“The Battle for the NFT Wallet has Begun”: Nick Abrahams
First published in the Digital Nation on 28 October 2022
Meta’s recent announcement allowing users to connect their crypto wallets to their Facebook and Instagram accounts may change marketing forever, according to Nick Abrahams, global co-leader of digital transformation at Norton Rose Fulbright.
The update allowing Instagram and Facebook users to connect their crypto and NFT wallets such as MetaMask, Coinbase and Rainbow to their social media accounts will allow users to upload their collectible NFTs and share them as posts on the channels.
A public statement on the update from Meta states, “Everyone in the 100 countries where digital collectibles are available on Instagram can now access this feature.
“The feature includes connecting a digital wallet, sharing digital collectibles and automatically tagging the creator and collector.”
While crypto wallets to date have been largely difficult for marketers to track back to the owner, Meta’s announcement marks a clear step towards direct marketing to NFT holders.
According to a LinkedIn post on the announcement from Abrahams, “Very soon many (likely younger) people’s NFT wallet may act as a form of “social passport”. Its contents and curation will be as important to them as what they post on their Instagram account.”
The NFT wallet is likely to emerge as key to the future of marketing, he said.
“A brand can “airdrop” (send directly) an NFT to the wallet of holders of other NFTs. For example, the cosmetics brand, Clinique, just airdropped branded-NFTs to 1,968 holders of NFTs from the ‘Non-Fungible People’ collection,” said Abrahams.
“You can see the marketing opportunities – you can send whatever you want to whoever you want. Interesting question as to whether the existing privacy, spam & direct marketing laws apply – maybe but maybe not – “it depends” is the answer.”
According to Abrahams, more than 200 of the world’s biggest brands have minted NFTs, with the purpose largely being the ability to connect to new customers, rather than straight revenue from NFT sales.
“The Battle for the NFT Wallet has begun,” he said.