Reddit NFTs are Now the Hottest Trend of Crypto Winter

Reddit identifies as the front page of the internet, but now it is vying to be the front page of the cryptoverse as well, the NFT-verse at the very least. The NFT market toppled from its January high and dropped by a staggering 97%. However, it is not all bad; some bright spots keep the atmosphere optimistic.

The week was rife with crypto conversations about Reddit NFTs as they generated $2.5 million in daily trade volume and inspired 3 million people to sign up for Reddit NFT wallets.

The NFT project of Reddit and how it works:

Reddit’s Collectible Avatars were first teased in 2021. They are NFTs modeled off of the online forum’s alien avatar logo (Snoo, their mascot) that you can use as your profile photo on the platform. You can own a Collectible Avatar by first setting up a Reddit Vault wallet powered by Polygon, a layer-2 blockchain.
The social media mainstay partnered with independent artists on the platform, who designed tens of thousands of unique Snoo versions. Although the Collectible Avatars have sold out on the marketplace, secondary sales of the collections are being carried out on OpenSea.

Why is Reddit leading the NFT game?
All the major social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, have NFT integrations, but those initiatives are more inclined to show off NFTs purchased from marketplaces and add your favorite as a profile picture. All the while, Reddit’s NFT marketplace makes it a direct participant.

Reddit’s strategy is primarily focused on its community, granting additional features to NFT owners and supporting creators. Many artists who designed the avatars were found directly on popular subreddits. The company is also giving free NFTs to some of the most active users on the platform.

Polygon also plays a significant role in it. Polygon is compatible with Ethereum as it is a layer-2 blockchain, all the while allowing users to transact more quickly and for far less in network (gas) fees, ergo easing two major barriers to crypto adoption.

How popular are Reddit’s Collectible Avatars?
Millions of wallets were created to buy a total of 40,000 collectibles. 16,000 Reddit NFTs were sold on Monday alone, with an average of $206 per sale, generating more than $3 million in sales volume. The highest sales were witnessed in Reddit’s earliest collection, released in July 2021, with one NFT for 115 ETH.

Reddit now has more than 3 million connected wallets, according to the numbers published by Reddit Chief Product Office Pali Bhat, surpassing the numbers of Open Sea, which has about 2.3 million users.

Since bear markets are for building, even as NFT sales volumes have shot down this year, Reddit’s success highlights NFT’s potential. This is of more importance when creativity and community are the founding principles of projects. In the meantime, Reddit will likely capitalize during the downtrend with astute users noticing that the company has started teasing its Halloween avatar collection.