- Ripple has secured a partnership with Ethereal Labs to bring digital artworks to the platform
- Ethereal Labs focuses on blockchain-based games and NFTs among other things
- Ripple wants to leverage the partnership to bring NFTs to billions of users
Ripple has joined hands with Ethereal Labs to bring NFTs to the masses, in a move that is a marked departure from its typical fare. According to an Ethereal Labs executive, enabling Web 3.0 and NFT capabilities on XRP Ledger will allow users to access a “proven NFT platform”, which simple isn’t true, although the partnership does come after Ripple birthed the Creator’s Fund to support digital artworks on its ledger.
The NFT Market is Siloed
Details about the partnership disclosed that the two tech firms will also work together to net more partnerships to help popularize XRP Ledger-powered NFTs. Ethereal Labs is a respected player in the Web 3.0 space having helped create virtual artworks for Lionel Messi and Toys R Us among other firms.
According to Ethereal Labs CCO Adrian Baschuk, virtual artworks have for a long time remained a privilege of a select few due to their “siloed” nature. Baschuk revealed that Ripple users will soon see tangible results including accessing “customized collections with leading artists and IPs.”
Ethereum is Sustainable, Now What?
A year ago, Ripple launched an NFT Creator Fund and jump-started it with $250 million. Ripple argued that the XRP Ledger provides move value to NFT collectors and creators since it offers some of the lowest transaction charges in the market. The XRP-powered platform also comes fitted with a decentralized exchange, a move likely meant to whet crypto users’ appetite, but the move smacks of desperation after Ripple’s attempt to revolutionize banking failed utterly.
Interestingly, Ripple promoted the platform as a sustainable alternative to Ethereum, where most of the NFT action happens. Now that Ethereum has already moved to a proof-of-stake system that is more energy-efficient compared with its previous proof-of-work engine, we can only wait and see whether Ripple will succeed to eat into Ethereum’s NFT dominance.
