After Google and Apple, even Instagram throws itself into the fray of the fintech universe. The most used social network in the world is transformed from a simple "source of inspiration" for its users to an online store, where it is possible to make purchases with two simple clicks.

The transformation became reality yesterday and is part of the long list of giants in the hi-tech world that are extending their influence from the Sillicon Valley to the digital payments world. With the launch of the Chekout function, the platform where you can upload photos and videos, which in a very short time has become the Eden of so-called influencers, changes into a full-fledged e-commerce. The transition from a simple showcase to a digital shop started a year ago with Shopping, the function that allowed the different brands to insert in their posts the tags that allowed users to finalize the purchase on the company website. Since yesterday, the process has become instantaneous, even if for now this experiment is sidelined in the United States and there is still no news on when it will cross the ocean to expand in Europe.

Instagram, as you will remember, was bought by Facebook in 2012 for a billion dollars, and in a very short time it has exceeded one billion active monthly users. The rise in the electronic payments field of this giant will certainly have an impact on the percentages, recently seen in the research of the Milan Polytechnic Observatory, of payments made through digital devices.

Purchases via smartphones have grown by 650% in the last year to reach 650 million euros. The Observatory's estimate is that this payment method can be worth up to 10 billion euros a year within a couple of years.

The results, clearly positive, demonstrate the technological hunger of our country, which seems to have slowly abandoned the reluctance towards new payment systems.

We just have to wait for the purchase function of Instagram to arrive also in the old continent to find out how it will be accepted by consumers.