LG Picks Lesser-Known Hedera Blockchain for Television NFTs

Another consumer electronics company is taking NFTs to TV screens.

Korea-based LG is releasing a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace called LG Art Lab that plugs into the Hedera Network, which LG supports. Television owners with sets updated to LG’s most recent software will be able to buy, sell and showcase their Hedera NFTs from their screens.

LG’s strides into the NFT space follow <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/01/03/samsung-announces-3-tvs-for-2022-with-nft-trading-capability/">Samsung’s release</a> of an NFT marketplace on three of its TVs, all <a href="https://www.samsung.com/levant/support/tv-audio-video/introducing-the-samsung-nft-platform-for-your-samsung-tv/">supported by </a>Nifty Gateway. LG Art Lab will only be on LG TVs. Incorporating LG's mobile crypto wallet Wallypto, users can purchase assets by scanning a QR code to connect their wallets.

Chris Jo, Senior Vice President, Head of Platform Business at LG told CoinDesk in an email that the platform aims to make NFTs accessible for users looking to step into the space.

The choice of Hedera is not an obvious one for an NFT integration. According to data from the past 30 days, Hedera NFT marketplace Hash Axis’ <a href="https://dappradar.com/hedera/marketplaces/hash-axis">$36,000 trading volume</a> pales in comparison to Ethereum’s <a href="https://dappradar.com/ethereum/marketplaces/opensea">$330 million trading volume on OpenSea</a>. But it makes more sense for LG: it's been on Hedera’s Governing Council since 2020.

Shayne Higdon, CEO of the HBAR foundation, an organization supporting developers on the Hedera network, told CoinDesk that the Hedera’s energy efficient consensus mechanism makes it an ideal blockchain for cheap, low carbon footprint NFT transfers. Still, other networks are catching up; market leader Ethereum is moving to proof of stake this month.