Reddit Has Given Away Over a Million Super Bowl NFTs on Polygon

Reddit’s Collectible Avatars project is a prime example of an effective Web3 on-ramp, as the discussion platform has delivered millions of free NFTs to users in recent months. And thanks to a new collaboration with the NFL on free Super Bowl NFTs, Reddit is about to hit another major milestone.

About 1.3 million of the official Super Bowl LVII NFT avatars have been minted since Monday’s launch, including more than 500,000 on Tuesday alone. Users have now minted nearly 10 million of Reddit’s Collectible Avatar NFTs to date, according to public blockchain data available on Dune, currently topping 9.7 million in total.

The Super Bowl avatars were offered free to all Reddit users, who can claim one of four unique avatar styles—including those for the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles—through the Reddit platform at no cost. Reddit’s Collectible Avatars are minted on Polygon, an Ethereum sidechain network that enables cheaper, faster transactions.

Because they’re free avatars, Reddit’s Super Bowl NFTs aren’t generating a lot of trading action. Secondary market prices start at just 0.18 MATIC ($0.23) on top NFT marketplace OpenSea, and the platform has only transacted about 5 ETH ($7,600) worth of trades for the NFL collection since launch.

The bigger draw of Reddit’s NFT program, for many Web3 advocates, is that it’s bringing people into the space in an accessible manner. Reddit users can simply click a button, pick the avatar they want from the collection, choose a password for a newly created wallet, and they’re set. The avatars can optionally be transferred to an external wallet and then traded or sold.

More than 6.6 million unique wallets now hold Reddit’s Polygon avatars, according to data available on Dune, including about 500,000 new wallets created this week amid the Super Bowl promo.

In addition to the millions of free NFT avatars, which were initially granted to heavy Reddit users last summer and gradually opened up to a larger audience on the site, Reddit has also sold premium NFTs from an array of artists. All of the NFTs are based on Snoo, Reddit’s cartoon alien mascot.

Those premium NFTs briefly caused a surge in sales and prices last October after Reddit revealed that more than three million wallets had been created to collect its avatars. To date, Reddit’s avatars have generated about $13 million worth of secondary market trades.