Reddit is introducing a brand-new NFT-based avatar marketplace that lets you pay a fixed price to buy blockchain-based profile photos. These NFTs will be hosted on Polygon’s blockchain. According to the company, you don’t need a cryptocurrency wallet to buy them; using your credit or debit card should be sufficient. You can also use Reddit’s wallet product to hold them.
According to Reddit’s announcement, 90 different NFT designs are available in the “tens of thousands” during this early-access phase. NFT avatars will initially only be accessible to subscribers of the invite-only r/CollectibleAvatars subreddit, with quoted costs being $9.99, $24.99, $49.99, $74.99, or $99.99.
The company stated that if you buy one of its limited-edition NFTs, you will be granted permission to use it as an avatar both on and off Reddit. These privileges do not equate to those that come with owning an NFT from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of Yuga Labs, which permits you to create products or TV shows based on the bored ape you own. These avatars’ appearances can be customized using the avatar builder’s goods. Additionally, user avatars will get a “glow-like effect next to their comments in communities.”
In the upcoming weeks, everyone will be able to purchase these collectible avatars on Reddit’s avatar builder page. Community members will get unique Ask Me Anythings (AMAs) from artists, behind-the-scenes posts regarding the one-off profile pictures, and instructions for setting up a wallet in the meantime.
But only local currencies, like US dollars, will be accepted for the purchase of Collectible Avatars. Neither a cryptocurrency option nor an auction on a secondary market like OpenSea is currently available for them. Reddit also explains that the marketplace is based on Polygon’s blockchain because of its commitment to sustainability and low-cost transactions. Reddit will introduce a Vault, an Ethereum-compatible wallet, along with the Polygon marketplace.
Reddit NFT Marketplace isn’t Reddit’s first stint into NFTs. In January, Reddit began testing a feature that lets users choose any Ethereum-based NFT as their profile picture. This came after Twitter introduced a feature that allowed users to set their NFTs as profit pictures. With this feature, users could set photos of their NFTs that, when clicked, would reveal information about the NFT and would stand out from the default Twitter profile picture by being hexagon-shaped. These social media companies are aware of the demand for crypto-related features like the NFT profile image from users looking to incorporate them as a status indicator of their digital presence.
Many social media companies are working to make their platforms NFT-enabled. Recently, it was revealed that YouTube and Instagram are also exploring NFTs, while Meta Inc. intends to create a new NFT marketplace.
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Reddit revealed in a statement, that in the future, blockchain will bring more empowerment and independence to communities on Reddit. The company prides itself on always being a model for what decentralization could look like online. “Our communities are self-built and run, and as part of our mission to better empower them, we are exploring tools to help them be even more self-sustaining and self-governed,” it added. Based on its mascot “Snoo,” Reddit released limited-edition NFTs in 2021 under the name CryptoSnoos.
