In simple terms, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital assets that represent real-world objects, including music and videos. They are purchased and sold online through transactions that often involve cryptocurrency.
NFTs aren’t as new as many people assume; they hail all the way back to 2014. They’ve experienced a surge in popularity due to being used to buy and sell digital art.
Depending on who you ask, NFTs are either a flash in the pan or ready to change the economic world as we know it. Advocates see them as the future – as the world becomes more technological, they argue that financial transactions around digital goods will only increase. NFT naysayers aren’t so convinced; some equate them with a crypto pyramid scheme destined to fail.
Regardless of where you land on the NFT spectrum, Meta is making its stance clear; it is ready to merge with this digital ledger.
According to an internal company memo, Meta is planning to launch a pilot program in mid-May that will allow users to post and share NFTs. It plans to follow this with a feature that allows membership into certain Facebook groups based on NFT ownership, as well as groups for creating new NFTs. Meta may also monetize NFTs through ads and fees.
Meta appears to be gearing up to pluck users from Discord, an instant messaging platform that presently serves as the hotspot for NFT communities and discussions. Discord is also a popular place for whitelisting or giving people access to an NFT as soon as it’s released. This allows them to sidestep price inflation in secondary markets.
Of course, by dipping its toes in the NFT pool, Meta opens itself up to the scams, lies, and hacks that run rampant through the NFT infrastructure.
Still, Meta is willing to take the chance, perhaps because NFTs serve as a vital part of the company’s long-term plans. Ideally, it hopes to develop an e-commerce system housed within the Metaverse, somewhere digital products such as avatar clothes, in-app purchases, weapons for video game characters, and virtual tokens can be bought and sold.
Whether this will prove to be a smart move or risky business is yet to be seen. Meta and non-fungible tokens could be a match made in internet heaven or NFTs might be little more than DOA.