LG Launches NFT Art Lab at Richardson-based Hedera Network » Dallas Innovates

LG Art Lab NFT of a digital work in the “Metal” series by American sculptor Barry X Ball. [Image: LG]

LG wants to show something beautiful on its No. 1 TVs — and not just “House of the Dragon” or “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” So they’ve launched their own NFT platform, LG Art Lab, based on the Hedera network created here in North Texas.

LG’s new platform is designed to be a “one-stop solution for viewing and trading NFTs at home,” the company says. It includes the LG Art Lab Drops feature, which offers profiles of artists and previews of new works planned for the platform. A real-time Live Drops countdown (as shown in the image in the image above) lets users know how soon an NFT will go live on the platform.

The platform makes buying and selling NFTs “as easy as possible,” says LG, “with on-screen QR codes that allow users to quickly complete transactions via Wallypto: the company’s cryptocurrency wallet for smartphones.”

Once purchased, an NFT artwork like the one shown above, by American sculptor Barry X Ball, can be traded on the LG Art Lab Marketplace. When displayed on the company’s TVs, the NFT artworks “come fully to life,” LG says, especially on its premium OLED models.

Barry X Ball’s “Metal” series of digital works will begin dropping on LG Art Lab in the coming weeks, with his “Stone” series – along with works by other artists – added monthly.

The platform is already available in the US on LG TVs running webOS 5.0 or later.

‘Displayed like any other piece of art’ in the owner’s home

“Live Drops” on LG’s new NFT Art Lab platform. [Image: LG]

Christian Hasker, CMO of Swirlds Labs, the team behind the Hedera network, says that LG’s NFT platform makes perfect sense by giving NFT artworks a natural “home” in their owners’ homes.

“Users will be able to purchase, access and display tokenized artwork by their favorite artists on their LG TVs, bringing NFTs beyond being computer-based collectibles and towards becoming an artwork displayed as any other artwork would be in the home of it owns,” Hasker said.

“Access to sustainable NFT artwork in millions of living rooms”

Hasker notes that the Hedera Governing Council is made up of some of the world’s most innovative companies, from a diverse range of sectors and geographies.

“Today’s announcement from LG is an impressive milestone for council member adoption, with LG providing access to sustainable NFT artwork in millions of living rooms across the US,” Hasker added.

Hedera network: from crypto to games, drones and more

Mance Harmon, co-founder and CEO of Hedera Hashgraph [Image: LinkedIn]

The Hedera Network – an open source public distributed ledger for cryptocurrencies, NFTs and other technologies—has made other news recently by looking at “next-gen gaming” in a partnership with Ubisoft, and by helping to boost long-range drone security in a trial based in England and Scotland.

Last December, Hedera Token Service and Hedera Consensus Service were used by Shinhan Bank – South Korea’s second largest bank – to test the issuance and distribution of stablecoins in a financial use case that usually has multiple pain points.

Other recent Hedera use cases include DLA Piper using Hedera for asset tokenization and ServiceNow using Hedera in its Now platform to bring distributed ledger technology to enterprises at scale.

Why LG chose Hedera

Chris Jo, SVP and Head of Platform Business at LG Electronics. [Photo: LinkedIn]

Chris Jo, SVP and head of platform business at LG Electronics, says “sustainability” was a big reason LG chose the Hedera network.

“The Hedera network uses much less energy than any other public ledger, making it the ideal choice for sustainable initiatives,” said Jo. “LG Art Lab is built on Hedera and is a truly sustainable, carbon-negative platform. Users can buy, sell and display NFTs on the Hedera network without worrying about the high energy consumption associated with other public networks.”

Another reason: Hederas’ “low, predictable costs.”

“Unlike many other decentralized networks, Hedera guarantees a low, predictable fee for its users,” said Jos. “With no sky-high gas fees or hidden costs, Hedera allows users to trade for less than 0.0001c USD per transaction. This means there are no hidden or changing costs associated with the NFT platform.”

Short films will show the artists at work

LG says its platform will complement artwork descriptions with short films that “illuminate artists’ creative processes.” Users will have the opportunity to meet some of the artists at upcoming LG-sponsored art events, the company added.

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