Reddit Introduced New Blockchain-Backed ‘Collectible Avatars’

Reddit said that the project is expected to use the Polygon blockchain for decentralized trading and third-party sales. Content aggregation, ranking and discussion website Reddit announced a new blockchain-backed avatar system on July 7. Although no official date was revealed, the firm suggested that the avatars will be available to the general public in the coming weeks.

For now, Reddit is offering first-look early access to a limited number of people who join the r/CollectibleAvatars community. Collectible Avatars are a set of limited-edition artwork developed by independent artists who are also users of the Reddit website. The new avatars can be purchased using local currencies.

Nonetheless, the announcement said the artwork is stored on the Polygon blockchain. Furthermore, management of the Collectible Avatars is handled through Vault, Reddit’s blockchain-powered wallet that works on all Ethereum-compatible chains.

The latest move by Reddit strives to empower artists that use the website, as said in Thursday’s announcement on their website:

“From the start, our goal has been to empower artists to create and sell their work. Artists will get paid for every Collectible Avatar that sells on Reddit, less any fees, and are also entitled to receive royalties from secondary sales of their Collectible Avatars on open marketplaces.”

In that context, the new collection will be available where Reddit users mostly build their avatars on the website. Once a Collectible Avatar has been bought, it can be used as an avatar on Reddit. The owners of the Collectible Avatars will qualify to get unique benefits and Collectible Avatar creators will get a segment of future secondary sales.

From the July 7 announcement:

“Collectible Avatars are currently stored on Polygon, a general-purpose, Ethereum-compatible blockchain. We chose Polygon for its low cost transactions and sustainability commitments.”

Reddit stated that the avatars are not proper nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptos are not part of the process of purchasing or selling them for now. But, the team indicated that:

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

Reddit also said that there are future visions the firm has in regards to the concept’s related features:

“In the future, we see blockchain as one way to bring more empowerment and independence to communities on Reddit. Reddit has always been 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 our communities, we are exploring tools to help them be even more self-sustaining and self-governed.”

This is not Reddit’s first foray into NFTs, the firm released CryptoSnoos back in February 2022. Amid the crypto crash of this year, some firms are choosing to build. Other recent nonfungible token developments include a new DappRadar report which shows that there might be NFT platform wars ahead, together with the Lamborghini-backed GT racing team’s decision to validate car parts using NFTs.

While art-based tokens have become quite popular over the past several years, some of them have begun looking at expiring copyrights as the next possible NFT gold rush.