NFTs have taken over the world of digital art and collectibles. Just as everyone thought Bitcoin was the digital solution to currency, NFTs are now marketed as the digital answer to collectibles. As a result of the huge sales to a new crypto audience, digital artists are witnessing changes in their life.
When NFT technology had its debut back in 2017, the popularity of these projects produced network congestion, resulting in slower speeds and higher transaction costs, and it affected its mass adoption. Ethereum was responsible for the sector's exponential expansion although these same restrictions were once again in effect during the current NFT craze of 2021.
In this article, we'll examine the key factors that keep Ethereum at the top despite competition from other coins.
NFTs were launched on the Ethereum blockchain, which is the most popular among other blockchain networks. Investors favor Ethereum when it comes to Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which account for the majority of the NFT market on its blockchain.
The Ethereum blockchain, which the majority of NFT applications operate on as ERC-721 coins, dominates the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector because of its extremely secure network and data design. The blockchain also gives NFTs significant exposure to a sizable and expanding market. Additionally, NFT systems must remain compatible with the Ethereum virtual machine(EVM) to be supported by Ethereum wallets like Metamask.
NFTs have a lot of exposure to a big and potential market due to the Ethereum blockchain. As a result, Ethereum NFTs often sell for a significantly higher price as compared to other blockchains. Some well-known NFT markets built on Ethereum are OpenSea and Rarible.
Unfortunately, the large volume of network traffic results in a sizable transaction backlog, which sharply raises transaction rates. Due to the limitations of the Ethereum blockchain, the developers of NFT have looked to alternative methods
However, is not Ethereum necessary to create an NFT, the use of Ethereum is not required to create NFTs.There are various systems for minting or generating NFTs, including Solana (SOL), BNB Chain (BNB), and Cardano (ADA).
There are a few drawbacks to using the Ethereum blockchain-
Higher gas fees
Speed of Transaction
Environmental Issues
As a result of the drawbacks of the Ethereum blockchain, many other new blockchains that addressed these flaws started to emerge. Most of the investors saw Solana(SOL) as an alternative. As its transaction speed is faster than that of Ethereum and the transaction costs of Solana are negligible. These capabilities can help the Solana blockchain to surpass Ethereum.
The popular open NFT marketplaces of Solana are SolSea and Solanart. But, the Solana network provides less exposure and is less secure.
Polygon and Polkadot are also cited as possible alternatives. On the Polygon blockchain, for instance, there are no gas costs. Users must pay a gas cost in addition to the transaction price in order to have their transactions prioritized. You also just need to pay a little charge to convert ETH to Polygon. The Polkadot network is particularly well recognized for its "green NFTs," which address Ethereum's sustainability and environmental problems.
Cardano(ADA) NFTs are preferred by game developers because they can be easily integrated into decentralized apps and are minted on the Cardano ledger just like any other token on the blockchain. Additionally, Cardano makes use of cutting-edge technology to provide superior security and reduced transaction fees.
Now, after knowing the advantages and disadvantages of one Blockchain over another. The question arises that is which one is best suited, and why does everyone favor Ethereum?
Now, after knowing the pros and cons of one Blockchain over another. the question arises that which one is the most suitable and why everyone favors Ethereum.
A few factors need to be taken into account before selecting a blockchain for NFTs-
A key element of distributed ledger technology's overall security is the robustness of its smart contracts. For the greatest degree of efficiency and dependability, smart contracts must undergo rigorous testing to ensure the lowest possible risk of interruptions, security breaches, and hacks.
Additionally, NFT-based transactions need cost-effective solutions, which is essential for utilizing and implementing nonfungible assets. Because of this, the cost structure for NFTs on the blockchain is also an important factor.
Blockchains are immutable by nature, faster finality reduces the number of time attackers has to compromise the digital ledgers. The best platforms for developing NFT marketplaces are those that enable quicker transaction finality while preserving decentralization.
NFT creators or collectors must consider the dependability and security of the platform they use while paying the least amount of transaction fees.
Ethereum is preferred because the wallets like Metamask were designed in such a way that NFTs have to be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The EVM functions as a decentralized computer with the capacity to manage several Ethereum network projects. This finally forced NFT developers to succeed on Ethereum by requiring that their applications function on EVM.
Smart contracts are used to develop Ethereum NFTs, and the Ethereum blockchain is the home of many renowned and amazing NFT projects. We could expect it to fall steadily when we take into account all the issues people have with Ethereum blockchain tokens, but that doesn't appear to be the case - at least not yet. Ethereum’s smart contracts will work better if the complexity is increased.
Although Ethereum has been regarded as the leading example of the NFT idea, it was designed for cryptocurrencies rather than non-fungible assets. But, NFTs are typically developed using programming similar to that used for cryptocurrency.
The technology behind Ethereum NFTs is chosen for the majority of significant NFT projects as it is reliable and it offers whatever is needed to get NFT perfectly optimized.
