While NFTs have been around since the mid-2010s, their popularity skyrocketed after Beeple’s Everydays NFT collage sold for a record-breaking $69.3 million dollars in February 2021.
Since then, NFTs have entered mainstream consciousness and are sold on multiple marketplaces and supported by a variety of blockchains.
Here are some of the most popular blockchains that support NFTs.
1. Zilliqa
Launched in 2017, Zilliqa is the world’s first public sharding-based blockchain. Zilliqa is designed to have improved scalability, which means transaction speed is not affected by network growth. Early blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum are notorious for their slow transaction speeds.
Members of the Zilliqa community who hold gZIL governance tokens also have the opportunity to shape the direction the blockchain takes by submitting and voting on proposals.
Besides supporting NFTs, Zilliqa has multiple projects throughout the NFT space, including its partnership with NFT music platform Token||Traxx.
Most excitingly, Zilliqa actively invests in the creator economy with its $10 million Creator Fund, which supports innovation in the NFT and Metaverse space.
2. Flow
Flow is a proof of stake blockchain specifically designed to support NFTs and other consumer applications. Dapper Labs, the developers behind one of the first NFT-based games, CryptoKitties, created Flow when CryptoKitties transactions congested the Ethereum network in 2017.
Flow’s unique multi-node architecture tackles scalability issues that ensures low-cost, speedy transactions. The FLOW token is used for transactions, staking, and governance voting.
Flow’s built-for-purpose design targeting consumer applications has attracted high-profile companies to partner with the Flow network to sell their digital assets. Some of these companies include UFC and NBA, with even CNN hopping on board to sell memorable moments from its network.
3. Tezos
Tezos is an open-source proof of stake blockchain that was released in 2018. Tezos encourages participation and collaboration with its users with the goal of continuous innovation and long-term upgradeability.
Tezos emphasizes its improvements on Ethereum, most notably its eco-friendliness, as it uses two million times less electricity than Ethereum and less than 1 XTZ to mint an NFT.
While Tezos is one of the lesser-known blockchains, it is still making its mark in the NFT world with recently announced partnerships such as music NFT platform OneOf, NFT platform Rarible, and world-leading games studio Ubisoft launching its first NFT project on Tezos.
4. Solana
Solana is a proof of stake blockchain that claims itself as the fastest in the world. One of the most attractive features of Solana is its ability to scale, which guarantees that it will always be fast while ensuring that no transaction on the network will ever exceed $ 0.01.
Solana’s aim to become the blockchain of choice for crypto apps has made it popular in the NFT space. New NFT projects frequently launch on Solana, as well as partnerships with prominent companies, such as Opera Browser.
5. Cardano
Cardano is an open-source proof of stake blockchain. Cardano has an impressive team behind it, founded by the co-founder of Ethereum, and focuses on the importance of regulatory compliance and scalability. It also claims to be the most environmentally sustainable blockchain.
Cardano’s ability to scale and low transaction fees make it an attractive choice for NFT users. There are a number of prominent NFT marketplaces built on the Cardano blockchain, including Verlux and CNFT.
NFTs: What’s the Best Blockchain?
With so many different blockchains that support NFTs available, choosing one can be hard. Luckily, there are many different blockchains with a variety of attractive features to choose from.
Whether you want to interact with an environmentally friendly blockchain or low transaction fees are your priority, there are now many blockchains with these features that support NFTs.
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