- X has halted support for the use of NFTs as profile pictures for its Premium subscribers
- The feature supported collectibles minted on the Ethereum blockchain
- The feature was activated by the platform’s previous regime
In a move that will disappoint NFT fans, X has stopped its Premium subscribers from using NFTs as profile pictures on the platform. Started by the platform’s previous regime, the feature supported collectibles minted on the Ethereum blockchain. This comes roughly two months after Musk slammed collectibles saying they’re ordinary images stored outside decentralized networks, a sign that the platform may not be ready to support NFTs.
A Hexagon Without NFTs
X silently removed the feature leaving the NFT community to lament the move on social platforms. X’s Premium support page has also removed any mention of NFTs. For those who had their profile pictures as NFTs, X has replaced them with a hexagonal avatar, fueling questions about whether they’ll also disable the hexagonal shape since it was synonymous with NFT-based PFPs.
X/twitter just removed the ability to hexagon an NFT
Is the bottom in for NFTs? pic.twitter.com/vRSxyoehSE
— borovik.eth (@3orovik) January 10, 2024
The move has left the NFT community guessing the social media platform’s next steps regarding virtual collectibles. For some, this is an end to NFTs, while for others, X will eventually bring back the feature but with multichain support.
They’ll bring it back at a later stage but include multichain support
— Slim_Pickings (@Slim_Picking5) January 10, 2024
X’s move coincides with its recent announcement that it’s working to introduce payments and artificial intelligence (AI) tools on the platform. However, it’s not the first such platform to halt NFT plans.
Last year, Meta announced that it was ditching plans to introduce NFTs to its Facebook and Instagram users, despite its CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirming such possibilities in March 2022. Mark’s 2022 confirmation came less than three months after Twitter launched the NFT PFP feature.
Other Ways to Interact with Creators
At the time, Meta said that the decision to end support for collectibles on its social media platforms was to enable the exploration of “other ways” to interact with digital artists, businesses and people. Later, Meta announced investments in AI, a field that X has also expressed interest in.
Although X is yet to explain why it disabled the feature, it’s to be seen whether it’ll completely discard it or re-launch it with enhanced features such as multi-chain support or even ask for a higher subscription amount for those who want to use it.
