31/10/2022 Reddit Launched Its Own NFT Marketplace in July. It Already Has More Users Than OpenSea and Other Major Platforms

Three million users have created Reddit Vaultsā€”the companyā€™s name for a blockchain walletā€”since the service was created a few months ago.

Examples of Reddit Avatars. Courtesy of Reddit.

Quietly, and seemingly overnight, Reddit has become one of the biggest crypto-art marketplacesā€”and it did so by avoiding the acronym NFT.

Earlier this month, Reddit CPOPali Bhat revealedthat 3 million users have created Vaultsā€”the siteā€™s name for a blockchain walletā€”since the company launched the product this summer. Of those, an estimated 2.5 million were set up to purchase Redditā€™s own Avatarsā€”the siteā€™s name for profile picture-style NFTSā€”he explained.

That means that Reddit, which just formally entered the crypto-collectible space this summer, already has more users than OpenSea, one of the most established NFT platforms, has active accounts.

Itā€™s an impressive feat, especially considering the dramatic depreciation of cryptocurrency and blockchain collectibles in 2022. (Last month,Bloomberg reportedthat trading volumes in NFTS have plummeted 97% from a record high in January.) And itā€™s one that other major social media platforms are surely monitoring with slavering mouths. Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, isconsidering launching its own marketplace, too.

A caveat comes attached to Redditā€™s achievement, however. In August, the company dumped free Avatars into the vaults of high-profile Redditorsā€”a not-so-subtle ploy meant to encourage the websiteā€™s users to open new accounts.

Reddit unveiled its marketplace in July of this year. It was marketed as a kind of populist platform, targeting crypto-curious audiences who otherwise felt a barrier to entry into the world. Instead of NFTs, the company offered Avatars (the original collection was based on variations of Redditā€™s logo); instead of wallets, Vaults. Collectibles were priced at low, fixed ratesā€”$9.99, $24.99, $49.99, etc.ā€”and could be purchased via credit card.

The company established the new service on Polygon, an Ethereum-compatible blockchain chosen for ā€œits low cost transactions and sustainability commitments,ā€ pera recent press release.

To date, cumulative sales of Reddit Avatars have topped $6.5 million, according to information fromDune analytics.

Arts

https://news.artnet.com/market/reddit-launched-its-own-nft-marketplace-in-july-it-already-has-more-users-than-opensea-and-other-major-platforms-2199244