On Monday, March 13th, Stephane Kasriel, Meta\u2019s Head of Commerce and FinTech, announced that his company will be winding down support for non-fungible tokens and focusing on \u201cother ways to support creators, people, and businesses.\u201d The social media giant initially rolled out digital collectibles in May for Instagram users, and in June for those on Facebook.<\/p>\n
This Monday, Stephane Kasriel, the Head of Commerce and FinTech of Meta, revealed that his company has reached the decision to \u201cwind down\u201d support for non-fungible tokens. While Kasriel didn\u2019t offer the reasoning behind the decision, he stated that the firm is instead \u201cfocusing on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Meta\u2019s executive also thanked \u201cthe partners who joined us on this journey and who\u2019re doing great work in a dynamic space\u201d and added that the company is looking forward to \u201cto supporting the many NFT creators who continue using Instagram and Facebook to amplify their work.\u201d.<\/p>\n
Meta started exploring NFT integration in earnest in May 2022 when it rolled out digital collectibles to users on Instagram. Throughout the previous year, there have been multiple updates such as cross-platform usability between Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, the company made no indication it would be ending support for digital collectibles prior to Monday.<\/p>\n
Despite Meta\u2019s recent decision and the overall damage the sector has taken throughout the \u201ccrypto winter\u201d, many large companies are still showing their enthusiasm for NFTs and web3 more broadly. Perhaps the biggest splash of 2023 came when it was revealed that Amazon is working on a non-fungible-token-centric initiative in February.<\/p>\n
The initiative is expected to see an official announcement in April and is considered a way to bring NFTs further into the mainstream. While Amazon\u2019s plans perhaps don\u2019t come as such a surprise, another major company\u2019s foray into web3 is maybe somewhat more unexpected. Late in January, Walmart also filed for a set of digital assets and web3-related trademarks.<\/p>\n
The year is also likely to be big for web3 gaming. Last week, TSM, a major gaming organization with professional teams for titles ranging from League of Legends and Fortnite to chess, announced it has partnered up with Avalanche to bring its competitive gaming app, Blitz, onto the blockchain.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist<\/i><\/p>\n
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