Crypto Whales Loading Up On MATIC As Reddit’s NFT Avatar Marketplace Launches On

• Reddit announces the launch of its NFT-based avatar marketplace on Polygon.
• Polygon’s price soared within minutes of the announcement as an on-chain report notes whales are accumulating MATIC.
• Reddit’s move marks a positive note for NFTs after several months of declining figures for the industry.

Reddit is the latest mainstream company to embrace Non-fungible token (NFT) technology with the introduction of an avatar marketplace based on the Polygon network. While the social community platform is split over the move, MATIC whales are taking the chance to accumulate the asset.

Reddit’s NFT launch on Polygon wakes up the whales

Reddit, a popular social networking site, has announced that it will be launching an NFT-based avatar marketplace. The new marketplace will give users the chance to buy tokens at a fixed rate without the need for a crypto wallet.

The company entered into a partnership with Layer-2 Ethereum blockchain Polygon to mint the avatars with 90 designs scheduled to be launched. The designs are limited editions with the features of being used outside Reddit as a profile picture. The NFTs are not open to the general public, instead only members of the r/CollectibleAvatars will have access to the NFTs.

Another feature of Reddit’s offering is the option to pair the avatar with other avatar gear and accessories. Users that have enabled NFTs will stand out from others with a glow-like effect on their profile picture.

“You do not need cryptocurrency to purchase these avatars, nor are they being put up for auction,” says Reddit in a blog post. “Each avatar has been priced at a fixed amount and is purchasable with fiat.”

Reddit’s team notes that Polygon was chosen “for its low-cost transactions and sustainability commitments”. IntoTheBlock, a blockchain research firm noted that “whales holding below 10 and 100 million MATIC have been accumulating, taking advantage of lower prices”.

MATIC’s price soared by over 10%, riding on the enthusiasm from the collaboration with Reddit. Trading volumes were up by 29.68% as investors were engaged in a mad dash to stack the asset with hopes of a small rally.

Reddit’s interesting relationship with Web 3.0

Reddit’s latest NFT ambition is not the first time the platform is experimenting with NFTs. Reddit began experimenting with a feature that would let users use NFTs based on the Ethereum blockchains as their profile picture after Twitter launched a similar service.

“It’s a small, internal test and no decisions have been made about expanding or rolling out the capability,” said Tim Rathschmidt, Reddit’s spokesperson. 

The platform took things up a notch by creating a page focusing on NFTs known as nft.reddit.com and launched CryptoSnoos, its own version of digital collectibles. The project drew criticism from Reddit’s users over high prices and the perceived lack of utility for NFTs.