Reddit is turning off its favorite expressions feature. This feature allows users to create animated emoticons using their collectible avatar NFTs. This change will take effect on August 5, 2024.
What is collection expression?
Collectible Expressions is built on Reddit’s Collectible Avatars, which are NFTs on the Polygon blockchain. These NFTs quickly gained popularity as soon as they were launched. Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal even said that Reddit successfully cracked the NFT code with this release. The Collectible Expressions feature gives users a way to animate their avatar, adding dynamic elements to their comments. However, this feature is only available in selected Reddit subreddits, depending on the community moderator.
Dune analysis The dashboard shows that, as of now, Over 33 million favorite avatars created. The total value of these NFTs on the market is $43 million. There are paid and free versions for collecting avatars, with the free version accounting for the majority of newly created NFTs.
The head of Collectible Avatars announced changes to the Collectible Avatars community. It will now serve as the official announcement pipeline. This channel will share the latest updates and future plans. Reddit’s commitment to new community partnerships, campaigns, and events suggests that despite the end of Collectible Expressions, the Collectible Avatars ecosystem will continue to thrive.
Reddit has previously scaled back its cryptocurrency project. In October 2023, the site phased out community points reward tokens on the Arbitrum Nova network. Reddit cited resource issues and regulatory issues as reasons for ending the project. The community points system was later taken over by the decentralized Reddit user base.
final thoughts
While Reddit is gradually moving away from Collectible Expressions, the Collectible Avatars feature and its ecosystem are still active. The changes reflect Reddit’s evolving approach to its crypto-related projects, balancing innovation with regulatory and resource considerations.