LG electronics has announced that it would be bringing Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) to its smart TV’s just few months after Samsung Electronics announced same.
LG’s new NFT marketplace, dubbed the LG Art Lab, allows users “buy, sell and enjoy high-quality digital artwork” from their TV.
At the moment, only LG TV users domiciled in the United States running webOS 5.0 or later can access the app, available to download from the TV’s home screen, with they having the opportunity to use the portal to buy and sell digital works made available through LG’s NFT drops. The first one of these drops is expected to be unveiled on September 22nd, featuring a set of metallic-looking NFTs from sculptor Barry X Ball.
The app on the compatible LG TV is still under construction as there is not much going on there at the moment, with no NFT’s available to browse though for now, except the video of Barry X Ball’s upcoming NFT on loop shown there. The feature is understandably in the testing phase but LG says users can scan the QR code that appears on the screen, while opening the Wallypto app on their smartphones to complete the transaction when the NFT’s are available for sale on the platform. But before users can be able to do that, they will need to purchase a stablecoin known as USD Coin (USDC), meant to be pegged to the US dollar.
Built on Hedera, the LG’s NFT platform describes itself as the “most used, sustainable, enterprise public ledger for the decentralized economy.”
The Hedera network, unlike the Ethereum or Solana networks many popular NFT marketplaces support, doesn’t operate on the blockchain , but uses a blockchain alternative, known as hashgraph.
The LG brand could be said to be just one of the several corporations serving as a governing member of the Hedera network, with advocates of the system positing that it’s faster and more efficient than transacting on the blockchain.
According to LG, it would continue to add NFTs from artists on a “monthly basis,” adding that users will get to view any NFTs they purchase from the LG Art Lab app.
It appears that part of the marketing strategies of LG is to have users display the NFTs on their TV when it is not in use, just like the Samsung model.
Ayoola Faseyi, an Abuja based Journalist with interest in Technology and Politics. He is a versatile writer with articles in many renowned News Journals. He is the Co-Founder of media brand, The Vent Republic.
