Bitcoin might be the king of crypto, but Ethereum is the king of NFT. Most NFT enthusiasts define it as the one-stop shop for digital art, the reason why it has been the most trafficked blockchain over the last few years.
However, Ethereum isn’t the only blockchain that supports NFT development; other platforms have also grown in popularity over the years. Considering that Ethereum is the largest and most popular blockchain when it comes to non-fungible token creation, it’s also the most expensive, and crypto-artists had sought alternatives, especially when they did not benefit from financial resources. NFT developers consider several factors when choosing a blockchain to bring their works to life. Some of them are community input, network size, consumer spending habits, creator expenses, and security.
This article uncovers the most popular blockchains that allow NFT development.
Ethereum
As mentioned earlier, Ethereum is the largest and most popular NFT blockchain because it’s a decentralized crypto ecosystem that provides the necessary legal and financial services for completing transactions without the involvement of a third party. Considering that it houses most NFT projects, it has numerous marketplaces where people can trade digital assets.
Here’s a list of NFT projects based on the Ethereum blockchain; suppose you might want to invest in one.
Otherdeed for Otherside – is basically a metaverse game available on the OpenSea marketplace. It aims to create a bridge between worlds and enable the development of digital elements that mix sedimental and environmental elements that offer holders access to powerful resources and artifacts. The users can create whatever they want on the Otherwise ecosystem and collect resources to power their projects.
Mutant Ape Yacht Club – everyone interested in NFT has heard about Mutant Ape Yacht Club, which is a collection of 20,000 digital representations of apes created with a mix of unique features, or so-called mutant serums, to provide them unique appearances. Each item in the compilation is rare and sold at rewarding rates, so the community is quite thrilled by the project.
Pudgy Penguins – is a collection of adorable penguins that emanates empathy, love, and good vibes. Penguin owners have access to interesting experiences in the Web3 network and can purchase and sell digital collectibles, toys, merchandise, and digital assets.
Doodles – is another fun and entertaining community of 10,000 digital drawings. Doodle holders can also take part in decision-making processes and vote on what happens with the project. Crypto users can also develop characters on the platform and sell, buy, and trade Doodles.
Moonbird – is a unique collection in the NFT sector because it’s distributed under a creative commons license that allows the crypto users to develop their own products and collections. People can use the elements to create new pieces because all artwork is available on the Ethereum blockchain.
Until the Merge, Ethereum needed an excessive amount of energy to operate, but now it functions with a consensus mechanism known as proof-of-stake, so it’s energy efficient. This could trigger some drops in the expenses associated with developing NFTs.
Solana
Solana was founded in 2017 to offer the public an alternative if they don’t want to deal with the slow transaction speed of Bitcoin and the high costs of Ethereum. When it was introduced, it was one of the most innovative blockchain solutions available because it had better processing capabilities than the other platforms.
At present, Solana surpasses the number of transactions per second of Visa and is a direct rival for Mastercard due to its increased scalability and speed. It also has low transaction fees, making the ecosystem quite popular among beginner developers. It’s one of the preferred NFT creation blockchains because it enables fast programming due to the combination of proof-of-stake and proof-of-history consensus mechanisms. A major NFT marketplace operating on the Solana marketplace is Magic Eden. However, it doesn’t compete with those functioning on Ethereum.
Bitcoin
Some might find it surprising that we listed Bitcoin among the blockchains that host non-fungible tokens. Since the end of January 2023 Bitcoin has enabled the creation of Ordinals, which are a form of NFTs that function on the ecosystem. Because Bitcoin is made of tiny units of sats, developers can create Ordinals, which function as on-chain NFTS. The collection contains some special Ordinals that are inscribed at historical moments in the blockchain.
Tezos
It functions like an open-source ecosystem for applications and assets. It also allows the creation and use of smart contracts, so people can build decentralized apps, non-fungible tokens and other types of digital items. Even if the blockchain is well-known among NFT developers, it’s listed 40th in the list of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.
The ecosystem is different from the others because it’s able to self-amend, which means that it was built on a formalized protocol that allows it to improve itself over time. It also relies on a PoS consensus to save energy, and therefore, it offers smaller transaction fees. The marketplace Hic et Nunc is famous in the NFT niche as it registers more transactions than Solana at more affordable fees.
Flow
It was developed with the specific purpose of enabling the creation of high-performance games, non-fungible tokens, and decentralized tokens. However, it differs from Ethereum and other ecosystems because it focuses on scalability. It gained more popularity when it partnered with the NBA for the NBA Top Shot project.
It also uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, but it can handle more transactions per second than Ethereum. The non-fungible tokens developed on Flow can be traded on its Blocktobay marketplace but also on other blockchains platforms like Rarible, OpenSea, and Foundation.
Besides collaborating with the NBA, it has partnered with other organizations like UFC and NFL to create digital products and marketplaces.
Last thoughts
Ethereum has been the first choice of developers when it comes to creating non-fungible tokens. However, its expensive fees made crypto users turn to other ecosystems that could offer the same capabilities for lower prices. The above article offers information about other alternatives; suppose you’re interested in starting an NFT project.
