Discussion Platform Reddit Introduces Blockchain-Backed Collectible Avatars to 52 Million Users

The social media and discussion website Reddit has announced the launch of blockchain-backed collectible avatars. The collectible avatars are stored via the Polygon blockchain as the chain was chosen for its “low-cost transactions and sustainability commitments.”

Reddit’s Polygon-Backed Digital Avatars Will Soon Be Available to the General Public

On July 7, 2022, the staff at Reddit announced the launch of blockchain-backed Reddit avatars that are stored on the Polygon network. It’s not Reddit’s first rodeo with blockchain technology as the social media and discussion platform was working with Arbitrum’s layer two (L2) technology with ETH-based community point tokens in July 2021. The following October, Reddit was seeking a senior engineer for a platform that features “NFT-backed digital goods.” In January 2022, it was reported that Reddit was allegedly testing NFT profile pic functions.

The new Polygon-issued collectible avatars are available for purchase and the artists who created them will receive royalties. The purchase gives the owner rights to the art on and off the platform, Reddit’s announcement details. “You do not need cryptocurrency to purchase these avatars, nor are they being put up for auction,” Reddit explained on Thursday. “Each avatar has been priced at a fixed amount and is purchasable with fiat (government-issued) currencies.”

“In this series, Collectible Avatars are limited-edition avatars made by independent artists, in partnership with Reddit, and provide owners with unique benefits on the Reddit platform,” the company’s blog post says. “If someone sets their Collectible Avatar as their avatar on Reddit, they can mix-and-match the avatar gear with other Reddit avatar gear and accessories, and their profile image in comments sections will have a glow-like effect.”

Reddit adds:

Blockchain-backed Collectible Avatars are one of the early steps we’re taking to test out the potential benefits of this concept on Reddit.

R/collectibleavatars Subscribers Can Get Early Access, NFTs Stored in Reddit’s Vault Wallets

Reddit’s new Polygon NFT avatars will be available to the public in the “coming weeks” but the company is on the lookout for early access redditors to join the r/collectibleavatars community. “In that community, people can learn more about how to purchase Collectible Avatars, set up wallets to store them, and get to know our artists with behind-the-scenes posts, AMAs, and more,” Reddit’s blog post notes.

Additionally, Reddit detailed that the avatar NFTs will be stored in the Reddit-produced wallet called Vault, which is where community points are stored as well. Vault works with Ethereum-compatible blockchains like Polygon. While some of the artists that contributed to Reddit’s blockchain-backed collectible avatars were found in different subreddits, some artists participated in a Reddit-related art project for the first time.

“Many of the artists we worked with for this first series came from popular creative communities like r/comics,” Reddit concluded. “Some have cultivated the skills they utilized for this program in subreddits like r/procreate or r/adobeillustrator. We also worked with artists from our networks who are bringing their work to Reddit for the first time.”