Are you trying to find the best blockchain for NFTs? Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana are among the popular blockchains used for making smart contracts and storing NFT projects. All three use different protocols for storing and accumulating data related to NFT transactions. With a race towards establishing the best blockchain, Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana are constantly upgrading to support and provide a fast, safe, low-cost, and environmentally friendly platform for NFT trading.
Some Important Points To Get Started
Before reviewing the different blockchains one by one, let’s look at the few terminologies used while talking about NFTs:
- DeFi: DeFi or Decentralized finance is the new financial norm that has gained momentum exponentially since the introduction of NFTs in the market. DeFi removes the need for banks or middlemen and uses Smart contracts on the blockchain to execute transactions.
- Smart contracts: Primarily, Smart contracts are programs or codes stored on a blockchain such as Ethereum and get deployed when the set conditions are reached. Smart contracts remove the need for intermediaries, help execute different NFT projects, and enable the minting of digital assets.
- Dapps: Dapps are Decentralized applications that run on a blockchain and enable interaction with smart contacts. They help deploy the code in smart contracts and allow storage of all information regarding the trading of NFTs, such as the history of transactions and token metadata.
Which One Is The Best For NFTs: Cardano vs Ethereum vs Solana?
Ethereum, Cardano, and Solano are the most popular blockchains used for NFT Projects. Find out which one is best for NFTs.
Let’s have a look at Ethereum firstly.
Ethereum For NFTS: What Makes Ethereum The Biggest Blockchain For NFTs?
ETH or Ether is the only cryptocurrency of Ethereum used for making any payment. There are thousands of collectible tokens or NFTs stored and tracked on the Ethereum blockchain. ERC-721 is the NFT standard that uses an API for exchanging tokens within Smart Contracts. Whenever you trade an NFT, a fee is deducted and given to the miner for processing as well as verifying the transaction. A majority of new NFT projects are stored on the Ethereum blockchain due to the secure and reliable transactions. Moreover, with the increase in NFT projects, Ethereum also establishes new protocols to safeguard against any attack. Solidity and Vyper are the two main programming languages used on Ethereum for implementing smart contracts.
Ethereum 2.0 And Its Impact On NFTs
Blockchain faces backlash due to the current perspective of the increased carbon footprint. Ethereum 2.0 is set to tackle those challenges and provide much secure, safer, and faster transactions. Ethereum aims to enable 1000 + transactions every second while reducing the power and energy used for computing them.
Other important elements to Ethereum 2.0 are the introduction of staking, merging the Beacon Chain with Mainnet Ethereum, and finally building shard chains to enhance scalability as well as capacity. All of this can improve the platform’s ability to carry out low-cost and fast transactions of NFTs.
Solana For NFT: A Fast And Low-Cost Blockchain For NFTs
Solana is a decentralized blockchain that has gained recognition as low latency and high-performing platform ideal for creating smart contracts and minting NFTs. Unlike Ethereum, Solano smart contracts are stateless, and the platform’s fast transactions and the low fee have made it a favorable choice for NFT artists and traders. Moreover, Solano uses Rust C and C++ to build programs for deploying on the blockchain.
Solana insists that their platform enables 400 millisecond block time, and the transactions will remind below a cent or $0.01. The platform is also censorship-resistant and will continue to allow free and indefinite trading of NFTs.
SOL is the native currency of the Solana cluster (a group of validators that maintain an individual ledger). These validators earn SOL for securing the ledger related to NFTs transactions. Also, you can use Solana Explorer to view the NFT transactions along with the accounts.
Currently, the platform hosts 193 NFT projects, and creating smart contracts for NFTs is a 3 step process:
- Establishing a development environment for Solana
- Using Rust for writing the Smart Contract
- Using NodeJS to deploy the Smart Contract
Cardano For NFTs: What Makes It Unique?
Ada is the cryptocurrency used for buying and selling NFT projects stored on the Cardano blockchain. It is the first blockchain platform established by using peer-reviewed research along with evidence-based methods to create a seamless platform for trading. Moreover, Cardano utilizes advanced technologies to offer top-notch security and low transaction costs.
Marlowe and Plutus are the two programming languages used for writing applications to interact with the Cardano blockchain. The platform will soon witness a sudden rise in NFT projects and traders due to the low carbon footprint it delivers without compromising the security of transactions.
Must read: ERC-721 Vs ERC-1155: Benefits And Difference From ERC-721 Standard.
Consensus Protocols: Cardano vs Ethereum vs Solana
- Ethereum uses a Proof-Of-Work approach, meaning all the transactions get recorded internally on the Ethereum blockchain. This makes the transactions much more secure but requires more computing, leading to increased transaction costs compared to the other two blockchains.
- Solana uses a combination of Proof-Of-Stake along with the Proof-Of-History approach. The Smart contracts of NFTs are stateless on Solana, and 3rd party accounts can access a newly deployed smart contract and store information on their accounts. The storage space for smart contracts of NFTs is paid by using the SOL token. By not storing it internally, Solana delivers fast and low-cost transactions of NFTs across the world.
- Cardano has implemented Ouroboros, a proof-of-stake blockchain protocol that acts as the backbone of the platform. Cardano claims that Ouroboros requires minimal energy and offers the same level of security as the proof-of-work protocol.
Future Of Cardano vs Ethereum vs Solana?
Currently, the majority of NFTs are stored and minted on the Ethereum blockchain. Solana has witnessed a rise in 2020 due to fast transactions, and Cardano is becoming popular due to its low fee and environmental impact. In the future, Ethereum claims to reduce its carbon footprint by 99.95%, offering an energy-efficient platform for NFTs. Overall Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana are the same in functionality but completely different approaches for recording transactions. NFT artists or collectors will have to keep in mind the reliability and security of the platform they choose while paying the least transaction fee possible.