The death of Twitter verification! Check Art liberates the blue checkmark, sparking a wave of Pepe the Frog creations.

Twitter verification badges, once a symbol of social status, have now been monetized by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has turned the blue checkmark into a "pay-to-verify" system. Anyone can now obtain a blue checkmark by paying for identity verification. This move has sparked a wave of NFT creations under the theme of "Check Art." "Checks – VV Edition" has generated tens of thousands of ETH in total transaction volume on OpenSea, claiming the top spot on the leaderboard in February. Notable NFT collector Vincent Van Dough created a Pepe frog version "Checks – Pepe Edition", which has inspired more creations on the same theme, with renowned digital artist Beeple also joining in. What are they up to?

Origin | Check Art! Liberating the Blue Checkmark

"This artwork may or may not be notable." This art piece may be important or not. Introduced in the project "Checks - VV Edition" by the creator of the studio Visualize Value, Jack Butcher.

He stated that the concept of "ownership" or "copyright" in the internet age is based on "verification"; after Twitter adopted the importance of the "blue checkmark" for account verification in 2009, this concept became part of internet culture. These blue checkmarks are mostly exclusive to politicians, athletes, celebrities, and artists.

"However, a few months ago, getting this blue checkmark symbol only required a $8/month subscription fee. A symbol that transcends language and culture has become as popular as money." He believes that this symbol used to be owned by institutions, but now it only represents what people can afford.

"If no one is recognized by anyone, then everyone is recognized. If no one is uniquely important, then everyone is uniquely important."

The "Checks - VV Edition" believes that people are shifting from centralized institutions' recognition/verification to digital verification of art, ideas, etc., all of which can be achieved through smart contracts and cryptocurrencies. This checkmark NFT will challenge people's concepts of ownership and copyright in the internet age. "Now this checkmark is back in our hands."

After its release in January, the "Checks - VV Edition" has maintained a price below 0.5 ETH. Starting in February, the trading volume began to increase, and the current base price has reached 2.1 ETH. This NFT project also includes a burning mechanism that reduces the quantity of Checks; there are also special editions featuring CryptoPunks images. The rise of "Checks - VV Edition" in February is closely related to another creator.

Checks Phenomenon | Various Celebrities Join the Pepe Frog Meme Craze

Following the "Checks - VV Edition," renowned NFT collector and creator of the Pepe Frog meme, Vincent Van Dough, released the Pepe Frog version of Checks on February 5, priced at $6.9 for an open edition with no limit. According to NFTGo statistics, a total of 237,870 "Checks - Pepe Edition" have been minted, held by 11,687 addresses with an average of 20 per address, and the cumulative sales volume in the secondary market has reached 330 ETH.

Subsequently, more creators have tagged Vincent Van Dough, creating more Checks Pepe Frog versions.

For example, Beeple's "Check Dawn," symbolizing the Ape finally owning the Check.

Vincent Van Dough also retweeted many community works, some of which are also sold in NFT form:

In Taiwan, creator Wu Zheyu participated in creating dynamic images:

Unbeatable Theme in the Crypto Circle: Memes

The Check phenomenon demonstrates that "memes" are an unbeatable theme for market fluctuations, with "Twitter" and "decentralization" equally popular among the crypto community.

However, despite the popularity of the Checks series, burning fusion mechanisms have not been able to sustain heat for a long time in past cases, and meme-based NFTs ultimately tend to be collectibles. Players with an investment mindset should be particularly cautious.

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Reflection: Is It Really Meaningful?

The discourse of Checks seems to liberate "centralized institution verification," but is it really gone? In fact, after Twitter introduced a subscription-based verified account, there are still verified checkmarks by Twitter: the "gold checkmark." The significance represented by the old blue checkmark has simply shifted to the gold checkmark.