Even in the face of a collapse in cryptocurrency values and a decline in NFT sales, Meta (NASDAQ:META) is on pace to keep growing the use of digital collectibles like non-fungible tokens on its platforms. The social media giant was not “in any way” changing its intentions in response to NFTs, according to Stephane Kasriel, the new head of fintech at Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta (NASDAQ:META), in an interview with the Financial Times.
NFTs are a term used to represent information that may be traded and kept on the blockchain, the decentralized ledger technology that powers Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies. Numerous NFTs are digital media files, such as artwork, and are anticipated to be crucial to the development of the metaverse, on which Meta is placing significant bets and which is envisioned as a virtual and interactive internet. In the interview, Kasriel stated that “[Meta] sees an opportunity for the hundreds of millions or billions of users who are currently using our apps to be able to collect digital collectibles, and for the millions of creators out there who could potentially create virtual and digital goods to be able to sell them through our platforms.
Due to this year’s selloff in the digital asset industry, interest in NFTs has all but vanished. The largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is currently only worth about one-third of its all-time high, which it achieved in November 2021 near $69,000. And it has now come to the end of its worst quarter since 2011—the year in which its price first crossed the $1 threshold.
According to market watcher NonFungible’s statistics, about 850,000 individual NFTs have been sold in the previous month. This is a sharp decrease from the roughly 5 million NFTs that were sold in a monthly window as recently as December 2021. According to NonFungible, the total amount of NFT sales during the previous week fell to less than $200 million, marking the lowest levels since the summer of 2021, when NFTs had their first significant surge.
Meta’s fintech chief did acknowledge to the FT that crypto and NFTs are in a slump, saying “there’s a lot of things that are not going to survive,” but said the sector was following a well-trodden “hype cycle.”
About Meta
The American international technological corporation Meta Platforms, Inc., doing business as Meta and formerly known as Facebook, Inc. and TheFacebook, Inc., is situated in Menlo Park, California. The firm, among other things, is the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
One of the most valuable corporations in the world is Meta. Along with Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, it is regarded as one of the Big Five American technological giants. Facebook, Messenger, Watch on Facebook, and the Facebook Portal are examples of meta products and services. Additionally, it owns a 9.99 percent investment in Jio Platforms and has bought Oculus, Giphy, Mapillary, Customer, Precise, and Oculus. The company sold marketers’ ad slots in 2021, and this transaction accounted for 97.5% of its revenue.
The business was valued by underwriters at $104 billion, the highest valuation to date for a freshly public corporation after the shares were appraised at $38 each. Facebook said on May 16, the day before the IPO, that due to strong demand, it would offer 25% more shares than first anticipated. The IPO raised $16 billion, ranking third in the history of US IPOs (slightly ahead of AT&T Wireless and behind only General Motors and Visa). The stock price increased the company’s market capitalization above all but a small number of American businesses, surpassing titans like Amazon, McDonald’s, Disney, and Kraft Foods, and increased the value of Zuckerberg’s shares to $19 billion. According to the New York Times, the sale helped Facebook, (belonging to Meta) become a “must-own stock” by answering concerns regarding the company’s issues luring advertisers. JPMorgan Chase’s Jimmy Lee referred to it as “the next great blue chip.” On the other hand, TechCrunch writers expressed doubt, saying, “That’s a large multiple to live up to, and Facebook will likely need to introduce bold new revenue streams to justify the massive price.”
Featured Image: DepositPhotos © artjazz
