Last year, Twitter's user base grew steadily to more than 185 million. It is experimenting with NFTs, allowing users to display their collectibles as their profile pictures.
According to Mada Aflak, a senior software engineer at Twitter, the platform is developing new features that will let users import their NFT collectibles from wallets on the blockchain. This feature will display a verified blue token based on the NFT being minted on the blockchain.
As promised, here is the first experiment. Feedback and ideas welcome
— Mada Aflak (@af_mada) September 29, 2021
Twitter’s verification NFT could be an answer to the problems that have been plaguing crypto Twitter. After the explosion of NFTs earlier this year, with collectibles like CryptoPunks starting to trade for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars, they started being used as profile pictures.
While on the blockchain, ownership is easily verified, on social media anyone can copy and paste someone else's profile picture and use it on their own. When this started happening to extremely expensive NFTs, collectors were not happy.
For example, digital artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, sold $69 million for one of his NFT artworks, and OpenSea, a leading NFT marketplace, has surpassed $4 billion in monthly sales. There is a lot of money involved, and while some feel that copying and pasting an NFT will only make it more valuable because it gets attention, others want exclusive access and ownership of their digital property.
Other people's NFTs can be easily reused on social media without any verification process. For example, to verify ownership of NFTs, users could link their wallets, although doing so could compromise their anonymity. Displaying NFTs online and verifying ownership can now be part of a new reputation system.
A new reputation system for a digital world
Early adopters of cryptocurrencies were revered as visionaries who saw something others didn’t in what was then an illiquid and risky market that is now worth trillions. Owning an expensive and rare NFT can now be seen as a way to show off your knowledge of cryptocurrencies and identify yourself as a proud member of the community.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Alex Salnikov, co-founder and head of product at NFT marketplace Rarible, noted that it was “just a matter of time” before NFTs started rolling out on Twitter.
He added that the feature could be part of a new reputation system for an increasingly digital world, saying "the point of Twitter's new feature is not to be able to prove that an NFT belongs only to the profile owner". In his view, it's the exact opposite:
“Here, the most important thing for this function is access to data: what is the origin of the NFT, who was the previous owner, how much did it cost? This is a new reputation system for the digital world.”
Jesse Johnson, co-founder of DeFi and NFT project Aavegotchi, told Cointelegraph that he is excited about the possibilities that Twitter-verified NFTs may bring to revealing our digital identities, adding that as our real-life selves become intertwined with digital avatars Together, "it only makes sense that 'what's in your wallet' is as valid as 'who you are' as a source of social identity."
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, a well-known bitcoin proponent, sold the first tweet on the platform for $2.9 million in March. Twitter isn't the only social media giant experimenting with NFTs.
In a statement released on Sept. 28, TikTok revealed that it will launch a collection of NFTs inspired by its top creators, including Lil Nas X, Bella Poarch, Curtis Roach and others. These NFTs will be launched on the Ethereum network and powered by Immutable X, a new extension of the second-layer NFT protocol Immutable.
Dubbed TikTok Top Moments, the series features six clips of TikTok's most influential founders to celebrate their impact in helping TikTok become one of the world's largest social media platforms. Proceeds from sales will go directly to content creators and NFT artists.
Commenting on TikTok’s move, Salnikov said that celebrities on the platform are now “looking to monetize NFTs, the primary medium of the Metaverse,” which is “good news for the entire market” because “the crypto industry has been waiting 10+ years of mass adoption".
With more than 1 billion users, TikTok is one of the largest social media platforms in the world. Its use of blockchain technology brings it one step closer to a mainstream audience that one day, without even realizing it, may hold assets on the blockchain.
Intellectual Property Monetization
Daniele Mensi, managing director of DigitalBits, commented that NFTs are “changing the way we value ownership,” adding that TikTok’s initiative “opens up another era of value creation for consumers around the world.”
Anything can be an NFT, including TikTok videos, Mensi added. As a result, TikTok stars are now selling their content as NFTs and giving “fans the opportunity to own their creations.” He added:
“This paves the way for anything to be an NFT and makes it more acceptable. As NFTs become more accepted by the masses, people will realize how valuable and even necessary NFTs are.”
Waves blockchain founder Sasha Ivanov said that TikTok’s “capability to create popular moments and cultural trends, as well as hyperconnect global communities, will play a key role in the growth of the entire ecosystem.”
It is worth mentioning that TikTok has been integrating blockchain technology into its business. In August, it partnered with blockchain streaming platform Audius to launch a new feature called TikTok Sounds. The partnership agreement allows Audius users to export songs created on the agreement to TikTok.
Solo Ceesay, co-founder of Calaxy, a social marketplace for creators, told Cointelegraph that TikTok’s announcement has brought awareness to the wider application of NFTs as “community building and intellectual property (IP) monetization tools.”
Per Ceesay, the monetization of intellectual property has been a hot topic for years, and the combination of NFTs "embodying the scarcity of verification" could usher in "the next wave of consumer adoption of cryptocurrencies."
TikTok and Twitter are now actively embracing NFTs, but the journey that got us to this point has been a wild one. In 2013, the nascent cryptocurrency community discussed colored coins with the potential to bring real-world assets to the blockchain. Eight years on, and now the discussion is about how unique blockchain-based assets can find their way into their favorite social media platform used by billions of people.
Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.
JinseFinance
fx168news
decrypt
Beincrypto
Bitcoinist
Cointelegraph
Ftftx