Twitter’s New NFT Verification Tool Does Not Confirm Authenticity

There’s a wrinkle in Twitter’s closely watched move to support verified NFTs for profile pictures: It’s impossible to tell whether the NFT is an original or a ripoff.

While the tool does verify who owns the NFT, it can’t affirm whether the image in the NFT is an original or an unauthorized copy.   

Opportunists looking to use a pirated NFT image as their profile picture can upload an identical-looking image of an NFT on third-party marketplaces such as OpenSea, mint it as an NFT and get it approved and verified by the social media giant to use as a profile picture. 

“If you can verify any NFT, doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of verification?” Brett Richey, founder of a Web3 sports betting startup BlitzPick, said. “I thought Twitter would [roll] out verified collections only, but I can just mint a copy of [an] ape [NFT] and verify it, right? [This] seems pointless.”

The company said users can link their ether-based wallets to their Twitter accounts and display their digital collectibles as their profile pictures. 

Profiles with hexagon-shaped pictures have had their NFTs verified with the social media giant, thus signaling ownership on the blockchain. Users have to pay $2.99 each month through the company’s Twitter Blue subscription service and use an IOS device to utilize the new feature.

A spokesperson for Twitter told Blockworks that users can click on a profile picture to see whether the person’s NFT has been verified with OpenSea. All ether-based NFTs that have a recorded transaction on the blockchain will be displayed on Twitter profiles. 

“We want to make it possible for anyone to use NFTs and don’t want to gate-keep NFT collections that might not be verified by certain marketplaces,” the spokesperson said. “We felt it was important to give customers an easier way to see NFT details directly from someone’s profile picture and easily explore the contract address; by clicking on an NFT profile picture, people will be able to see whether a collection has been verified by OpenSea or another [third] party marketplace.”

Twitter Inc. (TWTR) was trading 1.6% lower at $33.62 per share at time of publication.

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