Today Meta announced they are discontinuing their NFT initiatives. Meta pivoted to web3 in the later stages of the recent bull run and began to explore concepts and ideas related to digital ownership and crypto, including NFTs. Unfortunately, the market cratered after spending billions in development and posted brutal earnings in 2022, with the stock plummeting throughout the year. The missed earnings, of course, led to restructuring and layoffs – including their NFT plans. 

Canceling their plans for integrating NFTs into their app suite is exceptionally short-sighted. It strikes me that Meta pivoted to NFTs with little understanding of the potential and then capitulated when it got hard. Granted, Meta is there to make shareholders money, but in a world where decentralized social media platforms that offer users actual ownership of their experience are gaining traction, backing off their plans now seems like a miscalculation.