Key Takeaways:
- Reddit is introducing a brand-new NFT-based avatar marketplace today that enables you to pay a set price to buy blockchain-based profile pictures.
- Reddit claimed that it is releasing 90 designs, with “tens of thousands” of NFTs available for purchase during this early-access phase.
- To create these avatars on-chain, Reddit has worked with Polygon, an Ethereum-compatible blockchain.
On its brand-new NFT avatar marketplace, which launched today, Reddit is introducing what it calls “collectible avatars,” enabling users to buy blockchain-based profile photos for usage both on and off the platform. Redditors now have the ability to make, trade, and buy “limited edition” avatars that feature various renditions of the site’s mascot, Snoo, according to a new “blockchain-backed” feature that the social network unveiled on Thursday.
If you didn’t know, Snoo is Reddit’s alien mascot, and can be seen on the platform in a variety of forms. Thousands of various subreddits use it as their mascot, staff avatars, masthead logos, and more.
The r/comics, r/procreate, and r/adobeillustrator communities of artists have each contributed 90 unique designs for the site’s avatars. In this early-access phase, “tens of thousands’ ‘ of limited edition “collectible avatars’ ‘ will be sold as part of the inaugural collection.
Reddit reports that the avatars will be “stored” on the Polygon blockchain, which is compatible with Ethereum, because of the network’s “low-cost transactions and sustainability pledges.” On the blockchain, Reddit will essentially mint NFTs.
As per press release, profiles with Collectable Avatars configured as their profile picture will also have a “glow-like effect” there.If a user chooses to utilise their collectible avatar as their Reddit avatar, the firm claims that owners will be able to “mix-and-match the avatar gear with other Reddit avatar clothing and accessories.”
Only local currencies, such US dollars, will be accepted for the purchase of collectible avatars. Neither a cryptocurrency option nor an auction on a secondary market like OpenSea are currently available for them. At this time, the fixed prices for the avatars are $9.99, $24.99, $49.99, $74.99, or $99.99. Artists’ profits from secondary sales of these avatars on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible will be divided 50/50 with Reddit.
Many NFT initiatives even provide VIP clients with access to a whitelist so they may choose which NFTs to purchase before they run out. According to Reddit, invite-only members of the subreddit r/CollectibleAvatars will be the first to receive collectible avatars.
“Our communities are self-built and run, and as part of our mission to better empower our communities, we are exploring tools to help them be even more self-sustaining and self-governed,” the company made this statement. Reddit has always been a prototype for what decentralisation could look like online.
Even yet, it’s strange that Reddit made a special effort to avoid calling these avatars NFTs. The business is experienced in the area. In the past, it offered NFTs as part of its CryptoSnoos initiative that featured various artistic interpretations of Snoo.
Like Twitter, Reddit lets users set their avatars as Ethereum-based NFTs.
