Chris Curl,
Editor
Nov. 10, 2022
The controversial decision to rename Facebook to Meta (NASDAQ: META) in late 2021 was part of a broad long-term strategy.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others sought to get in front of the growing Web3 phenomenon by shifting away from the tired old social media that your aunt uses to the burgeoning metaverse.
This was a bold move, and certainly not without controversy.
And with the Fed-induced bear market raging, Meta’s stock price has cratered along with many other tech giants.
Investors are clearly unhappy with the direction Zuckerberg is taking the company, but with control of 54% of Meta’s votes, he can steer the ship in whichever direction he chooses.
And he’s choosing crypto.
He already attempted to create a permissioned blockchain-based stablecoin payments system called Diem. But regulators in both Europe and the US more or less killed the project over privacy and antitrust concerns. Diem would later split up to become independent layer-1 blockchain projects, Aptos and Sui. The former recently launched with the latter soon to follow.
And after much legal wrangling, Meta has just announced that it’s turning popular social media platform Instagram into an NFT marketplace. There are also plans to integrate NFTs into Facebook soon.
Using the Polygon blockchain, Meta is releasing its own digital collectibles toolkit that will let users create their own NFTs. They are also adding the ability to feature NFTs you’ve already purchased by linking your crypto wallets. This includes Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and Flow. I imagine other blockchains are soon to follow.
Instagram will also be rolling out a “professional mode” which will allow content creators to utilize additional features. The most noteworthy being the Starz virtual tipping system that allows users to send gifts of this virtual currency to creators.
As Instagram becomes increasingly an entertainment app, adding in functionality for tipping and NFTs seems like the logical next step.
Even the home of WallStreetBets is getting in on the action.
Reddit recently introduced NFTs to its users that they’re calling Avatars. Using the popular layer-2 blockchain Polygon, Reddit users can buy, sell, and customize a unique limited set of these avatars. Reddit has been careful to avoid the term NFT due to the many negative associations people have of them.
As of November 2nd, these avatars generated a sales volume of $10.36 million.
Love it or hate it, the NFT collectible craze is not going away. Major brands have been piling into the space.
Nike (NYSE: NKE) recently generated $90.59 million in royalties from $184 million in NFT sales.
And last November, Budweiser (NYSE: BUD) released an NFT collection based off of their iconic beer can designs called the Heritage Collection. It generated almost $6 million dollars in revenue.
While it may not be a popular opinion, I think Zuckerberg is ahead of the curve with his adoption of Web3 and the Metaverse. The next couple of years will reveal whether these moves are brilliant or boneheaded.
I’m betting on the former and looking out for ways to profit in Crypto Cycle.
Chris Curl
Editor, Daily Profit Cycle