LG Electronics, a South Korean electronics giant, announced on Monday the debut of its own non-fungible token app, LG Art Lab, which enables users to buy, sell and trade NFTs using their OLED Smart TV.
Currently, only U.S. users with an LG TV running webOS 5.0 or older versions can access the application. The app can be downloaded from the home screen of the television.
The company’s entry into the NFT market follows Samsung’s launch of an NFT marketplace on three of its Smart TVs, all of which are supported by Nifty Gateway.
LG Art Lab has a function that provides artist profiles, previews of their future projects, and a countdown to upcoming NFT “drops.” The platform’s market facilitates the exchange of digital items.
Image: Gadgets 360
LG Teams Up With Hedera Blockchain
LG Electronics, headquartered in Seoul, is working in tandem with the Hedera blockchain, which supports the new platform, with transactions conducted via Wallypto, a smartphone digital wallet created by the South Korean company that is presently in beta trials.
There are various motivations for an NFT purchase. In the eyes of some, these are investments rather than collectibles. Some people have an interest in digital assets because they enjoy the art or technology behind them, while others are simply curious and want to play around with them.
Usability is a fundamental component of the company’s design idea. Its new platform will utilize the company’s mobile crypto wallet Wallypto, and NFTs may be purchased by just scanning a QR code, after which they can be sold on the LG Art Lab Marketplace.
LG Gets Rid Of Access Barriers
Chris Jo, senior vice president and head of platform business for the home entertainment division of LG Electronics, told TechCrunch:
“Wallypto, which is based on Hedera, has been under development since September 2021… The wallet’s beta version was released this week in August.”
LG and Hedera partnered for the first time in 2020, when the former joined IBM, Google, Ubisoft, and Deutsche Telekom on Hedera’s governing council.
LG Art Lab is intended to make it simple for millions of consumers in the United States to access and display NFTs “without having to deal with code or directly with a blockchain,” Jo explained.
Verified Market Research (VMR), a global market research and consultancy group, forecasts that the value of the NFT market would increase to $230 billion by the year 2030, in a recent market analysis.
VMR estimated the worldwide NFT industry at $11.3 billion in 2021 and predicts it will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 34% over the next eight years.
Crypto total market cap at $959 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Featured image from TheNewsCrypto, chart from TradingView.com