You Can Have a Verified NFT Profile Picture on Your Twitter Account
Setting an NFT as your social media image has become popular. Here's how to set an NFT as your profile picture.
Jan. 21 2022, Published 1:43 a.m. ET
Meta is working on ways to allow Facebook and Instagram users to set NFTs as their profile pictures. However, Twitter has taken that a step even further, announcing on Jan. 20, 2022, that users can set NFTs as their profile pictures.
In Sept. 2021, Twitter added Bitcoin tipping features, allowing users to send others BTC nearly instantly. Strike, a Bitcoin wallet company, powers the tipping feature with the Lightning Network protocol.
How to set an NFT as a verified profile picture
For now, the only NFTs that can be used for verified Twitter profile pictures are static images minted on the Ethereum blockchain, and it can only be done by using the mobile Twitter app for iOS. However, the NFT profile picture will be visible on all mobile and desktop versions of Twitter. Go to the edit profile settings on your profile, tap on the profile picture icon, and select “Choose NFT.”
You'll need to verify Twitter’s request to set an NFT as a profile picture from your wallet. Only Ethereum wallets (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Ledger Live, Trust Wallet, Argent, and Rainbow) can be used to set an NFT profile picture. After connecting your wallet to Twitter using a wallet’s extensions or QR code, you can choose from any NFT in the wallet to set as your profile picture.
As Twitter can only connect to one crypto wallet at a time, if you want to switch to a different NFT in another wallet, you’ll have to go through the verification process again with that wallet. After the profile picture is set, it will be in the shape of a hexagon instead of the typical circle. If the NFT that's set as the profile picture is later sold or transferred, the profile picture will remain as the NFT image, but the hexagon shape will disappear. NFT profile pictures are currently only available for Twitter Blue subscribers.
Things to consider with Twitter NFT profile pictures
When an NFT is set as a verified profile picture, some of your connected crypto wallet’s information can be viewed by everyone, as your wallet address is connected. This includes your transaction history, other NFT collections, properties of the assets, and NFT contract addresses. Someone can tap on your profile picture and select “View NFT details.” No one can steal your digital assets with only a public address.
Having this type of information available allows viewers to see if an NFT is verified. For example, if someone were to have a Bored Apes NFT as their Twitter profile picture, it would have a blue check mark because it's from a collection verified on OpenSea. Furthermore, if a different Twitter user were to right-click and save the image of that person’s Bored Ape NFT, mint it on a marketplace, and set it as their own profile picture, the NFT's details would show that it's not authentic.