Reddit NFT surge 📈 – by William M. Peaster

Metaversal is one Bankless newsletter for weekly levels on NFTs, virtual worlds and collectibles

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Dear Bankless Nation,

Take a quick guess at what this Dune Analytics graph represents:

What do you think?

It turns out that it is the number Reddit Collectible Avatar’s holders!

These users, many of whom are newcomers to NFTs, have increased to almost 3 million strong since the social news aggregator giant launched its polygon-based NFT system just a few months ago.

The growth is incredible, and it shows that Reddit is really on to something. Let’s dive in and go over the basics of these thriving digital collectibles for today’s post!

-WMP

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In July 2022, Reddit introduced Collectable avatars as an extension of the platform’s redevelopment Avatar builder system.

Collectable avatars are limited edition digital collectibles created by independent artists that give holders unique perks on the Reddit site, like special treatment on your posts and customizable wearables.

The avatars, of which the first 31 special editions have already sold out, are being sold through Collectible Avatars Shoppurchased in USD, and maintained in Reddit Vault Polygon-based digital wallets.

This month, Reddit opened up the option to sole proprietors upload their own custom avatars to other Reddit vaults or external wallets, e.g. MetaMask Accounts.

While all of the first series have already completed primary sales in the Collectible Avatars Shop, you can browse the early secondary marketplace listings across these series at OpenSea right now.

To date, the most active collections to reach +100Ξ total volume have been:

1. Foustlings — 271Ξ total volume, 0.34Ξ floor currently

2. The senses — 266Ξ total volume, 0.79Ξ floor currently

3. Wear your feelings — 134Ξ total volume, 0.2Ξ floor currently

4. Baked goods and evil — 111Ξ total volume, 0.1Ξ floor currently

At the time of writing, the collective trading activity around all initial series totaled over $2.3 million USD in sales volume over +12,000 unique sales so far.

Remember that Reddit Collectible Avatars are featured on Polygon, so if you’re interested in trading them, you need to 1) a polygon wallet set up, 2) some MATIC tokens to cover your Polygon gas fees, and 3) some ETH to make a purchase or bid.

When you log into OpenSea, you can use your wallet’s dashboard to bridge between ETH and MATIC from Ethereum to Polygon if you need it. Then search around on Reddit Collectible Avatars series overview page or through all avatars at once to review the available listings.

Reddit Collectible Avatars are really interesting because they are one of the first major attempts in the mainstream to allow users to extend their ownership and identity both inside and outside of a single social media platform.

I also like the effort because it’s light, it’s fun, it’s gamified, there’s tiers of wearables for tons of customization, there’s interesting cross-platform benefits, and there’s open interoperability from being built on Polygon.

In the coming months, look for Reddit to come up with new artist partnerships and continue to attract millions more holders from its massive user base. It also seems likely, and from what I can tell strongly requested by early adopters, that Reddit will launch a more expansive and standalone avatar marketplace to provide a tailored experience for both beginners and advanced users.

Also, don’t be surprised if other social media giants follow suit with their own NFT avatar pilots if Reddit’s collectibles continue to be strong!

William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal– a bankless newsletter focused on the rise of NFTs in the crypto-economy. He has also recently contributed content to Bankless, JPG and more!

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