Instagram announces the launch of digital collectibles

Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced the rollout of features enabling the sale, purchase, and showcase of digital collectables on the platform.

The development of digital collectables and NFTs for Meta-owned social networks has been in the works for more than a year now. A Facebook executive had mentioned, that ways to get involved in this space and digital collectables integrated with financial products were one of the key areas.

Instagram was first found to be testing digital collectables in June 2021. The feature was not widely available to users, but the initial phase of the feature indicated users would be able to bid for a collectable, see a bidding price, the countdown to when the auction ends, and the option to share the collectable in Story.

Adam Mosseri announced the launch by sharing a drop minted by Lucas Lohr for the Instagram team. The feature would now be selectively available to a group of users, who can connect their digital wallets, share their collectables and automatically tag the collector and creator on the digital collective post.

Also Read: Instagram begins testing NFTs starting this week

The selective launch has been announced with limited information, the initial phase of the feature showed that the collectables would have a dedicated tab on Profile where all the collectables will be showcased and users would also be able to connect their digital wallets.

With the launch of this feature, Instagram would act as the common ground between a buyer, seller, or mediator for the sale of collectables, in the same way, it connects a consumer to a brand.

Although the features to support the sale and complete the purchase, would require alliances and country-specific partnerships that would enable the users to make in-app purchases without the need of landing on an external platform. Instagram's natural framework already enables content distribution that is integral to indicating which assets hold significant popularity or virality, which consequently decides their monetary value.

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