It was one of the most visible symbols of the crypto fever that swept the country earlier this year.
Starting late last year, venture capitalists, executives, celebrities, and a handful of corporate brands began visibly changing the names on their Twitter profiles to the usernames on their Ethereum accounts. The move helped them flex their crypto knowledge, providing a way to show off the blockchain assets they owned, like digital art. Talk show host Jimmy Fallon became Fallon.eth, investor and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian became AlexisOhanian.eth, and retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal became Shaq.eth.
The trend was short-lived. In October people began quietly dropping the suffix from their Twitter names. At least 16,000 Twitter accounts got rid of it between February and October, according to an analysis conducted by programmer Travis Brown and provided to The Information. Paris Hilton, Budweiser USA and Andreessen Horowitz Andrew Chen were all among those who dropped .eth, along with Fallon, Ohanian and O’Neal.
