Floor, an invite-only app for NFT collections used by about 25,000 people, is debuting Icons, a program that aims to deliver affordable—and easily displayable—Web 3-based artwork.
Over the next few weeks, Floor will be making available pieces from 10 Web3 artists that will be priced from $20 to $50. Users who buy a new piece will be able to use it as the icon on their phone for the Floor app.
“I really hope that this is something that's going to resonate with folks as different, more accessible, and fun, while still respecting the core art,” CEO Chris Maddern told Fortune.
The first collection of NFTs, a $29-per-piece series designed by artist Vinnie Hager, will be released on July 26, with additional collections to be announced in the coming weeks.
Maddern said buying the art will be much easier than before because users now can do it directly through in-app purchases—without paying gas fees. To make that happen, Floor worked with Apple and Google, which in the past have been hostile toward NFTs and crypto. Leveraging those existing payment infrastructures on iPhone and Android operating systems proved essential in making it just as easy to buy an NFT as anything else on your phone, said cofounder Christine Hall.
Instead of having to connect and fund a crypto wallet, in many cases users can click one button to buy, and they can be assured that Apple or Google will help if something goes wrong, she said.
“I think that that is something that gives a lot of people confidence to actually transact, even if it's for a small amount,” Hall added.
Even as excitement in NFTs has waned, investors want more of a birds-eye view of their collections in one place, Maddern noted: "If you're not spending all day in all different places, you do want one place where you're going to go check in on everything.”
