Shelly Palmer

Instagram’s Power Over Crypto

Instagram has been rolling out support for NFTs minted on Ethereum and Polygon since May 2022. The company just announced that support for the Flow blockchain is now rolling out in 100 countries, and Instagram expects to support the Solana blockchain soon. For context, Flow is a blockchain created by the very awesome Dapper Labs, who you know from Cryptokitties, NBA Top Shot, and Cheeze Wizards, to name a few.

Unsurprisingly, the price of FLOW tokens pumped on the news (up 44%). That’s the headline, but it’s not the story. Instagram (owned by Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook) has anointed Ethereum, Polygon, Flow, and Solana. There are thousands of other blockchains. What are the ramifications of a centralized authority (Meta) anointing a small number of very large blockchains? Asking for a friend.

Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.