Mirela Spasova, Reddit’s senior engineer on the Collectible Avatars project, took center stage in Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) event in Paris to shed light on Reddit’s strategy for signing up millions of users its blockchain-backed digital collectibles.

In her presentation, Spasová he said that the primary motivation for running Collectible Avatars on-chain is to provide users with freedom of use. By adopting an on-chain approach, users can make their own choices, including possibility of resale avatars on popular non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces like OpenSea.

By purchasing avatars from creators on Reddit, users can further participate in the NFT ecosystem and potentially benefit from the growing market for digital collectibles.

In 2022, Reddit launched a blockchain-backed Collectible Avatar project with NFTs minted on Polygon. Spasová said the goal was to achieve widespread acceptance and support creators in monetizing their collections. To do that, Reddit prioritized the user experience, minimized friction, promoted the product’s benefits and provided an integrated experience, she said.

To minimize user friction, Reddit has made strategic compromises, including developing a noncustodial wallet and a “Reddit Vault” for quick logins within 30 seconds, Spas explained. It also introduced fiat purchases for web and iOS users. To enhance the experience, she continued, Reddit has ensured that users receive their collectible avatars immediately upon redemption. He built an asynchronous system to query the minted and transferred state and update the collectible metadata as soon as the NFT was minted.

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In the presentation, Spas explained how Reddit structured messaging to engage with new users, highlighting the product’s benefits, value and overall user experience:

“You’re getting a blockchain-backed collectible, and no NFT provides all of that.”

Spasova concluded that user impression strategies applied to Reddit Collectible Avatars led to the registration of more than eight million users to wallets. She also mentioned positive spin-offs such as fostering organic community engagement between artists and users within the ecosystem. Additionally, users’ investment in building various tools has enriched the overall community experience, she said.

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