A beginners guide to the popular blockchains used to launch NFT

By: Obinna Tony

A beginners guide to the popular blockchains used to launch NFT

July 19, 2022 6:32 PM

Creating NFTs involves uploading metadata in the form of a cryptographic token over an active blockchain. This is also known as minting. There are processes in a blockchain that assists the underlying infrastructure in the ecosystem of NFTs.


If there are no blockchains, NFTs lose their core characteristics which are their immutability, verifiability and characteristics that make them unique. The marketplace where digital artists sell NFTs lets users mint or create, purchase or sell their NFTs. A lot of NFT blockchains make marketplaces available but there are still options for the third-party marketplace which cater to different audiences.


Ethereum blockchain for NFTs

Ethereum blockchain began the concept of blockchain way back in 2014. When ERC-721 was launched, NFTs were able to move into smart contract tools. In 2017, Ethereum introduced ERC-1155 as its official smart contract which supports large-scale NFT adoption.


Solana blockchain for NFTs

Solana has become one of the most promising blockchains, and one can host and trade NFTs. In comparison to Ethereum, the blockchain is characterized by high throughput and low fees. The feature that differentiates Solana blockchain is the platform's promise of censorship resistance and also, there are barely existing transaction fees. This attracts NFT artists and traders to the marketplace.


Polygon blockchain for NFTs

This was formerly known as Matic. It works as the secondary layer (L2) and it sits over the Ethereum mainnet. This results in the ecosystem allowing users as well as developers to bridge portals and also transfer assets from the primary mainnet to the polygon. Many users prefer polygon in comparison to other popular blockchains due to it requiring no upfront cost when minting or creating NFTs.


Cardano Blockchain for NFTs

When minting on cardano, creators can do it by either using one of the traditional third-party services or self-minting by employing Cardano node. This gives users absolute control over the minted token. Every transaction done on Cardano which includes minting, purchasing and selling NFTs needs a fee which is determined by the size of the file that needs to be transacted.


BNB Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain for NFTs

Here, there are two blockchains – BNB Beacon Chain, which was formerly known as Binance Chain. It supports staking, voting and a lot of other government initiatives and BNB Smart Chain (BSC), also formerly known as Binance Smart Chain. It powers NFT projects and has many other abilities. BSC employs Ethereum’s ERC-721 standard which is used in authenticating ownership of tokens. In the BSC NFT marketplace, investors are to trade digital collectibles with BNB coins and also BEP-20 tokens.


Tezos blockchain for NFTs

This is a PoS blockchain that employs the TZIP-012 standard. This is used for storing NFTs on smart contracts and they are mostly labelled as FA2 contracts. FA2 represents an in-house token standard and it serves as a unified token contract interface. The FA2 standard in Tezos (XZT) lets users mint or create single or multi-token smart contracts and in turn, maintain compatibility with wallet integrators and other third-party developers.


Tron blockchain for NFTs

The implementation of Tron’s in NFT standards helps in improving the totality in overall network performance through best traffic management. Tron-based NFTs maintain total compatibility with Ethereum’s ERC-721 standard. When creating an NFT over Tron, one must adhere to implementing a wallet interface to let it accept safe transfers.


Choosing a distinct blockchain that supports NFTs can be very difficult. But in reality, there are a lot of alternative blockchains for one to choose from and they have their unique characteristics. 


The important points to highlight when choosing a blockchain are these key features: future-proof, fast transactions, cheap gas and transaction costs, thriving secondary marketplace for reselling NFTs, intellectual property governance, legitimate partnership and cross-platform compatibility. When you find a blockchain that meets all these, it's the foundation for the success of NFTs.