Cryptocurrency and bitcoin are now officially a thing of the past. People have come into NFTs, Non-Fungible Tokens, with brute force, laying down huge sums of money for these digital art pieces which are unique to the owner. These NFTs are minted into production by using blockchain technology. But now, tech giant Meta’s Instagram is looking to host these NFTs on their platform. Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the news and stated that “over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in” will be implemented, and users will “hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment.” This statement has a left audiences with a ton of questions and endless possibilities on how Instagram can host these NFTs and enable customers to buy and sell them.
As we know, Instagram is a visual platform where users post their images and videos on a regular basis, and in fact, some making a living off it. But bringing NFTs into the picture completely changes the spectrum, as some of these digital trinkets sell for several hundred thousand dollars, or even millions for some rare ones. What Instagram could be offering is a mystery, but an educated guess would be that they will incorporate a marketplace where users will trade NFTs, and the mode of payment will be cryptocurrency; naturally, since the whole architecture is based on blockchain. However, the interactivity may come with users being able to post an image and sell them the same as an NFT. This completely changes the game for graphic artists on Instagram, as their art may get more than likes, but a single post of theirs could end up changing their lives completely. Meta would be competing with the likes of major NFT marketplaces such as “OpenSea,” who are already giants in this space. However, the reach and customer base that Instagram brings to the table can definitely pose a big threat to competitors, as people would definitely look to take their NFT pieces to Instagram. I’m predicting this platform to be seamless, user-friendly, and offering many more choices due to the sheer volume of artists who are going to be selling on Instagram, compared to native NFT marketplaces. 
Meta has truly changed their traditional course in innovation of social media, and by the looks of their recent moves, we can conclude that they are diving headfirst into the blockchain technology space with hopes of innovating in ways that no company has before, with concepts such as the Metaverse and now NFTs on Instagram. This move could have an impact for all Digital Art creators, and we could see a rise in people looking to take up Digital Arts. I also predict that artists who were creating amazing content for fun are now going to look at this as an opportunity to create an artistic concept that could be sold for big money. A hobby turned profession, so to speak. Meta also has another big challenge for this implementation in the handling of all those cryptocurrency transactions that will take place while trading. Graphic artists are going to see a world of new opportunities with Meta’s new venture.