LG is bringing NFTs to its smart TVs

Just months after Samsung announced that it’s bringing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to its TVs, now LG’s doing the same. The company’s new NFT marketplace, called LG Art Lab, lets you “buy, sell and enjoy high-quality digital artwork” from your TV.

For now, only users in the US with an LG TV that runs webOS 5.0 or later can access the app, which is available to download from the TV’s home screen. Through the portal, you can buy and sell digital works made available through LG’s NFT drops. The first one of these drops is set to occur on September 22nd and features a set of metallic-looking NFTs from sculptor Barry X Ball.

Since I just so happen to own a compatible LG TV, I downloaded and tried out the app for myself… and there’s not much going on there yet. The app is pretty empty, and there aren’t any NFTs that you can browse through and buy right now (unless of course, you want to watch a video of Barry X Ball’s upcoming NFT on loop, which I did over the course of writing this article).

But once there’s actually an NFT you can buy from the platform, LG says you can scan the QR code that appears on the screen, and then open the Wallypto app on your phone to complete the transaction. Before you do that, you’ll need to purchase USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin that’s supposed to be pegged to the US dollar (and managed to maintain that peg when other stablecoins crashed).

LG’s NFT platform is built on Hedera, which describes itself as the “most used, sustainable, enterprise public ledger for the decentralized economy.” Unlike the Ethereum or Solana networks many popular NFT marketplaces support, the Hedera network doesn’t operate on the blockchain — it uses a blockchain alternative, called hashgraph. LG is just one of the several corporations that serve as a governing member of the Hedera network, with proponents of the system claiming it’s faster and more efficient than transacting on the blockchain.

LG says it’s going to keep adding NFTs from artists on a “monthly basis,” and that you’ll get to view any NFTs your purchase from the LG Art Lab app. Just like Samsung’s doing with the NFTs on its TVs, it looks like LG is hoping users will display the NFTs on their TV when it’s not in use (which sounds like a few extra bucks on my energy bill that I’d rather not spend).