On January 4, 2023, Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson caused a stir in the NFT community when he changed his Twitter and Facebook profile picture to a jpeg version of an NFT featuring a sketch of himself. This move prompted reactions from various members of the NFT community, with some accusing Hoskinson of right-clicking and saving someone else’s NFT as a picture.
JpgStoreNFT CEO Blakelock Brown called out Hoskinson, saying, “if you are reading this, please buy your NFT next time.” The NFT that Hoskinson used was a picture of himself created by NFT artist JAR Heads NFT. The practice of right-clicking and saving NFTs as pictures has been a topic of much debate and has been seen by some as a way of dismissing the entire concept of NFTs. As a result, some in the crypto community accused Hoskinson of going against unspoken ethics.
In response to these criticisms, Hoskinson justified his actions by stating that he liked the picture and the artist and NFT owner did not mind because it increased the value of their work and established a historical association with him. He also argued that he is not buying the IP or signing a contract giving him royalty-free use to display the NFT, and that an NFT is not the same as an image or a lithograph.
Hoskinson’s actions sparked a major controversy in the Cardano community, with some expressing offense at his actions and suggesting that he could have supported the artist more by actually buying the NFT. However, Cardano NFTs have been performing relatively well compared to the overall NFT market slump of 2022. For example, ClayMates By Clay Nation recorded a 61.9% increase in sales over the past 30 days and $461,731 in monthly sales on average.
Despite the controversy, it appears that NFTs continue to play a vital role in the Cardano ecosystem, even in the midst of the market’s decline in mid-2022. In the past, Hoskinson has praised NFTs for their many use cases, and it remains to be seen how this latest incident will impact the future of NFTs on the Cardano platform.
