LG Taps Hedera Hashgraph for NFT Platform, Tests Crypto Wallet
South Korean technology giant LG Electronics has tapped into the Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) network to bring NFTs to TV screens and is also testing a crypto wallet.
LG has released its NFT marketplace called LG Art Lab, available in the US on the company’s TVs running webOS 5.0 or later. The NFT platform allows users to buy, sell and showcase their Hedera-powered NFTs from their screens, the company said.
“The platform includes the LG Art Lab Drops feature, which profiles artists and previews new works coming soon to the platform,” LG said, noting that the real-time “Live Drops” countdown allows users to anticipate coin dates and be able to acquire a “just dropped” NFT’s.
The announcement comes about eight months after LG Electronics so that the TV giant aims to incorporate NFTs into its smart TV in an attempt to “redefine viewing and user experience”.
Meanwhile, LG Electronics is also running a beta test for developers for a new crypto wallet app it has dubbed Wallypto.
Per News 1 and Shina Ilbo, the firm has registered the app’s name and logo “with domestic and foreign patent offices” and hopes to make an “official launch” before the end of the year. The firm added that it is still working on details of the wallet’s features, but noted that it will also be built on Hedera. Wallypto is also likely to be compatible with NFTs, LG said. The company may also seek to integrate the wallet with ThinQ, its fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) platform.
In particular, LG has made use of the lesser-known Hedera network to offer these features. Hedera describes itself as an alternative to blockchain and uses its own hashgraph technology, or another version of the distributed ledger technology.
At 07:33 UTC, HBAR, ranked 42nd by market cap at Coingecko, is trading at $0.062 and is up 1% in a day and down 2% in a week. HBAR crashed 80% in a year.
LG Electronics partnered with Hedera in 2020 by joining the Hedera Board of Directors, which also includes Google, IBM, Deutsche Telekomand more.
LG’s foray into the NFT space follows a similar move by rival Seoul-based TV company Samsung, which announced release of an NFT marketplace on a variety of TVs earlier this year, all of them backed by Nifty Gateway.
Meanwhile, the market for NFTs remains near the early 2021 lows. According to data from CryptoSlamNFT sales volume in terms of USD over the Ethereum blockchain has fell to around US$6 million in the past few days, a decline of more than 99% compared to the record US$628 million recorded on May 1, 2022.
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– Samsung and LG may follow SK in issuing a crypto asset – Analysts
