The social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, has recently withdrawn its support for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) from its premium subscription services. Until January 1, X offered its premium subscribers the feature to showcase NFTs as part of their profile customization, with the NFTs displayed in a unique hex-shaped profile picture, indicating ownership of the digital asset. This feature included a temporary connection to the user’s crypto wallet to set up the NFT as their profile picture.
However, as of the publication date, NFT support has been removed from X’s premium support page. This decision follows a similar trend in the social media industry. For instance, on January 20, 2022, Twitter initially launched NFT profile pictures with a verification mechanism, where paid subscribers displaying NFTs received a special hexagonal border around their avatar.
In a comparable development, on March 15, 2023, Meta also retracted its support for NFT profile pictures on Facebook and Instagram, just ten months after announcing the integration. Although Meta did not provide a specific reason for this change, Stephane Kasriel, the head of commerce and financial technologies at Meta, mentioned that the company was ending its NFT support to focus on alternative ways of supporting creators, individuals, and businesses.
The backdrop of these changes is marked by a significant downturn in the NFT market. Following the onset of the crypto bear market, NFT trading volumes plummeted by over 98% by September 2022. During this period, the average sale price of an NFT dropped to around $285, a stark contrast to the approximate $2,000 average sale price in early January 2022. This decline in the NFT market’s vitality has likely influenced these recent strategic decisions by major social media platforms.