NFTs On Instagram: A Step-By-Step Guide To Digital Collectibles

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are available on Instagram! Called digital collectibles, you can now post and share your NFTs on Instagram. The option to also mint and sell NFTs on the platform will be coming out in the near future.

At Luxe Digital, we think this is an important step towards a broader adoption of Web3. Instagram could help a large number of non-tech-savvy users embrace NFTs by simplifying their creation and sale process.

Digital collectibles are part of Meta’s vision for the metaverse. They will also help content creators and brands develop new revenue streams and new ways to engage with their audience.

Curious to understand how to post and sell NFTs on Instagram? This in-depth guide will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step.

First, check this post on Instagram to see a real-life example of a digital collectible, and follow our Instagram account for more updates.

We’ve broken down our guide to digital collectibles on Instagram into six sections, so you can directly navigate to the part you’re most interested in:

1. Digital Collectibles: What is an NFT on Instagram?
2. How to post NFTs on Instagram?
3. How to sell NFTs on Instagram?
4. How to buy NFTs on Instagram?
5. What’s next for NFTs on Instagram?
6. Frequently asked questions about digital collectibles

Digital Collectibles: What is an NFT on Instagram?

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital asset, such as an image, a song, or a video, recorded on a blockchain (a public digital ledger that records transactions across a network of computers). “Non-fungible” means that it is a one-of-a-kind asset that can’t be copied or replaced. Recording an NFT on a blockchain (a process referred to as minting) means that the asset’s authenticity and ownership can be verified at all times by everyone.

In May 2022, Meta, Instagram’s parent company, announced that the social media platform would start to support NFTs. NFTs are called digital collectibles on Instagram and Facebook. 

An NFT on Instagram is thus a digital asset, recorded on a public blockchain, that can be shared and, in the near future, sold on Instagram. 

Digital collectibles are part of Meta’s broader vision for the metaverse and Web3. Meta believes that digital collectibles will be central to how its users buy, use and share virtual goods and experiences online. NFTs are also a new monetization solution for content creators who will benefit from selling digital assets to their followers while retaining creative control over their work and continuing to earn royalties from the resale of their work over time.

How to post NFTs on Instagram?

To post NFTs on Instagram, you will need to own an NFT and a digital wallet. Eventually, you will be able to mint digital collectibles directly within your Instagram account, but this feature is still in development at the moment.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to post NFTs on Instagram:

1. Connect your digital wallet to Instagram
2. Select the NFT you want to post on your Instagram feed
3. Fill out the caption, hashtags, and ownership information
4. Post the NFT on your Instagram feed

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, said in May that Meta wouldn’t charge any fees for posting or sharing digital collectibles on Instagram or Facebook. Things might change in the future as minting becomes available, however, as gas fees will be involved in registering new NFTs on a blockchain.

Ready? Let’s dive into each stage of this process.

1. Connect your digital wallet to Instagram

To post an NFT on Instagram, the first thing you’ll need is a digital wallet. Digital wallets are apps that allow you to send and receive electronic transactions with other people and companies. You can store both fungible assets (cryptocurrencies) and non-fungible assets (NFTs) in your digital wallet. 

Instagram supports multiple digital wallets (see table below), but you will only be able to share NFTs stored in Trust Wallet, Rainbow, or Phantom on your Instagram feed. Hardware wallets, such as Ledger, are unfortunately not supported at this time.

Based on our own experience with digital collectibles on Instagram so far, we recommend Trust Wallet as the best option. It’s the only wallet from that list that supports the Polygon network, and that can both connect and post NFTs on Instagram.

Here is a summary table with all the digital wallets available to verify your NFT on Instagram:

Digital wallet	Platforms	Shareable on Instagram
Trust Wallet	iPhone and Android	Yes
Rainbow	iPhone and Android	Yes
Phantom	iPhone and Android	Yes
MetaMask	iPhone, Android, and computer	No
Dapper	iPhone, Android, and computer	No
Coinbase Wallet	iPhone, Android, and computer	No

Note as well that Instagram currently supports the Ethereum, Flow, Solana, and Polygon blockchains. However, only the Polygon network is currently supported for minting and selling digital collectibles.

Blockchain	Supported features
Ethereum	View in wallet on InstagramShare on Instagram
Flow	View in wallet on InstagramShare on Instagram
Solana	View in wallet on InstagramShare on Instagram
Polygon	View in wallet on InstagramShare on InstagramCreate on InstagramBuy on InstagramSell on Instagram (resales not supported)

Once you’ve selected your digital wallet, log into your Instagram account, navigate to your profile, and select the “digital collectibles” tab under settings. From here, you will see the option to connect a digital wallet to start the verification process and share your NFTs on Instagram:

Click on “Connect wallet,” and you’ll be taken through a few steps to select your preferred digital wallet. As you can see in the screenshots below, Instagram will inform you that:

• You can disconnect your digital wallet at any time.
• You can control who can tag you as a creator or owner of digital collectibles in your privacy settings.
• You can report shared digital collectibles that don’t comply with Community Guidelines.
• To add extra security to your Instagram account, you can turn on two-factor authentication in security settings.

You can then connect to your digital wallet by authenticating the request from Instagram. As you can see in the screenshots below, your digital wallet app should open, asking you to confirm the request:

And voilà! Your digital wallet is now connected to Instagram. You’re ready to share your digital collectibles with your friends and followers.

2. Select the NFT you want to post on your Instagram feed

Now that your digital wallet is connected to Instagram, you’ll be able to choose the NFT from your collection that you want to post to your feed. 

First, go to the settings from your profile page and select “Digital collectibles” from the menu. You’ll be taken to a new page, listing all the NFTs currently available from the digital wallet you connected in the previous step.

3. Fill out the caption, hashtags, and ownership information

The third step is fairly straightforward: after selecting the digital collectible that you want to share on your Instagram feed, you just need to write a caption and add your hashtags. This is optional, of course.

If you click on “Advanced Settings,” you’ll have the option to hide like, and view counts if you want. You can also turn off commenting and write your own alternative text for people with visual impairments.

4. Post the NFT on your Instagram feed

The fourth and final step is the easiest. Once everything looks good, you just need to click the Share button at the bottom of the “New post” page to publish the NFT on your Instagram feed.

Once the new post is live on your feed, you’ll notice a new checkmark on the top right corner of the image when in grid view (see screenshot below). That same checkmark will also appear on the bottom left of the image when viewed in full size, indicating that it’s a digital collectible. If you click on that icon, a new panel will appear to provide more information on the NFT, such as ownership and origin. That new panel will also give viewers the option to follow your Instagram account if they aren’t followers yet.

When viewing NFTs on Instagram, you’ll notice a new white shimmering effect on the image, confirming that this is a digital collectible.

Note: Unlike what’s currently possible on Twitter, Instagram NFT profile pictures aren’t available at this time. You can only post digital collectibles in your Instagram feed.

How to sell NFTs on Instagram?

To sell NFTs on Instagram, you will need to own a digital wallet and create digital collectibles within your Instagram account. You must also have:

• A Business or Creator Account (more info here)
• Connected a digital wallet that supports the Polygon blockchain (see here for an up-to-date list of supported digital wallets)
• Created the collectible on Instagram. Currently, only collectibles created on Instagram can be sold on Instagram.
• Tapped the sell option during creation.
• Meet Instagram Terms of Use and Digital Collectible Terms of Use.
• Meet the Community Guidelines and Partner Monetization Policies.
• Enabled 2-factor authentication with a phone number.

This feature is still in development at the moment, but Meta has already indicated that creators will only be able to sell digital collectibles that were minted directly on its platform. While you can post NFTs that were minted outside of Instagram, you won’t be able to sell those for the time being.

To create a digital collectible for sale on Instagram, follow these steps:

1. Tap the [+] icon to initiate the process
2. Select “Digital collectibles” in the options menu
3. Select the image you would like to use as a digital collectible (the maximum size for the image is 100MB)
4. Enter a name and description for your NFT, and the quantity you want to create (it will be capped at a maximum of 100)
5. Enter a name and description for your collection, and choose your resale commission (royalties are set at 5% by default, but you can increase that number)
6. Optionally, you can add other images to your collection
7. Finally, tap the “Sell” button to list your digital collectible for sale. You can also just save the NFT to your digital wallet without posting it on your feed for sale if you prefer.

Note: At this stage, Instagram isn’t actually minting the NFT on a public blockchain. It seems that the social media network is instead using a similar technique to OpenSea by lazy minting your NFT off-chain. The minting process will only take place once your NFT is sold on Instagram. You can learn more about OpenSea’s lazy minting technique here.

If you selected to sell the digital collectible, the next step will be to set up a listing:

1. Tap “Price” and enter a sale price up to a maximum of $999.99.
   Pro tip: The list of available prices is predefined by Apple and Google, but you can still enter a price that is not supported. If you do so, you will be asked to select a price from a list of options. Tap the price you would like to use, then tap “Done”.
2. Once you’ve set the price and tapped on “Done”, you can review your listing details and connected digital wallet to confirm that everything is in order.
3. The final step is to select “Send for review” and your listing will be sent for review. Check Instagram’s Community Guidelines and Partner Monetization Policies to make sure that your digital collectible is eligible to sell on the platform.

If you selected above to add the collectibles to your digital wallet, the next step will be to choose the wallet you want to use. If you hadn’t done so yet, the app will prompt you to add a digital wallet to your account first.

If you’re interested in seeing what creating and selling NFTs on Instagram will eventually look like, check the following accounts that are part of Meta’s beta-testing program: @adambombsquad, @bluethegreat, @bossbeauties, @c.syresmith, @cynthiaerivo, @garyvee, @jenstark, @justmaiko, @maliha_z_art, @misshattan, @nopattern, @oseanworld, @paigebueckers, @phiawilson, @swopes, and @yungjake.

We will update this section as selling digital collectibles becomes more broadly available to the public on Instagram. You can already see how it will work with this page from the official Instagram Help Center, however.

How to buy NFTs on Instagram?

Just like selling digital collectibles, buying NFTs on Instagram isn’t broadly available yet. That being said, Instagram’s Help Center already gives us a glimpse of the process. In order to buy NFTs on Instagram, you must:

• Have a digital wallet that uses the Polygon blockchain (see here for an up-to-date list of supported digital wallets)
• Connect your digital wallet to Instagram (see Step 1 above under How to post an NFT on Instagram to learn how to connect your digital wallet to Instagram)

Once you’ve connected your wallet, follow these steps to buy an NFT on Instagram:

1. Click on the “Digital collectible” icon on the NFT you want to buy
2. Tap “Shop collection” below the NFT
3. Tap the collectible that you want to buy
4. Tap “Buy now”
5. Tap “Pay now”
6. Review the payment information and the total purchase amount
7. When you’re ready, confirm your purchase

After you’ve confirmed your purchase of the digital collectible, it may take a few minutes for the NFT to be added to your digital wallet. This is because the ownership needs to be recorded on the Polygon public blockchain, a process known as minting.

Once that blockchain record is completed, your digital wallet address will be shown as the first owner of the collectible on the blockchain. You’ll then be able to share it as a post if you’d like. A proof of your ownership of the NFT will appear in the description underneath the digital collectible. Read our detailed guide on how to post an NFT on your Instagram feed above to see exactly how to do that.

Digital collectible sales are between the buyer and the seller. Meta will pay the blockchain gas fees when you buy a digital collectible on Instagram, and the company won’t take a fee on the transaction for the time being. Apple and Google might apply their app store transaction fees, however.

Important note: Instagram won’t support the resale of NFTs that were created or bought on other platforms. Selling NFTs on Instagram will be strictly limited to digital collectibles that were minted on Instagram. It seems that, for now at least, Meta doesn’t want an Instagram NFT marketplace to exist.

What’s next for NFTs on Instagram?

NFTs are central to Instagram’s long-term Web3 vision. The current options to post and sell digital collectibles on your feed are just the beginning. In the coming months and years, we expect the following to happen:

• Support for more NFT formats: You can currently post images and videos as digital collectibles on Instagram. We think more types of digital collectibles will soon be supported, in particular augmented reality and 3D NFTs.
• Support for more blockchains: Meta said that NFTs could be minted on the layer 2 Polygon network at launch. Any Ethereum-based NFT can be displayed in your digital wallet and used as a digital collectible in a post, however. We think more blockchains, such as Solana and Cardano, will be supported in the future.
• Support for more wallets: Instagram currently only allows posting digital collectibles from three digital wallets. We think, and hope, that more wallets will be available in the near future, particularly hardware wallets.
• More opportunities for content creators and influencers to engage their audience and monetize their content: Ultimately, we think the success of digital collectibles on Instagram will largely depend on their adoption by both influencers and their followers. NFTs can be a great new source of revenue for artists and content creators on the social network. It will also be a new revenue stream for Meta if they do decide to eventually charge a transaction fee for minting and/or selling NFTs.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, announced in May 2022 that sharing and selling NFTs will be coming to Facebook as well soon, and possibly to other Meta apps, such as WhatsApp. As part of Meta’s Web3 vision, Mark Zuckerberg also confirmed the company’s interest in augmented reality NFTs and 3D NFTs, which you can bring to Instagram Stories using Spark AR, Meta’s AR software.

From a brand perspective, we expect luxury brands to take advantage of the new format to provide more value to their audience. Gucci and Dolce Gabbana are amongst the top luxury NFT players at the moment. Being able to share and sell their NFTs directly on Instagram will open the door to a much broader audience that isn’t necessarily as tech-savvy as the early adopters. We expect luxury brands to use digital collectibles as loyalty programs, offering extra perks and experiences to their NFT holders.

Frequently asked questions about digital collectibles