(Reuters) – YouTube is exploring features for its video creators to capitalize on non-fungible tokens, its chief govt officer stated on Tuesday, turning into the most recent tech firm to faucet right into a digital collectibles craze that has exploded up to now 12 months.
“We’re at all times targeted on increasing the YouTube ecosystem to assist creators capitalize on rising applied sciences, together with issues like NFTs, whereas persevering with to strengthen and improve the experiences creators and followers have on YouTube,” wrote YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki in a letter on the corporate’s 2022 priorities.
NFTs are a sort of digital asset which exist on the record-keeping expertise blockchain. They have seen a surge in recognition over the past 12 months, with individuals shopping for paintings and video highlights from sports activities video games as NFTs.
Sales of NFTs reached some $25 billion in 2021, in accordance with knowledge from market tracker DappRadar, though there have been indicators of development slowing towards the top of the 12 months.
A spokesperson for Alphabet Inc’s YouTube declined to share extra particulars in regards to the potential NFT features, which have been first reported by Bloomberg News.
Last week, Twitter Inc introduced the launch of a software via which customers can showcase NFTs as hexagonal profile footage. The Financial Times reported this month that Meta Platforms Inc have been engaged on methods to let customers create and promote NFTs on Facebook and Instagram. In December, Instagram head Adam Mosseri stated the corporate was exploring NFTs.
The standard brief video app TikTok in September ventured into the craze, saying an NFT assortment designed by a few of its prime creators.
Reddit Inc has additionally been exploring the area: latest job listings from the corporate on LinkedIn marketed for a number of engineer roles for a “quickly rising staff that goals to construct the biggest creator economic system on the web, powered by unbiased creators, digital items, and NFTs.”
(Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
