21/01/2022 Twitter debuts hexagon-shaped NFT profile pictures

A Twitter logo is seen outside the company headquarters in San Francisco, California, U.S., January 11, 2021. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

PALO ALTO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc(TWTR.N)on Thursday announced the launch of a tool through which users can showcase non-fungible tokens (NFTs)as their profile pictures, tapping into a digital collectibles craze that has exploded over the past year.

The feature, available on iOS to users of the company's Twitter Blue subscription service, connects their Twitter accounts to crypto wallets where the users store NFT holdings.

DMarket opens week as top NFT in daily sales
Solana and Bitcoin NFT trading hits record numbers
NFT is not cryptocurrency, Ant Group says amid crackdown

Twitter displays the NFT profile pictures as hexagons, differentiating them from the standard circles available to other users. Tapping on the pictures prompts details about the art and its ownership to appear.

Like other tech companies, Twitter is rushing to cash in on crypto trends like NFTs, a type of speculative asset authenticating digital items such as images, videos and land in virtual worlds.

The social media platform last year added functionality for users to send and receive Bitcoin.

Sales of NFTs reached some $25 billion in 2021, according to data from market tracker DappRadar, although there were signs of growth slowing toward the end of the year.

Proponents of "Web3" technologies like NFTs say they decentralize ownership online, creating a path for users to earn money from popular creations, rather than having those benefits accrue primarily to a handful of tech platforms.

Critics dismiss the decentralization claims, noting that many of the services powering adoption of those technologies - like the six crypto wallets supported by Twitter's NFT product - are backed by a small group of venture capitalists.

In a widely circulated tweet after the launch, security researcher Jane Manchun Wong highlighted one of those links, showing how an outage at venture-backed NFT marketplace OpenSea temporarily blocked NFTs from loading on Twitter.

OpenSea did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

Arts

twitter-debuts-hexagon-shaped-nft-profile-pictures

Interesting NFTs
NFT #1.1 - Philanthropic Graduation
By EBWU-education -- We want to donate 100 scholarships with NFT #1.1 -- In NFT #1.1, patients can contribute to the donation of undergraduate scholarships at Emil Brunner World University. For every 40 NFT's sold 1 full scholarship from the list of courses on this page will be given. Thus, taxpayers can guarantee the student gratuity of people on the margins of Higher Education.
HUMAN ONE
be careful where you step.
Bored Ape Yacht Club #1734
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs— unique digital collectibles living on the Ethereum blockchain. Your Bored Ape doubles as your Yacht Club membership card, and grants access to members-only benefits, the first of which is access to THE BATHROOM, a collaborative graffiti board. Future areas and perks can be unlocked by the community through roadmap activation.
Bush warbler and roses
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) Bush warbler and roses 1834 - Japan
Genesis
José Delbo sent me his striking pencil sketch and powerful inked work, which I then interpreted in oil on canvas. I wanted to create a very painterly piece with obvious brush marks etc, but I was also aiming for a nostalgic feel, a kind of 1980’s superhero comic book look, the kind I grew up with. My goal with this animation was to try to recreate, in part, the creative process that both artists went through with the visual information I had. I was able to showcase my painting process more accurately as I could take photographs of my progress throughout. Consecutive images could then be layered like brush strokes over José’s drawing to create the impression that this was one continuous artwork from pencil, to ink, to completed painting. The representation of the line sketch at the beginning, then pencil/ink and lastly the paint layers being applied demonstrate both artists’ struggle for the right lines, tone, form, and colour until the work is finally completed. As the oil was still wet with each photograph the glare of my studio lights can be seen in the brush strokes. Eventually, the figure emerges and as it does, our hero comes to life, looking directly at the viewer -- but is he grimacing in approval or disgust? We will never know for sure as just before he can say anything, white paint is brushed across the canvas entirely and the process begins again. Only the bat is quick enough to escape.