Reddit dethrones Opensea as the biggest NFT Marketplace
Over 3 million crypto wallet holders are present on the NFT Marketplace
JPEGs are cool. But new Collectible Avatars by Reddit have increased the user's appetite for JPEGs. On 25th October 2022, the trading volume on RedditFloor Marketplace surged to the maximum. Over 3 million new crypto wallet holders joined the community forum platform to claim the latest collection of NFTs launched on Reddit.
The PFP (Profile Picture) NFTs are not new on the internet. Previously Twitter and Meta had launched the NFTs for profile pictures earlier in 2022. Twitter received a lot of hate as only the Twitter Blue Subscribers had access to the NFT PFP. Meta has also launched support for NFT collectibles on US soil for Instagram and Facebook users.
The tech giant is slowly implementing several blockchain features. The recent digital collectible avatars have increased their user base to 3 million. The news about Reddit NFTs and the marketplace spread like wildfire and attracted a lot of non-crypto folks to the platform.
OpenSea Polygon Daily Volume; Source
The Reddit NFT collection was launched on 7th July 2022. Since then, the RedditFloor Marketplace has seen thousands of NFT mints by crypto wallet holders. Today these NFTs are all sold out. Only secondary purchases are available on OpenSea.
At the time, Redditors hated NFTs. But what turned them crazy about NFTs? Reddit took a different approach to introduce Redditors to the non-fungible culture. For starters, Reddit did not term their non-fungible tokens as NFTs, instead, they used the term Collectible Avatar. Next, the users could purchase these NFTs in fiat ranging from $10 to $100. Thus non-crypto folks could easily buy these NFTs without setting up a crypto wallet and depositing crypto.
Why do users love Reddit NFTs oh no! Reddit Collectible Avatars?
Since its launch in 2005, Reddit has generated over $350 million in revenue in 2021, and $50 million, active users, according to a report by Business of Apps.
The most popular NFT collection launched in July was the Snoo Character. It is the mascot of Reddit, the little alien with two antennas. Today OpenSea NFT marketplace has a 2.3 million user base, but the RedditFloor marketplace has surpassed the user base by onboarding over 3 million new wallet holders. The numbers continue to rise with every passing day.
Number of Collectible Avatar Holders over time; Source
The NFT mania was initiated with the way Reddit launched its Collectible Avatars. Interestingly Reddit took matters into its own hands and developed a marketplace and wallet of its own. The Reddit Vault is easily accessible through their app. In August 2022, they onboarded a few users and airdropped a few avatars. Here is where it all started. These initial users shared and talked all about the dope avatars. Finally, Reddit launched a collection of 40,000 collectible avatars, which could be purchased using a credit card.
These collective avatars are hosted on the Polygon blockchain and have a low fee. When these avatars were minted by collectors simultaneously Polygon's token MATIC also strengthened in July.
The benefit to NFT creators and users
The creators of the collectible avatars are artists who work independently and mint their artwork on the Polygon blockchain as NFTs. As per statistics from the secondary market, sales of the creative pieces on RedditFloor Marketplace have garnered a sum of $60,000 in royalties. The Reddit NFT project was launched with the intent of empowering artists and creators to build a portfolio in NFT artwork. The Reddit marketplace served as a platform to showcase their work and monetize their creation.
Reddit has been adapting to Web3 by implementing several features. Redditors could purchase the collectible avatars by holding an account in a Reddit crypto wallet called Vault. After buying the avatars, the Redditors could display these NFTs as profile pictures on Reddit.
Halloween-themed NFT Collection: Spooky Season
Reddit has also launched a second series of NFTs. The new collection of avatars is based on the Halloween theme and is called the Spooky Season. In this project, Reddit released 78 unique avatars in collaboration with 27 independent NFT artists.
As per Dune Analytics, over the past few days, the total trade volume of both the first and second series of Reddit NFTs rose to $10.5M. The Spooky Season was launched on 20th October 2022. Just four days later, on 24th October, the volume for Spooky Season surged ten times the previous day.
All time sales volume of Reddit Collectible Avatars; Source
In the past 30 days, the Spooky Season: poieeeyee x Reddit Collectible Avatars ranks at the second spot in trade volume on OpenSea with a trading volume of 1,107 ETH. Some more collections from the Spooky Season currently running in the top 10 are Spooky Season: Rojom x Reddit Collectible Avatars (Volume: 550 ETH), Spooky Season: tfoust10 x Reddit Collectible Avatars (258 ETH), Spooky Season: EarthToPlanet x Reddit Collectible Avatars (227 ETH).
Top NFT Collections on OpenSea in the last 30 days by Total Volume; Source
Besides the Spooky Season, The Senses x Reddit Collectible Avatars is another collection that ranks 3rd with a trading volume of 659 ETH. The Foustlings x Reddit Collectible Avatars collection ranks fifth with a volume of 483 ETH.
How is RedditFloor different?
NFT Marketplaces like OpenSea, Rarible, and MagicEden have been soaring with good trading volume among crypto users. But Reddit turned the showstopper by integrating features that onboarded millions of non-crypto native users into Web3. RedditFloor Marketplace is a mobile application where users create wallets and mint NFTs directly through the app.
Although Redditors never liked the idea of NFTs, Reddit sold their collection as Reddit Collectible Avatars. These avatars could be used as profile pictures and shared on other social media platforms.
So here is what Reddit did differently:
- NFTs are called Collectible Avatars
- Tokens are called Coins
- Crypto wallets are called Vaults.
These analogous terms make sense to non-crypto users and hence the bandwagon.
All these features are integrated into the Reddit mobile app. The payment for these NFTs wasn't in cryptocurrency, but users could use their debit or credit cards to checkout and store all the collectibles in the Vault wallet. Reddit made the checkout process super simple without non-crypto users hitting the realization that they are using blockchain technology.
Reddit artists have created and designed several collections of around 40,000 limited editions. It is one of Reddit’s biggest wins, as most NFT collections usually have only a 10,000 unit cap. Reddit is enjoying its current success on the NFT Marketplace, but this wasn't Reddit's first attempt foraying into NFTs. In June 2021, Reddit launched CryptoSnoo, its first NFT collection. But the latest launch leveraged its large user base of 52 million active users which made the recent integrations a success.
Conclusion
The secondary sales on the Reddit Collectible Avatars are live on OpenSea given the hype the prices are pushed way high. These collections are released in series, and The Spooky Season was the latest release in October.
Reddit has several monetization streams. Its current monetization model is through ads, premium membership plans, and sales of coins.
As per documentation, Reddit charges a 5% fee on the primary sales on the RedditFloor Marketplace. A 50% fee of the 5% royalty fee on secondary sales like OpenSea. Reddit's success in the marketplace can add another revenue stream for the social platform.