Spider-Man appears to be shilling for NFTs on Instagram. I'm really hoping that he doesn't know what an NFT is and this is all just a big mistake, but there's no denying that Tom Holland recently shared a picture of an NFT on his Insta account and captioned it with the words "I love this."
The NFT in question comes from a recently minted series of 10,777 images called "inBetweeners." Created by artist Gianpiero, who has apparently worked with such names as Snoop Dogg, Levis, and Justin Bieber, inBetweeners are the same as most other NFTs in that they're a collection of AI-generated images using random attributes from a smaller number of drawings.
InBetweeners is also very much trying to avoid the bad press NFTs get by including an uplifting description of itself alongside a heartwarming video starring Gianpiero himself. Unfortunately, inBetweeners are supported on the Ethereum blockchain, which like all blockchain technology, is incredibly energy-intensive and a growing source of climate-changing emissions.
And like other NFTs, the people in charge are all using anonymous online monikers in case they need to run off with the cash without telling anyone. The only thing that might indicate this NFT is legit is how Justin Bieber seems to be on board to give one lucky inBetweener owner a "mystery utility," whatever that means.
As for the images themselves, they're all just variations on the same teddy bear. One looks like Batman, another looks like Dexter from Dexter's Lab, and a third looks like Spider-Man. That last one seems to have caught the eye of Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, who showcased the design on his Instagram story.
I really hope that Holland isn’t really supporting NFTs and is just totally ignorant of all the awful going on with NFTs right now. It’s a cute Spider-Man teddy bear picture, but it’s less cute if people are getting robbed or if they’re contributing to the approaching climate apocalypse.