Twitter Launches NFT Profile Pic Verification

Delivering on a promise made last October, Twitter has released its official verification mechanism for non-fungible token (NFT) profile pictures. However, it is only available to those who sign up for the “Labs” feature via the company’s Twitter Blue subscription service.

Though the verification tool is initially limited to Ethereum-based NFTs via OpenSea, a Twitter spokesperson says it is simply the “first iteration” of a feature that may support other blockchains in future.

How It Works

Link your Ethereum wallet to your Twitter account, and you’ll be presented with a list of NFTs you own. Choose an NFT, and your profile picture – usually enclosed within a circle – takes on a distinctive hexagonal border. If someone right-clicks on your NFT in an attempt to appropriate it as their profile picture without first buying the token, they will be able to use the image but will be limited to the circle frame.

Still Some Refinements to be Made

A persistent right-clicker might re-upload that same image to an NFT platform, mint a visually identical NFT and use that as their profile picture instead, complete with a hexagonal frame signifying ownership on the blockchain. Twitter has yet to come up with a solution to this advanced form of deception, which has become increasingly common as the NFT space has continued to explode over the past year.

For now, NFT verification is available only for users with Twitter Blue, the company’s US$2.99-a-month subscription service. For NFT fans, it may be a price worth paying.

Twitter is also limiting the release to iOS users but says Android and web users will be able to see when a user changes their profile pics to an NFT.