Reddit Is Airdropping Free Polygon NFT Avatars to Its Most Hardcore Users

Well known on-line dialogue system Reddit is leaning tougher into blockchain technologies, and recently introduced that it would launch a sequence of NFT avatars centered on its Snoo character. But now, in addition to promoting the tokenized avatars, Reddit is also now offering some absent to its most avid consumers.

Recently, a Reddit administrator introduced that the system will airdrop free of charge NFT avatars to users who have acquired a significant quantity of karma points—a score that signifies their contributions to Reddit communities. The NFTs will be awarded on a consumer-by-consumer basis and are not constrained to certain dialogue communities, per the put up.

Reddit’s NFTs—called “Collectible Avatars”—are minted on Polygon, a scaling network for Ethereum that enables less costly, faster, and far more power-efficient transactions than on Ethereum’s personal mainnet. Reddit is featuring free avatars in four kinds: Aww Friends, Drip Squad, Meme Group, and The Singularity.

Beyond the cost-free airdrop, Reddit also sells NFT avatars via its possess platform. They array in value from $9.99 to $99.99 apiece, primarily based on the recent variety.

An NFT is a blockchain token that represents ownership of an product, including things like profile photos of avatars, as very well as artwork, collectibles, and video clip recreation goods. Meanwhile, an airdrop is a method by which tokens are sent to certain crypto wallets, generally as a reward for employing a specified protocol, possessing an NFT, or other set criteria.

Apparently, Reddit has as a result significantly averted employing “NFT” terminology with the Collectible Avatars system, echoing identical methods from brands like Coca-Cola and esports crew 100 Robbers. NFTs can be divisive with some audiences, and have drawn criticism for the environmental influence of sure networks (like Ethereum), as nicely as frauds and rampant speculation.

Reddit formerly launched a constrained series of Ethereum-primarily based CryptoSnoos NFTs, which did use NFT terminology in their marketing. Just 4 overall NFTs had been unveiled in that task in June 2021, with 1 promoting for 175 ETH at auction—over $398,000 worthy of at the time. That NFT was later on resold for just 42 ETH in February, or about $117,000 then.

Reddit has been exploring the blockchain house in other means for several years. It initial rolled out a tokenized “Community Points” initiative in late 2019, and in the a long time because, experimented with many scaling platforms that could provide tokenized benefits to a considerably more substantial audience.

Reddit ultimately selected Arbitrum, an Ethereum scaling community from Offchain Labs, and this thirty day period rolled out the initiative on mainnet by way of the new Arbitrum Nova chain designed for social and gaming apps.

The tokenized Community Factors can perhaps be used in just other Website3 applications, and Reddit programs to introduce them to quite a few more of its communities in time. As of now, only two communities—r/CryptoCurrency and r/FortNiteBR—offer the crypto reward tokens, which are identified as Moons and Bricks, respectively.