Facebook’s Novi Digital Wallet Could Support NFTs in Future, Exec Says

Facebook Inc. is heavily considering adding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into their soon-to-be launched digital wallet Novi, according to the company’s Financial Head David Marcus.

“We’re definitely looking at the number of ways to get involved in the [NFT} space because we think we’re in a really good position to do so,” Marcus said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. However, Marcus added that it was still “too early to talk” publicly about plans to get involved in the space.

According to Marcus, Novi could be used as a way to store NFTs once the digital wallet goes live. “If you’re a creator and you’re creating your NFT, you may want to rent your NFT, you may want to sell your NFT. You’ll have to store your NFT,” he said.

Novi is intended to allow users to execute often-times free and quick money transfers. Originally, the crypto wallet was created to pair with Libra (now referred to as Diem) the Facebook-initiated stablecoin project, but ran into resistance from financial regulators. Facebook said the financial product is “ready now” but the social media network has been waiting to launch alongside Diem, their stablecoin project which would offer a coin backed by the US dollar.

Marcus has said in the past that Facebook’s financial service projects have undergone unfair resistance from financial regulators, according to a memo released on August 18.

“I’ve repeatedly heard variations of the argument that the payments and financial services industry shouldn’t let Facebook be part of these innovations,” Marcus wrote in the memo. “I’ve heard multiple conversations about how this proposal would be so great if only Facebook wasn’t involved.” Marcus added that these financial products should be taken seriously. 

Facebook’s venture into the metaverse

Talk of NFT adoption should come as no surprise after CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent comments about the company’s venture into the “metaverse.”

During Facebook’s earnings call in July, Zuckerberg referred to the tech giant as a “metaverse company”, using the term approximately 20 times during the hour-long call. However, it was unclear how the CEO planned to profit from the digital world.

Overall, NFTs are quickly gaining popularity despite many holders not understanding the asset that they own, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried said in a recent interview with CNBC.

“It’s almost going mainstream faster than the mainstream understands what it is they’re adopting, which is a weird phenomenon,” Bankman-Fried said. “It could lead to just incredibly fast and giant adoption. It could also lead, frankly, to sort of a sour taste in people’s mouth if there’s a crash, and no one ever quite figured out what it was.”

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