Twitter Quietly Scraps NFTs While Embracing AI

On January 9, X (formerly known as Twitter) to begin the process of reinventing itself as the “everything app.” This will involve new uses for artificial intelligence, peer to peer payment systems, and a big emphasis on slamming ads into the pinned open eyes of its users. But one thing it won’t involve is NFT profile pics.

Remember NFTs? They were this big thing on the internet, their heyday as long ago as 2021. Those were wild times, with the whole world apparently trapped indoors by a long forgotten virus , causing what historians believe to have been a sort of international delusion that led to large numbers of people paying vast amounts of money to “own” an infinitely copyable jpeg.

Anyway, you can’t use those on your Twitter/X profile any more. As , at the same time as X owner Elon Musk announced a slew of new, unwanted features for the site formerly known as Twitter, the site also surreptitiously removed all references and options for having an owned NFT as an account avatar.

Where once there was a bizarre, poorly written explanation for how Premium subscribers could show off their badly drawn ape cartoon on their profile, now there is simply no mention at all of the entire nonsense. for the flailing X (hey, nice people, ! It’s so lovely there! It’s like Twitter in 2009!) is to convert the micro messaging site into his ill defined “everything app.” This apparently involves launching peer to peer payments, and the implementation of AI for “more user utility” and “showcasing the power of living more of your life in one place.” It is, the company claims, already a “video first platform,” with its “Immersive Video” feature boasting over 100 million users a day.

Um, if you say so. But despite Musk’s , it seems NFTs are no longer a part of this long term vision. Previously, those willing to tithe to Musk for access to Twitter Premium were able to—and I quote directly from section “Create a Community—“create a customize your profile so you can show off the NFTs you own in a hex shaped profile picture on your account.” Smooth.

The section now reads, “As a Premium subscriber, you can create a community on X to connect with people who share similar interests.” It’s almost a year since , and things for the since. However, for now, your hexagon is safe on X if you already set one up. And please, keep it as long as you can—they’re a really useful service for letting others know who to mute on first contact..