Youtube CEO hints at upcoming NFT support.
Less than a week after Twitter launched the NFT profile picture feature on its platform, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki expressed interest in a similar project for the video platform.
According to an open letter about YouTube’s plans for 2022 on January 25, Wojcicki stated that they had focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem. This expansion is to help creators take advantage of emerging technologies, including NFTs while improving and enhancing the YouTube experience for creators and fans.
She mentioned that an incredible opportunity to strengthen the bond between developers and their fans was discovered in cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and even DAOs.
For the time being, Wojcicki has not detailed what the company intends to do with NFTs. However, their statement hinted at the same upcoming project, with announcements likely to come later this year.
This project marks the first official interest in NFTs from Alphabet (Google’s parent company).
YouTube Continues to Lose Top Employees to Crypto Companies.
YouTube employees likely feel the urge to get involved in crypto-related activities. Blockchain company Polygon Studios has convinced YouTube gaming manager Ryan Wyatt; he recently submitted his resignation to YouTube. Jamie Byrne, senior director of Creator Partnerships, also left for Bright Moments, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for NFT imprinting.
However, YouTube is currently focused on other equally challenging projects. One of them is TikTok competitor YouTube Shorts, which Wojcicki says has been viewed 5 trillion times. She added that the company’s team is now “working to make it easier for developers and users to create short video games related to the game.” This year, gaming was another area of interest, with YouTube “focusing on better live recognition and more chat capabilities.” Wojcicki also noted that plans for this year include adding a member gifting feature.
What you should know
- The move by YouTube to consider NFT is coming a week after Twitter launched its first NFT feature by adding support for NFT Profile Pictures.
- The feature lets creators set an NFT they own as a Hexa-shaped profile picture, which will allow others to learn more about the art.
- Instagram, too has said it was exploring NFTs. According to a recent report from indication, Facebook may be building an NFT marketplace.
