YouTube working on improving NFT security for better digital ownership

• As NFTs make a way to the mainstream, YouTube said that it will focus on offering better security for content ownership.
• YouTube also said that one of its major areas of focus for 2022 will be the Metaverse.

On Thursday, February 10, Google subsidiary YouTube announced its 2022 plans to step up efforts in the fields of blockchain and metaverse. YouTube said that it plans to harness existing technologies like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to cut any kind of fraud happening in the fast-growing digital art market.

YouTube, the world’s largest video streaming service has been witnessing strong competition from existing players like TikTok and Instagram. As a result, it has been working to hang onto users for better guidance for its upcoming features.

The news about YouTube working on integrating NFTs first emerged last month after CEO Susan Wojcicki expressed interest. Back then she said:

We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalize on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube.

It looks like YouTube is putting up further efforts in making NFTs integral to its platform. The Alphabet-owned video streaming platform is looking up to make moves in the Web 3 technologies. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) help in providing ownership to unique pieces of art, videos, or any other content. Besides, it also helps in maintaining the record of this ownership on immutable distributed ledgers such as blockchain.

Making NFTs a safer bet and focusing on the metaverse

The non-fungible tokens (NFTs) market exploded last year in 2021 recording transactions worth billions of dollars. While the sales of NFTs soared at one end, there was also a surge in scams, predatory behavior, and copyright thefts.

In its Thursday blog post, YouTube said that it will be working on making NFTs a safer bet. YouTube will allow users to verify the legitimacy of assets. For this, it shall also be possibly making use of its video library. In the blog post, YouTube mentioned:

Giving a verifiable way for fans to own unique videos, photos, art, and even experiences from their favorite creators could be a compelling prospect for creators and their audience.

Alike its other competitors like Meta, YouTube shall also be putting a major focus on Metaverse. As an important element of Web 3, Metaverse allows people to interact in virtual environments through their digital avatars.

YouTube said that currently doesn’t have any firm ideas for its Metaverse plans. However, one possibility would be allowing users to watch videos together in the metaverse. In the blog post, YouTube mentioned that it will focus on videos related to “gaming, where we’ll work to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive”.

It looks as if Metaverse will be the new battlefield for social media platforms. Facebook’s parent Meta is already spreading billions of dollars in this market.