Winners of the Twitter NFT giveaway have formed a group to retain their value

The recipients of Twitter’s inaugural NFT drop, “The 140 Collection,” have come together to form an organization with the goal of getting the maximum value out of their artworks.

The group, which goes by the same name as the collection, comprises nearly 50 of the Twitter NFT owners as well as two representatives from Twitter itself.

Last week, the social media platform gave out 140 NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. The drop consisted of 20 collectibles in seven designs related to Twitter in various ways, including animations and characters interacting with some aspect of the platform’s brand. Twitter handed the NFTs out directly to users who replied to its main tweet announcing the giveaway.

The founder of the 140 Collection organization, known simply as Geo, won one of the 140 Twitter-issued NFTs. He says he started the group just a few hours after the giveaway when he saw several winners sell their NFTs for significantly less than what he thought they were worth.

“There are some people that don’t understand the value of these things, so I thought maybe we should come together and make sure we’re on the same page,” he told The Block. “We could keep them as memorabilia. But there are so many bigger possibilities.”

What started as a Twitter thread quickly turned into a Discord group. Two Twitter employees also joined: Justin Taylor, head of consumer product marketing and Bianca Posterli, who runs social marketing and campaigns. Geo said he plans to speak with them to better understand Twitter’s NFT campaign and what its hopes are for the collection. Both Twitter employees had to get approval from the platform to join the group, he noted.

Geo said the collective is in talks of potentially forming a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO. These are open-source blockchain protocols, governed by rules implemented in self-executing computer code. Typically, token holders become the decision-makers in such an organization.

“Forming a DAO will give the NFTs a life of their own,” Geo said. “We could fractionalize NFTs by issuing tokens that represent fractional ownership. A lot of this is uncharted and unexplored.”

The group's formation is notable, given that it is occurring in the wake of the headline-drawing buzz around Twitter’s NFT drop. It perhaps provides a window into the aftermath of owning an NFT – what happens when public attention dies down and stakeholders — specifically, what owners can do to maintain the value of their assets. Besides forming communities around NFT projects, owners have also taken to other ways to promote the value of their tokens. For instance, NFT music project EulerBeats gives owners 92% of royalties for every print of their original track they can sell. NFT owners promoting their tokenized tracks by running promotions, hosting drops, and giving away additional art to buyers.

To sell or to HODL; that is the question

Since Twitter’s giveaway, there appears to be some dissent among those who’ve managed to get their hands on an NFT, particularly around what they plan to do with their digital collectibles.

For Margaret Corvid, a local politician from Plymouth, England, the decision was simple: sell as soon as possible.

Corvid sold her Twitter-issued NFT for 50 ETH ($110,000) just hours after she won it. When asked if she thinks she sold too soon, she said she has no regrets.

“I feel amazing about the sale. I know that the 140 collection will go down in history and each work could be worth millions one day, but such an amazing offer gives me the resources to build my business, save, invest, and repair my home,” she told The Block.

Corvid sold her collectible to pseudonymous NFT investor TDHD, who now owns a complete set — one of each of the seven designs.

“Although I don’t think I got a great deal out of Reply Guy, at the time of purchase there were no indications of how the rest of the collection would be distributed. I just wanted to make sure I secured one,” TDHD told The Block.

“Built on hype”

J.T. Fales also chose to sell, trading his NFT for 15,000 USDC just a day after he had won it. In a blog post published on July 6, he wrote that he thought the collection was overvalued.

According to Fales, the Twitter-issued NFTs will struggle to retain value because they were created by a centralized corporation on a campaign “built on hype.”

“I could easily imagine that in a year, Twitter's NFT drop would look more like a cringey publicity stunt from a corporation trying to capitalize on a trend and less like a historic, forward-thinking evolution of a beloved brand,” he wrote.

Fales acknowledged the creation of the 140 Collection group, calling it a potentially “viable way” to sustain and grow the value of the collection.

“By keeping the NFTs visible in the community; by touting their value and historic nature; by coming together as a cool kids club and making communal decisions — these holders are forming exactly the sort of invested community who has the incentive and the ability to protect the value of their prizes,” he said.

When asked if he would have held onto his NFT had he known about the organization sooner, Fales told The Block he may have reconsidered his decision.

“Community seems to be one of the most important aspects that sustain NFT prices, so they really could manifest a market where the value is higher long term,” he said. But he added this could be hard to do and he is ultimately happy he sold because he can reinvest most of his earnings into other NFT projects.

Waiting for the highest offer

For some NFT winners, their financial circumstances have eclipsed their desire to HODL, at least in the long run.

Francisco Molina, who is raising two young children in Venezuela, plans to sell his NFT as soon as he can but is waiting for the highest possible offer. Molina said because of Venezuela’s economic crisis, citizens are expected to live on a salary of only $3.50 a month.

In addition to working as a moderator for a crypto company, Molina participates in Twitter contests for some extra income in order to make ends meet.

“It is a struggle because I want a better future for myself and my family and that makes me look for new things that will generate a better well-being and a comfortable life,” he said.

TDHD, who is a part of the 140 Collection group, said that at the end of the day, the decision to buy or sell depends on one’s financial situation and the 50 ETH he was willing to pay for Corvid’s NFT may not have been worth it for most people.

“Maybe it is overvalued, maybe it isn't, but if an NFT has the slightest chance of becoming invaluable in the future, I am taking that chance,” he said.