Facebook wants to get into NFTs with its future wallet Novi

Facebook is considering incorporating non-fungible token (NFT) features and products into its Novi portfolio. A report broke the news today, citing a disclosure from David Marcus, director of Facebook Financial (F2). Facebook is reportedly exploring different ways to enter NFT as it is well-positioned to enter the burgeoning industry.

According to the report, the Novi wallet is ready to be used. However, Facebook intends to implement it alongside Diem stablecoin, which has yet to receive the green light from major financial watchdogs in the United States. According to Marcus, the Novi wallet will only be activated without Diem as a final resource. This may explain why the Novi team decided to add other features to the wallet while waiting for regulators to change their minds about Diem.

Explaining why Facebook is considering adding NFT capabilities to the Novi portfolio, Marcus said the company believes Novi can maintain NFT without issue. He added that Facebook believes a portfolio as good as Novi’s should be able to help its users adopt NFTs. However, Marcus did not go into depth about the specific NFT products or features Facebook is looking to integrate into the portfolio.

This news comes as large companies continue to adopt the NFT space. For example, Visa announced that it has joined the NFT craze by purchasing CryptoPunk #7610 for $150,000 (£109,458.75) in Ethereum (ETH/USD). The financial giant’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, revealed that the purchase would help the company understand the infrastructure requirements that global brands must meet before they can buy, store and use an NFT.

Sheffield added that the purchase was Visa’s way of supporting creators, collectors, and artists in the NFT space, and the addition of CryptoPunk #7610 would be a groundbreaking addition to the company’s 60+ year-old collection.

Visa added that NFTs can become a powerful gas pedal for the creator economy and lower the barrier to entry for individual creators to make a living through digital commerce. According to the company, NFTs are already introducing a new form of social commerce that empowers both creators and collectors.

Meanwhile, NFTs are continually accumulating large sums of money, with someone buying an EtherRock NFT for $1.3 million (£0.95 million) on Monday. These types of purchases have seen OpenSea, the largest NFT exchange, record a payment volume of $1 billion (£0.73 billion) in August alone.