Shopify Enables Avalanche Integration for NFTs

Credit: Michel Aspirot

Shopify, one of the largest e-commerce giants, has just made the mass adoption of NFTs a little more possible. Now, according to a press release, merchants on the platform will be able to design, mint, and sell non-fungible tokens on Avalanche, a Layer-1 blockchain with high speeds and strong security.

To do so, users will need to use the Venly Shopfiy app. Venly is a blockchain technology company founded in 2018 that has made in-roads into Web3 through partnerships and NFT collections. Buyers and sellers will not need to create an Avalanche wallet during the process or even use cryptocurrency — the system supports fiat forms of payment like credit cards.

Through the app, interested sellers can use their NFTs for several use cases, including attaching them to physical products or offering token-gated communities or experiences. Users can do all of this with “minimal technical knowledge” that enables the design and selling of Avalanche NFTs with “little effort.”

Venly said that it added Avalanche to its existing list of supported blockchains because it is fast, reliable, and eco-friendly. The company has tried to include blockchains that have low gas fees, under the premise that sellers who are looking to mass market a product won’t want their customers to pay hundreds of dollars in gas fees. Although the volatility of gas fees has slowed down since the NFT rush of 2021, it is still a variable.

Christina Lomazzo, Blockchain Ecosystem Lead at Shopify, said the company is happy to welcome Venly to the Shopify App. She added that “our growing blockchain ecosystem” shows the company’s commitment to support its merchants as they sell NFTs through storefronts. The company is always looking to expand “what’s possible in commerce.”

Avalanche Makes News in 2022

Although the cryptocurrency market slumped in 2022, that hasn’t stopped many companies, individuals, and even blockchains from making news. Look no further than Layer-1 blockchain Avalanche, which we featured in two news articles and a feature piece during that year. Here are those stories.

First, in late December, Avalanche made news with a partnership with The International Chess Federation. Through the partnership, the global authority for chess is hoping to onboard the sports’ 500+ million players into Web3 and improve the integrity of the game.

Next, in December, we featured the Avalanche blockchain in an article titled “Minting an NFT: How much does it cost?” That article examined the costs of creating an NFT on different blockchains. The cost on Avalanche is much lower than some blockchains, with the minting of a single NFT costing between 50 cents and $1.50.

Lastly, seven months ago, the people behind Avalanche expressed interest in hosting ApeCoin on their blockchain. The speculation that ApeCoin was on the move came from the debacle of the Otherside drop on the Ethereum blockchain, which caused gas prices to spike.

The added support for Avalanche NFTs on Shopify is good news for the Web3 space, which is always looking for ways to increase adoption. If the move is successful, perhaps more companies will follow suit.