When it comes to NFT trading, the primary marketplace is OpenSea, which has consistently maintained its dominant position. Improved functionality has been added along the way, such as support for NFTs on blockchains beyond Ethereum, including, most recently, Avalanche.
However, a recently circulating statistic has taken the NFT space by surprise. According to reports, the number of active NFT wallets on the social media forum, Reddit is now higher than the number of active wallets on OpenSea, numbering 3 million on the social media giant, compared to around 2.5 million on the specialized NFT platform.
What Is Reddit’s Connection with NFTs?
In July of this year, Reddit announced that it would be foraying into NFTs through what it called ‘Blockchain-Backed Collectible Avatars’ to be sold through its own dedicated storefront, and kept in a Reddit wallet called Vault.
What this actually meant was the creation of PFP-style NFTs on the Polygon blockchain, with royalties for the artists involved in their making. Also, the right to utilize the NFT artwork is transferred to purchasers of the NFTs.
In other words, this is very similar to the kinds of NFT drops that have blown up in popularity throughout 2021 and 2022. What was different about Reddit’s collection, though, was that it chose not to use the term NFT and that its items were priced in USD, rather than in cryptocurrency.
This appears to be a strategic choice since NFT is a loaded term that doesn’t always elicit a positive response. Pricing in fiat also acts to differentiate Reddit’s collection from the wider worlds of crypto and NFTs.
Remarkably, four Reddit NFT collections are now, at the time of writing, occupying the top ten spots on OpenSea’s twenty-four hour sales volume rankings, including the number one position.
What Are the Implications for NFTs?
It’s possible that more mainstream NFT adoption comes with a gradual detachment from the current NFT scene, which can be regarded as a sub-sector of the broader crypto environment.
This means that potential users who are not focused on either NFT trading or crypto speculation might still come to NFTs, but through a utility in existing, web2 platforms such as Reddit, and also through adoption in the gaming sector and other non-crypto areas of…
