Reddit Taps Polygon for Launch of NFT Avatars

Jimmy Aki
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Reddit, one of the most popular content aggregation and online forum platforms, has announced a new initiative poised to showcase the artistic works of some of its users.

The company is looking to become the latest social media platform to embrace non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and collectibles, and it is offering the first look to some exclusive users.

Artist Empowerment for All

Earlier this week, Reddit announced the launch of a blockchain-based Avatar system. The company explained that it would be looking to showcase its avatars to the general public in a few weeks, adding that users would be able to purchase them using their local currency.

The initiative, dubbed Collectible Avatars, will feature a set of limited-edition collectibles designed by independent artists who are also Reddit users. Management of the collectibles will also be handled through Vault – Reddit’s in-house wallet service that offers compatibility with the Ethereum blockchain and other Ethereum-enabled chains.

Reddit Collectible Avatars

Reddit explained that this initiative aims to empower artists to work and get paid for their talents easily. All artists who design Collectible Avatars can sell them and receive all of their fees (minus a few expenses) and also earn royalties from secondary sales.

The new collection is expected to be available at the Avatar Builder, where Reddit users typically build their avatars. Users who purchase Collectible Avatars will be able to use them as their official Reddit avatars.  Collectible Avatar owners will be eligible for unique benefits as part of Reddit’s initiative to promote the use of this collection both on and off its platform.

For now, Collectible Avatars are slated for launch in “a few weeks”. Reddit didn’t give an exact date for the launch. However, the company is giving access to the first look to a limited number of people who join its r/CollectibleAvatars subreddit.

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Reddit Catches Up

According to the announcement, all Collectible Avatars will be stored on the Polygon layer-two blockchain. The company explained that it chose Polyon for its low-cost transactions and commitment to sustainability – an ode to Polygon’s announcement last month that it had successfully offset all of its carbon emissions and become a carbon-neutral blockchain.

Interestingly, Reddit explained that the Collectible Avatars aren’t pure-play NFTs. Users looking to purchase them won’t need to do so with cryptocurrencies. However, the company confirmed that its initiative is one of the first steps toward examining the feasibility of NFTs on the Reddit platform.

This won’t be the first time that Reddit will be foraying into the world of NFTs. in January, the company was reported to be testing out a feature that would allow users who buy Reddit NFTs to set their NFTs as profile pictures. Reddit had just released its own collection of Ethereum-based NFTs titled “CryptoSnoos” at the time, but it was confirmed to be expanding the profile picture functionality to any NFT owned by its users.

Reddit’s move was seen as a response to several of its Big Tech rivals. Twitter launched NFT support for its Twitter Blue subscribers last year, allowing them to set NFTs as their profile pictures.

Instagram and Facebook are also gearing up to add NFT support as their parent company, Meta, continues to build for Web3 on a broader scale. Looking to not be left behind, Reddit appears to be moving quickly to integrate NFTs and capture that market segment.

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About Jimmy Aki PRO INVESTOR

Based in the UK, Jimmy is an economic researcher with outstanding hands-on and heads-on experience in Macroeconomic finance analysis, forecasting and planning. He has honed his skills having worked cross-continental as a finance analyst, which gives him inter-cultural experience. He currently has a strong passion for regulation and macroeconomic trends as it allows him peek under the global bonnet to see how the world works.