LG suddenly remembered about NFT and announced the closure of the service for trading NFTs through TV

LG launched the Art Lab platform in 2022 during a rush for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), advertising the marketplace as a way to “buy, sell, and enjoy high-quality digital art on your TV.” Priceless and unique “digital art” could be purchased by scanning a QR code to make transactions through Wallypto, LG’s cryptocurrency wallet app.

Image source: LG

NFT (non-fungible token) is a non-interchangeable token, a kind of security in the digital world. Buying a token means that the buyer has sole ownership of an asset, in this case, digital art. NFT acts as a certificate of authenticity for the work, it is a set of data about the transaction, the seller, the buyer, and the amount paid. The data confirms that the token owner is the owner of the original object.

At launch, Art Lab ran on the Hedera network, which used a blockchain alternative called hashgraph, but switched to the established Ethereum last year.

NFT prices have varied widely, with Brian Brinkman’s Bloom animation priced at $60, while a single copy from Amadon sold for more than $3,800 — more than LG’s latest 77-inch OLED 4K TV. Back in 2017, an NFT linked to an image of Homer Simpson stylized as Pepe the Frog appeared on one of the blockchain platforms. The token quickly rose in price, and a year later it was bought for $38,000. In March 2021, it was resold for $322,000.

The hype has since died down, and the days of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) selling for millions of dollars are over. According to data from NFT Scan and CoinMarketCap, out of 73,257 NFT collections, 69,795 have a market cap of zero. Analysts estimate that nearly 23 million people own these worthless assets. And the NFT of the world’s first tweet, which sold for $2.9 million, was offered for less than $2,000 in 2023.

As of March 10, users will no longer be able to make purchases on the platform. Purchases will be transferred to users’ cryptocurrency wallets until April 30. “As the NFT space continues to evolve, we believe now is the time to shift focus and explore new opportunities,” an LG spokesperson said. In a notice posted on LG’s website, the company said it had made the “difficult decision” to close the platform on June 17.

Art Lab comes shortly after Samsung launched a similar NFT TV marketplace, which is still operational.