of the NFT. Posts will also be visible on their profile,” Meta stated on its website.
The company has also stated that its push into NFTs was intended to boost diversity, lower entry barriers, and improve accessibility in the NFT market.