Could social media supercharge NFT adoption?

With Instagram and Twitter looking to integrate new ways for users to show off their crypto-assets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) might be about to get a whole lot more mainstream.

Speaking to nestegg, Kraken Australia managing director Jonathon Miller said that these initiatives by tech giants to embrace the appeal of NFTs are a response to their uptake.

“I think it’s really a response to the huge amount of activity that’s happening, and that in turn will then drive further adoption,” he said.

Mr Miller said that there’s so much happening in the crypto-asset space but a relatively small number of platforms that offer support for NFTs.

For Twitter, he said the company’s plans to let users link their NFTs to their in-app profile builds on the company’s previous moves in the crypto space.

“I think it’s aligned with their strategy of broadening out the functionality of their app,” he said.

Earlier this year, Twitter launched the ability for users to tip one another in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin via the Lightning network.

While Twitter’s planned integration primarily deals with NFTs that exist in the world of crypto art, Mr Miller said that the rabbit hole goes far deeper.

“NFT’s are more than just crypto art,” he said.

As the interest around them grows, Mr Miller said that there was a need to change the language and the way that NFTs are discussed.

“Quite often people are using NFTs to mean crypto art or programmatic avatars or whatever it might, you know, come to mind,” he said.

When it comes to Instagram, Mr Miller suggested that the integration of crypto-assets could flip the platform’s entire creator economy on its head.

Rather than being just another venue for the pasting of existing entities, he predicted that Instagram could become a platform upon which creators could mint their work on the blockchain.

“Why not create ways for users to generate content that is tradable or sellable in a more direct way, rather than indirectly via advertising,” he said.

According to him, “the application of or the use of NFTs and other forms of payment methods more directly inside these platforms is going to be inevitable.

“Crypto art absolutely is on top of everyone’s mind, and it might indeed be what happens when it comes to Instagram’s rollout, but it could be much broader, or even way more subtle, perhaps behind the scenes.”

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About the author

Fergus is a journalist for Momentum Media's nestegg and Smart Property Investment. He likes to write about money, markets, how innovation is changing the financial landscape and how younger consumers can achieve their goals in unpredictable times.

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