Flow Token Pumps 45% as Meta Uses It to Enable Instagram NFTs
KEY POINTS
- On Thursday, Instagram's parent company Meta announced that users of that social media site are now able to post NFTs on that platform using the Flow blockchain.
- Flow blockchain was developed by the NFT pioneers at Dapper Labs who created successful NFT projects such as CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, and UFC Strike.
- The FLOW token soared 45% over the past 24 hours, to a peak price of $2.97 on the news according to CoinMarketCap at time of writing, but it has since given back much of those gains.
Meta has announced that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can now be posted to Instagram across 100 countries using the Flow blockchain.
Meta has announced that its Instagram photo-sharing platform now supports the posting of NFTs. The announcement was made yesterday as an update to the company's statement from May that it would enable NFT posting using the Flow blockchain, which was purpose-built for NFT use.
"We're starting international expansion to 100 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas. Additionally, we now support wallet connections with the Coinbase Wallet and Dapper, as well as the ability to post digital collectibles minted on the Flow blockchain," the statement reads, " Supported blockchains at this time include Ethereum, Polygon and Flow. There are no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on Instagram."
Dapper Labs created the Flow blockchain to support all aspects of NFT storage, trading, and sharing. Dapper is also responsible for creating some of the most popular NFT collections in the 10-year history of the asset class with such hits at CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot. As a result of the news, the native crypto for that network -- known as FLOW -- traded as high as $2.97 across cryptocurrency exchanges during the past 24 hours, representing a 45% spike that has since slid back to single-digit levels.
Meta continues to try and find its crypto footing
In February of this year, Meta saw the largest valuation drop in U.S. stock market history, as its stock price fell 26%, wiping out more than $250 billion in market capitalization in a single day. The company cited steep declines in Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp advertising revenue due to fierce competition from competitors such as TikTok, YouTube, and WeChat. However, Meta continues to work on its blockchain and crypto strategy as it made several crypto-related trademark filings in March for crypto tokens, blockchain software, virtual currency exchanges, as well as financial and currency trading services. In addition, Meta's original announcement of its foray into NFTs came in May.
Only time will tell where the addition of NFTs to Instagram will take Flow, and what impact it will have on the tech behemoth Meta.
Our Research Expert
Tor Constantino is a corporate communications executive and business writer with an MBA. Since 2017, he has written about cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and crypto's potential to revolutionize finance. His writing has appeared in outlets including Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fortune, CEOWorld, and Yahoo!.
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