Reddit today launched a new NFT-based avatar marketplace that allows users to buy blockchain-based profile pictures for a fixed price. The company says you don’t need a cryptocurrency wallet to make purchases, so your credit or debit card should be enough, and you can then use Reddit’s own wallet product to store them.
The social network says it is releasing 90 different designs, and at this early stage, the total number of NFTs that will be sold is “tens of thousands.”
The company notes that if you buy its limited-edition NFTs, you’ll have the license to use it as an avatar on and off Reddit. These rights aren’t as broad as the Boring Ape Yacht Club series of NFTs, which allow you to make merchandise or TV shows based on the Boring Apes you own. What’s more, users can mix and match avatars with items offered in the avatar generator, and avatars will have a “glow-like effect” next to comments in the community.
This isn’t the first time Reddit has focused on NFTs. Earlier this year, the company began testing a feature that would allow any Ethereum-based NFT to be set as a profile picture — weeks after Twitter released a similar feature. Last year, Reddit released a limited-edition NFT based on its mascot, Snoo, called CryptoSnoos.
Reddit has partnered with Polygon, an Ethereum-compatible blockchain, to mint these avatars on-chain. Users can use Reddit’s own blockchain wallet, called Vault – on the company’s native app to store and manage these NFTs. Currently, Vault is used to earn blockchain-based community points, which are used for special features like badges and animated emojis.
Today, NFT avatars will be made available to members of r/CollectibleAvatars’ invite-only subreddit to give them a preview. The community will have details on setting up wallets, exclusive AMAs from artists, and posts about one-off profile pictures. Since there is no auction process, all NFTs have a fixed price and can be purchased with fiat currencies such as USD. The listed prices for these NFT avatars are $9.99, $24.99, $49.99, $74.99, or $99.99. If you’re not part of the community, the company notes that these collectible avatars will be available on its avatar design page in the coming weeks.
The company has partnered with artists — some from communities such as r/Comics, r/ProCreate, and r/AdobeIllustrator — to produce the first collection. Reddit notes that artists also receive royalties from secondary sales of these NFTs on marketplaces like Opensea and Rarible — split in half with the Reddit profile.
While the NFT profile picture is an early blockchain project, Reddit hopes to explore more capabilities with the technology.
“In the future, we see blockchain as a way to bring more empowerment and independence to the community on Reddit,” the company wrote in a statement. “Reddit has always been a model for decentralization online; we of communities are self-built and run, and as part of our mission to better empower communities, we are exploring tools to help them be more self-sustaining and self-governing.”
Reddit has joined a long list of companies that are experimenting with NFTs. After rolling out NFT support on Instagram, Facebook recently ported some of these features to the main app. After launching its own digital art collection in May, eBay acquired KnownOrigin, an NFT marketplace, in June.
In May, Spotify began testing a feature that would allow some artists to promote digital collectibles in their archives, while Link-in-bio startup Linktree rolled out new features for creators, such as holdings for specific NFT collectibles. People provide unlockable links. More such tests are expected to begin in the near future.
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