Non-fungible token or NFT is an imperative niche in the cryptocurrency market. It takes the blockchain-cryptocurrency domain by storm and exposes users to cryptocurrencies. NFTs are becoming more used and have contributed actively towards the mass adoption of blockchain technology. As a matter of fact, in the first half of 2021, the NFTs market soared to $2.5 billion, and the market cap increased by over 1785%, crossing $19 billion. NFTs are the talk of the town!
Choosing the right blockchain for your NFTs project is very important because it is the technology your customers will interact with. Therefore, you must choose the right blockchain platform on which your project will run. But how do you choose the right blockchain for your NFTs project?
This article will delve into some technicalities and look into the most popular existing and the best blockchain platform used for NFT projects. However, let us begin with an overview of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
WHAT ARE NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS (NFTs)?
Non-fungible tokens present a new revolutionary technology. They are unique digital assets and represent real-world objects, collectibles, or items such as painting, digital art, or gaming assets. They are becoming an increasingly popular way of buying and selling assets.
Cryptocurrencies and physical money are “fungible,” that is, they can be exchanged or traded for one another. They are also equal in value; for instance, one Bitcoin is always equivalent to another Bitcoin.
The term non-fungible in NFTs is unique and impossible to replace because of the underlying decentralized and immovable archive. Non-fungible tokens are distinct from signatures; they are indivisible, non-interchangeable, and unique, and the token has different values and specifications.
USE CASES OF NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN
NFTs give artists and creators opportunities to monetize their work. There are many use cases for NFTs.
They can be used in videos, music, and virtual reality
They can function as real-world assets
They can represent items like:
Art
Games
Gifs
Real Estate
Digital Art
Collectibles
Ticketing
Before we highlight what you should consider before choosing blockchain for your NFTs project, let’s briefly discuss what blockchain is.
WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN?
It will be sufficient to describe blockchain technology as the actual game-changers of the crypto space. This decentralized virtual ledger is incorruptible and distributed across many networks, and all data recorded on blockchain are verified by the computers connected to that network. Blockchain technology includes transparency, providing privacy, top security, and more.
In recent years, there has been an immense demand for blockchain technology. Many options exist with the different blockchains available, and picking the right one best serves your NFT project can be challenging. For these reasons, we present to you some criteria you must consider and consider before venturing into developing an NFT project on a blockchain platform.
Learn more about blockchain and crypto here
CRITERIA TO CONSIDER BEFORE CHOOSING THE RIGHT BLOCKCHAIN FOR YOUR NFT PROJECT
Transaction Speed
Speed is one of the major determining factors for the success of a digital system, particularly regarding the transfer of domains and value involving storage.
Blockchain’s transaction speed plays a huge role in the success of your NFT project and transaction costs. For instance, when a blockchain platform with low throughput is used, users will have to pay higher fees to miners to ensure that their transaction gets prioritized over others.
Some blockchains have higher transaction speeds, enabling them to perform a more significant number of transactions per second. Also, others are a bit slower.
Nonetheless, speed as a parameter should not be a substitute for low levels of security while choosing the perfect place for your NFT project.
Security
Security is an item of great importance, particularly when the organization or company has to do with sensitive information. Also, platforms with proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanisms are susceptible to attacks, and attackers can take control over most of the network’s computational power.
Blockchains can sometimes be vulnerable to attack vendors, including fifty-one percent (51%) attacks and Man-in-the-Middle attacks, and these attacks can lead to loss of data, access, or money.
To ensure no security breaches, you must choose a blockchain platform with a solid track record of maintaining a security history of peer-review and mining-free consensus mechanisms, like proof of stake (PoS).
Transaction cost
In addition to the elements discussed so far, cost-effectiveness is another feature you need to consider before and while choosing the suitable blockchain for your NFTs project.
Low transaction costs are essential to the broader adoption of NFTs. Not all NFT art pieces or assets will be sold at very high prices. If an object isn’t expensive, then why pay high transaction fees? There is a need for you to optimize blockchain development expenses particularly, in NFT. Thus, the cost structure used by the blockchain platform for NFTs must be considered carefully. Opt for blockchain that offers cost-efficient solutions on NFT-based transactions because they should not always involve trading worth millions of dollars.
If possible, your selected blockchain can offer a feeless structure, and this will bring more users to the NFT platform.
Learn the basis of NFT and crypto here
Smart contract functionality
NFTs platforms count on smart contracts for setting the terms of trade between sellers and buyers. To experience the highest level of resilience and efficiency on your blockchain, smart contracts need to be subject to testing because only then can NFT marketplace developers and users be certain about the lowest potential risk of hacks, breaches, and downtime.
A well-crafted smart contract on a blockchain platform will guarantee you the complete security of the platform, which is why it is important to choose a blockchain that possesses robust and smart contract functionality.
Consensus mechanism
It is not new that blockchain may be prone to hacks and attacks. Blockchain platforms that operate using the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanisms are vulnerable to dealing with more issues or attacks than those who operate on the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Therefore, it is advisable to give your priority to PoS or its related types like LPoS, DPoS proof-of-history (PoH), and proof-of-staked-authority (PoSA) while choosing the right blockchain for your NFTs. Those who employ PoS consensus are more energy-efficient because miners do not have to solve knotty puzzles to prove their work on proof-of-stake blockchains. Thus, the required processing power is considerably lower.
Scalability
Scalability on blockchain refers to a blockchain platform that can achieve high transactions per second (TPS) rate. Before working on any blockchain, you must look into the transaction capabilities. While looking into blockchain scalability, three major factors must be considered: decentralization, security, and speed. This is sometimes referred to as Scalability Trilema, and you must get, at best, two out of three qualities.
Adoption Rate and Functionality
Although all blockchains rely on the same principle, they can vary in functionality. Many blockchains are either entirely or partly open-source and expect a strong ecosystem to help identify and fix bugs or security issues. The adoption rate describes the level of implementation a specific blockchain technology has received. For your NFTs project, choosing technology with a high adoption rate is a much smarter decision than selecting the one with a poor adoption level. The more highly adopted a blockchain technology is, the more feasible it is for advancement over the coming years.
Now that you know the necessary criteria or parameters to consider when choosing a blockchain for your NFT project let’s get down to looking into the most popular existing and the best blockchain platform used for NFT projects and find out more about their capabilities.
Learn about blockchain security here
NFT BLOCKCHAINS
ETHEREUM
We are sure you were expecting to see Ethereum on this list. We present to you the most widely used and popular blockchain for NFT.
Ethereum is undeniably the king of NFTs. This blockchain technology has been used for NFT projects since it appeared one of the first. Ethereum encompasses standards for all kinds of smart contracts, and it is currently set to switch to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism (Eth 2.0), which will enable better scaling of the network and increase the speed of transactions (TPS) while concurrently reducing cost.
Ethereum is also well known for its stability and reliability in the platform.
SOLANA
Solana is another most preferred platform in the crypto ecosystem, and it is currently considered one of the fastest blockchains available. Solana operates on Proof of History (PoH), and thanks to this, it attains high-level scalability and has a throughput of about 65,000 TPS and a low gas commission.
Solana is a bigger chain network with a meager cost on application. With over 1000 transactions per second, it can offer a robust infrastructure for NFTs in an eco-friendly and cost-efficient way.
POLYGON
Polygon is a layer 2 Ethereum powered blockchain protocol that allows building faster and scalable solutions via autonomous smart contracts. This stable protocol permits the functionality of this blockchain to work on enhancing the efficiency of NFTs.
Polygon has been used to create various NFTs that can be accessed via a marketplace such as OpenSea by selecting the blockchain. Since it is based on the protocol of Ethereum, Polygon can be compatible with all blockchain networks with efficiency. It as well as the same level of security as Ethereum
The polygons’ transaction per second (TPS) is improved with the layer two protocol. This allows thousands of transactions to be easily carried out seamlessly.
CARDANO
Cardano is another great blockchain. Cardano is not yet widely compatible with smart contracts, and it is already dealing with NFT. It has no scalability issues; everything is energy-efficient, safe, and compatible. Cardano operates on a proof of stake (PoS) and a first peer-viewed consensus mechanism for better efficiency. It is also built as an individual independent and eco-friendly blockchain network.
TEZOS
Tezos is a functional smart contract proof-of-stake blockchain. It is a scalable network, stable and fast, with very small fees. This blockchain’s low transaction fees and high speeds give Tezos gaining traction in the NFT ecosystem. This blockchain is still new but can be taken into account.
BINANCE SMART CHAIN (BSC)
The Binance Smart Chain (BSC) provides a smart contract capable platform for NFT to manage the overall Flow of transactions. It is one of the fast blockchain networks in the crypto space. The decentralized feature of BSC has been an excellent advantage over other blockchain platforms.
The cross-chain transfer of Binance Smart Chain provides the most flexibility, and its proof of stake authority validates transactions. Binance Smart Chain is exclusively built-in for NFT compatibility.
POLKADOT
An offshoot of Polkadot interconnection of tokens enables the widespread use of NFTs. Polkadot is a next-generation blockchain, and its network blockchain protocol is with multiple chains all aiming to connect several blockchains into a single unified network, enabling them to communicate via its relay chain. On Polkadot, users can transfer their NFT assets from one blockchain to another.
FLOW
Flow is a developer-friendly blockchain, particularly for digital assets and building marketplaces. This blockchain platform strives for scalability via upgradeable smart contracts. Flow has a multi-node architecture for consensus, collection, execution, and verification.
Find insight about NFT use cases here
FINAL WORDS ON CHOOSING THE RIGHT BLOCKCHAIN FOR YOUR NFT
As you can see, NFTs are an important niche in the cryptocurrency market, and blockchains play a vital role in NFT projects and NFT based services.
For this reason, some parameters need to be considered when you are choosing the best blockchain. From speed to security to cost and many others, it is essential to carefully consider all that we have mentioned above to ensure that your choice of blockchain for your NFT is robust and efficient.