Twitter Will Verify NFTs – Cementing the Concept of NFTs as Status Symbols

What can you do with NFTs? It’s perhaps the most asked question among people struggling to understand the concept of purchasing digital files.

And while there are a plethora of specialized use cases, from using NFTs in-game to getting access to celebs, the most universal use case of NFTs is bragging rights. Showing them off as status symbols.

To further solidify this use case, Twitter is previewing how they’re planning to bring NFT verification into their app.

The Digital Flex

By now you’ve likely heard about people changing their profile pictures to their favorite (or most valuable) NFTs. Jay Z is representing the CryptoPunks, Steph Curry with the Bored Apes, Ashton Kutcher is showing off his own co-creation, Stoner Cats, and literally thousands of other people into NFTs are exhibiting their favorite NFT project as their profile picture.

“When someone buys a Rolex in the real world, they don’t spend the thousands of dollars because of the watch’s utility value. A simple $5 watch could perform the same utility. It is to ‘flex’ their status,” Gmoney says. “With an NFT, by posting it as my avatar on Twitter and Discord, I can quickly ‘flex’ with a picture.”

“It has the same effect as wearing that Rolex in real life, but digitally,” he says. – via CNBC

We’re all looking for respect, recognition, and a sense of belonging on social media. It’s why we choose to post, comment, and Tweet instead of sparking a conversation with a stranger. And right now, “NFT Twitter” is providing the most communal feedback to people that want to buy, sell, or just talk about NFTs.

Regardless of how you view the celebrity involvement, NFTs-as-Profile-Pictures is quickly turning from A status symbol to THE status symbol.

But what’s stopping anyone from copying an image of a rare Cool Cat NFT and using it as their profile picture. Nothing… at the moment.

Twitter Verifies NFTs

Twitter recognizes that they’re playing a strong role in the NFT market. They’re facilitating the excitement and allowing the movement to continue growing. It’s partially why Jack Dorsey auctioned his first tweet as an NFT and why Twitter released The 140 Collection of NFTs on Rarible.

But they also realize that they need to do more to support this new behavior of digital flexing, especially if they want to remain the premier place for NFT collectors.

That’s why Twitter previewed a new functionality where users can connect their digital wallet to their Twitter account and verify their NFT profile picture.

After connecting your digital wallet to Twitter, users will be given the option to change their profile picture to any of the NFTs in their wallet, while also receiving a verified stamp that they own the NFT they’re displaying.

They’re calling it the “Ethereum checkmark” and it will look something like this:

As you can see, this simple integration will give validity to using NFTs as status symbols on Twitter. It will add proof to this front-running use case of collectible NFTs.

Furthermore, if the “Collectible” tab comes to encompass all the NFTs that someone owns, Twitter may simultaneously become the new “lazy way of showing your NFTs” (watch out Lazy.com).

Overall, I believe that this move by Twitter could realistically add years of longevity to collectible NFTs. Currently, there’s a lot of chatter about 10k avatar projects providing no real utility and that the excitement will eventually run dry. But this would cement the major use case these projects having going for them: that they are status symbols that bring community together.

Adding verification to digital flexing is a strong and necessary advance for NFTs. It makes them more real and connected in the greater digital universe.