Instead, it appears to have accidentally demonstrated something else entirely about the true value of non-fungible tokens. Twitter's new NFT profile pic feature was supposed to mean that when users saw an account with a hexagonal profile picture, they could be sure that account owned the associated NFT. That fear is now a reality, as our own CryptoPunk-style hexagonal Twitter profile pic proves. That means someone can just right-click-save any NFT, mint it, and then use it as their PFP' 'It appears to work for ANY NFT in your collection. 'There's actually a MAJOR PROBLEM with the new Twitter PFP feature,' wrote one Bored Ape owner. That someone might mint copy-pasted JPEGs and then use those JPEGs as their Twitter profile pic is a real fear for those who've invested, both financially and often emotionally, in the promise of NFTs. Which, frankly, kind of undermines the entire premise of making profile pictures different at a glance. In Twitter's mind, the responsibility of determining whether a hexagonal NFT profile picture is authentic or right-click saved falls squarely in the hands of the company's users. A company spokesperson explained over email that Twitter has no desire to limit what NFT collections can and can't be shown, and that the new feature gives users a way to click through profile pictures to determine the associated smart contract address. That would, however, require censorship from a centralized party (something anathema to the entire premise of the blockchain).Īnd Twitter seems like it has zero interest in gatekeeping. Of course, Twitter could choose to prevent ripped-off NFTs from displaying in users' profile pictures. Now Twitter seemingly made a similar tactic available to trolls.

It's an issue bedeviling artists, and one that shows no signs of abating. We already know that people will steal digital art, mint it as NFTs, and try to pass it off as originals for profit. However if Twitter goes ahead and integrates other popular blockchains, like Tezos or Polygon, it will bring that cost down to pennies - a price right-click savers will happily pay to screw with Bored Apes or other NFT diehards. That's because presently, due to Ethereum gas fees, the cost of minting an NFT to the Ethereum blockchain on a marketplace like Rarible, costs anywhere from $100 to $200 worth of ether. NFT owners insist they're totally not owned by 'right-click savers'Īnd, if Twitter's plan to integrate blockchains beyond Ethereum - a plan confirmed by a Twitter spokesperson Thursday - goes ahead, those hexagonal NFT profile pics will mean even less for the NFT-status obsessed. Then, I simply had to link the NFT to my Twitter account. It required taking an image (in this case some pixel art styled after CryptoPunks that I made in MS Paint), uploading it to the NFT marketplace Rarible, and minting it onto the Ethereum blockchain by sending it to a cryptocurrency wallet I control. The process was relatively straightforward. It's also, unfortunately for NFT enthusiasts, extremely easy to fake.Īpproximately 24 hours after Twitter announced the new hexagonal NFT profile pic feature, I was able to get a CryptoPunk look-alike NFT as my official Twitter profile picture - hexagonal and all. It's the ultimate online flex in our status-obsessed digital age. The feature, announced Thursday, gives Twitter Blue subscribers the ability to designate their profile pictures as official NFTs - thus, in theory, irrefutably 'proving' their JPEGs are authentic pieces like CryptoPunks or Bored Apes at a glance. Considering how repeatable Space Punks' missions tend to be, it's likely that players will be adjusting volume settings to reduce character dialog sooner rather than later.Twitter's new hexagonal NFT profile pics were supposed to put right-click savers in their place. A lot of that style doubles as a cover for the monotony of combat, a loop that includes smashing apart groups of five to six robots every few seconds and finishing off rote mission objectives. It has a variety of loud and unique weapons, characters that spout catchphrases whenever possible, and enemies that die amid comic-book-style 'THWAPP's and 'WHACK's. The addition of multiplayer and ongoing content drops could bring a lot to Space Punks in the long run, but this initial Early Access offering from developer Flying Wild Hog leaves much to be desired. Back then we didn't even know its name, but. Space Punks is a live service game with a Borderlands-style aesthetic. Almost a year ago, we interviewed Flying Wild Hog and Jagex to discuss the broad strokes of their next project, a multiplayer action RPG. Although they don't have a talking plant-like creature just yet, the first four characters of this new online action RPG cover all the bases of Star-Lord's band of misfits. It's clear from the onset that Space Punks takes great inspiration from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.

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