What Are PFP NFTs? | GOBankingRates

The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry is a relatively new one, but it’s overwhelmingly popular. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency trades hands every day. As cryptocurrency became more popular, NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, started to hit the scene. 

Read: 5 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

NFTs are digital assets that can be art, music or a wide range of other digital files. The important part of NFTs is that users can verify ownership of them based on blockchain entries. In fact, it’s this verifiable ownership that makes it possible for venues to use NFTs as digital ticketing systems.

However, NFTs are being used in another way — as profile pictures, or PFPs.   

What Are PFP NFTs?

A PFP NFT is any NFT the owner of the digital files uses as their profile picture, typically on social media. That means instead of the social media user using a picture of themselves for their profile, they use an NFT they own as the main picture on their profiles.  

PFP NFTs offer social media users a few different benefits:

• Anonymity. Some social media users prefer to use these media platforms anonymously. PFP NFTs give these users a way to stay completely anonymous since even their profile pictures aren’t a picture of them. 
• Project Support. There are countless NFT projects out there, but some of them support compelling causes. For example, some NFT projects support breast cancer awareness. People who own these types of NFTs can show their support for their cause by using their digital collectibles as their profile pictures.  

Where Did PFP NFTs Come From?

PFP NFTs date back to 2017, when a popular NFT project, CryptoPunks, first launched. Larva Labs developed CryptoPunks, which feature pixilated cartoon images of headshots called Punks.

Each Punk has a unique mix of background color, skin color, hairstyle, hair color and several other traits, making each piece of the collection one-of-a-kind.   

It wasn’t until about 2020 that PFP NFTs really gained in popularity as CryptoPunks began to gain serious traction. Today, CryptoPunks are some of the most expensive NFTs on the market with a floor price of over $85,000 worth of ETH.

Twitter Authenticates PFP NFT Ownership

Since so many people started using their NFTs as PFPs, Twitter recently added a new feature to bring the security of the blockchain to the practice. In early 2022, Twitter launched PFP NFT verification.

An important aspect of NFTs is that people can validate their ownership on the blockchain, which as mentioned above, gave rise to NFT-based ticketing systems. Twitter decided to leverage that ownership verification to cater to NFT owners who use their digital collectibles as their profile pictures on the platform. 

Users who own NFTs and plan on using them as their Twitter profile pictures can link their Ethereum wallets to their Twitter accounts. Once the users link their wallets, Twitter verifies that the profile pictures they use are NFTs they own in their wallets.

When Twitter verifies the ownership of the NFT, their PFP border changes. Traditionally, users’ profile pictures are in the center of a circular border, but once they verify ownership of their PFP NFT, the border becomes a hexagon. 

Do You Need a PFP NFT?

Users don’t have to have a PFP NFT to take advantage of any social media applications. In fact, some social networks have been working vigorously to ban anonymous accounts in an attempt to curb online bullying and abuse.

Nonetheless, those who are part of an NFT project they’re passionate about or who simply want to show off their favorite piece of their NFT collection can use non-fungible tokens as their PFP on most social networks. 

Final Take

PFP NFTs have risen significantly in popularity since they first started to pop up on CryptoPunk enthusiasts’ social media accounts. Today, people use NFTs from a wide range of projects as their profile pictures. Those who want to show off their NFTs, whether it be for a cause or simply to display their favorite pieces of their collections, should consider adding their NFTs to their social profiles. 

Information is accurate as of Nov. 2, 2022.