Facebook said Thursday the company’s metaverse will support non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in a possible boost to Ethereum, where the digital collectibles format has thrived.
“This will make it easier for people to sell Limited Edition digital objects like NFTs, display them in their digital spaces and even resell them to the next person securely,” Facebook Head of Metaverse Products Vishal Shah said.
The news comes as Facebook delves further into the virtual world. The social media behemoth already owns virtual reality headset maker Oculus and recently signaled a major hiring push for its metaverse unit.
“Our goal is to provide a way for as many players as possible to build a business in the metaverse,” Shah said.
The monetization push could dovetail with the company’s Novi crypto wallet, which faced pushback from U.S. lawmakers after a pilot launch earlier this month. Diem, the project’s namesake stablecoin, is not yet involved.
After teasing its NFT tie-up, Facebook changed its name to Meta, further hinting at the company’s commitment to building out its version of the metaverse.
How it will depart from open metaverses like Decentraland and Cryptovoxels is yet to be determined.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
UPDATE (Oct. 28, 18:38 UTC): Adds Facebook name change.