Meta Halts NFT Initiative

Stephane Kasriel, head of commerce and financial technologies at Meta, announced on March 13 that after a brief 10-month stint, the firm is “winding down” its support of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, in order to “focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.”

He has noted the company’s intent to prioritize tools such as Meta Pay, its payment platform that could potentially support cryptocurrency, as well as payment rails and monetizing Reels, short-form videos that feature on Facebook and Instagram.

Kasriel’s announcement, however, was met with backlash from the crypto community, with NFT artist Dave Krugman calling it a “short-sighted move” and that Meta “quit before it even started.”