Reddit announces new blockchain-backed “collectible avatars”

The company said the project is expected to use the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain for decentralized commerce and third-party sales.

Content aggregation, ranking, and discussion website Reddit announced a new blockchain-based avatar system on Thursday. Although no official date has been revealed, the company has suggested that the avatars will be available to the general public in the coming weeks. For now, Reddit is offering early access to a limited number of people who join the r/CollectibleAvatars community.

Collectible Avatars are a collection of limited edition artwork created by independent artists who also use the Reddit website. The new avatars can be purchased with local currencies, but the announcement stated that the artwork was stored on the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain. Additionally, management of collectible avatars is handled through Vault, Reddit's blockchain-powered wallet that runs on Ethereum-enabled chains.

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This latest Reddit initiative aims to empower artists who use the website, as noted in Thursday's announcement on their site:

“From the beginning, our goal has been to empower artists to create and sell their work. Artists will be paid for each collectible avatar that sells on Reddit, less fees, and also have the right to receive royalties from secondary sales of their collectible avatars in open marketplaces."

The new collection will be available where Reddit users normally create their avatars on the website. Once a collectible avatar has been purchased, it can be used as an avatar on Reddit. Owners of Collectible Avatars will be eligible to receive unique benefits and Collecti...