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Instagram Actively Exploring NFT Offering

As NFTs balloon into a billion dollar industry it’s not surprising to see that Instagram is officially exploring an offering of their own. According to artist Sean Williams, the company has paid a group of NFT artists a $1,000 honorarium to participate in a Zoom session targeted at designing solutions.

It’s not clear whether or not this is going to actually materialize into a specific feature but given eBay’s recent offering it would make sense for Instagram to offer something as well. Instagram has millions of artists on their platform which makes an NFT offering a natural move.

Sean Williams is not as impressed. He appears to be offended by the pitch arguing that Instagram has been profiting off the backs of all the artists who have received nothing in return.

While I definitely agree that Instagram gains immense value from artists who share their content online, providing artists with a monetization opportunity would seem like a win-win.

Artists do have a tough time though. A recent interviewee of The Nifty, Michelle von Kalben, was blocked from Instagram after a large account stole her work and didn’t even provide credit. There are far too many artists with similar stories to mention, justifying Sean Williams’ perspective.

For the time being this is all just conceptual but there is no doubt that Instagram see the multi-billion dollar opportunity in front of them.

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