Because no peace can be found in the age of man, TikTok has decided to partner with select creators, celebrities, and online entities like Lil Nas X, Bella Poarch, and Grimes to release a collection of non-fungible tokens. These TikTok Top Moments, as the company is calling them, are inspired by six “culturally significant” TikTok videos in the form of one-of-one NFTs. TikTok plans to auction them alongside a selection of limited edition NFTs it’ll sell weekly throughout October.
The partnerships, creators, and new material being tokenized and put up for auction vary. Musician Lil Nas X is up first on October 6th with a collaboration with artist Rudy Willingham, while Grimes is collaborating with Brittany Broski (“Kombucha Girl”), and separately with Bella Poarch. TikTok’s full list of collaborations goes into more detail about these selections and more, but is oddly missing details on how creators will actually get paid.
“Proceeds will largely go directly to the creators and NFT artists involved,” TikTok writes, but the company declined to break down specific percentages when asked by The Verge. TikTok says a majority of the earnings will go to the creators of the NFTs. The rest will go to Immutable X, which handles NFT trading for the set, and the Museum of the Moving Image, which will be hosting a TikTok exhibit displaying the six main pieces in the TikTok collection. TikTok will not take any proceeds from sales, and says that the weekly drops of limited edition NFTs will “be sold at accessible price points to ensure each creator’s audience can own a piece of their history.”
While “owning” a viral TikTok might be an exciting idea, it’s worth acknowledging the environmental impact it could pose. NFTs and other blockchain-based projects have the potential to use massive amounts of energy, by design. Immutable X says the NFTs it helps TikTok mint will be carbon neutral, but not all NFTs or NFT marketplaces are created equal. Similarly, whether you actually “own” the video NFT you purchase is — outside of the philosophical implications — dependent on the security of wherever they’re stored.
For more information on TikTok Top Moments, visit Immutable X and TikTok’s site.
