For as long as crypto believers have been using NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as profile pictures on Twitter, there’s been skepticism about the durability of “ownership” over these digital assets.
Sure, you might “own” that cartoon monkey in your profile picture, in the sense that the token is affixed to your Ethereum address on an immutable, append-only ledger – but what’s stopping someone from just right-clicking the image and setting it as their profile picture, too?
Now, after months of anticipation, Twitter has released an official verification mechanism for NFT profile pictures.
As of now, only paid subscribers of Twitter Blue using iOS, which costs $2.99 per month, can access the feature. According to a tutorial video, users can connect their wallet, including Coinbase Wallet, Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Argent, or Ledger Live, and set it as their profile pic, with the process taking a few seconds.
Users can also learn more about each other’s NFT avatars, such as their owners, creators, description of the series, as well as verification of authenticity on third-party platforms like OpenSea. According to Twitter, the platform does not maintain an ongoing connection with one’s crypto wallet. However, the firm stores one’s public wallet address to ensure that it continues to hold the NFT avatar. Although one can only set it on iOS through Twitter Blue, the NFT profile pic will be visible across all platforms.
The functionality of the development is still in the early stages. Twitter currently supports only static images, such as JEPG and PNG files, minted on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, including ERC-721 and ERC-1155 token standards. But if one sells or transfers the NFT while still set as a profile picture, it will not display any information regarding its ownership when clicked.
