NFT collections are bundles of unique digital objects founded on a single principle and have become enormously popular in the crypto market of late. The variety of blockchains that NFT collections have been launched on in 2022 has noticeably increased, but Ethereum remains the most popular by far.  However, despite its advantages and enormous popularity, this blockchain is not without its drawbacks, the main one being its high gas prices. In this article, I look at the most effective strategies for reducing the cost of gas when minting NFTs. 

Ethereum’s popularity

Even though the cryptocurrency market at large has been in a multi-month downtrend since November 2021, enthusiasm for NFT activities remains strong. According to data collected by the analytical platform IntoTheBlock, which specializes in blockchain analysis, the number of NFT commission charges on the Ethereum network has increased by more than 100 percent in 2022. If a year ago the network had approx. 15,500 collections available, now it has more than 80,000 collections. Despite the development and growing popularity of other blockchains such as Solana, Polygon and Avalanche, Ethereum continues to top the leaderboard of blockchains by the number of deployed NFTs, according to the latest data from CryptoSlam:   Meanwhile, the total NFT trading volume has grown significantly over the past year, increasing by almost 90 times from $622 million per day (a year ago) to about $54.58 billion per day today. The number of Ethereum addresses with at least one NFT has significantly increased since September 2020. Only 1.4% of wallets had one or more NFTs a year ago and now that number has grown to 4.64%. Needless to say, the NFT market is booming, despite certain concerns. Ethereum offers convenient solutions for launching applications and NFT collections, raising funds and creating smart contracts. All of this is blockchain-based. The system uses its own programming language and its own means of payment and settlement - Ether (ETH). The increase in ICO projects in 2017 was due to the possibility of being able to launch a new coin or new technology faster than before. First of all, Ethereum streamlined the transaction process, thus reducing its cost. This made Ethereum an easier platform for launching new projects, which is why it became so popular. Ethereum is famous for a large number of big NFT projects whose collections have gained popularity all around the world. Among these are:

• CryptoPunks - the most popular and first NFT collection, now legendary in the NFT market. 
• Bored Ape Yacht Club - one of the most successful collections on the NFT market, consisting of 10,000 monkeys with unique traits, including clothing, hats and facial expressions.
• Azuki - another popular Ethereum-based NFT project. One of the factors that makes Azuki stand out the most is its Anime-inspired design, conquering holders all over the world.

Of course, this is just a sample of Ethereum-based NFT projects that have gained enormous fame and achieved record breaking sales. So why do so many NFT projects choose the Ethereum blockchain to release their collections on? Let's take a closer look at the main advantages of the network and then its disadvantages.

Ethereum’s advantages

Security and openness The Ethereum blockchain is a database of information that’s designed to grow. Once information is added, the data cannot be changed or erased. Ethereum contains millions of transactions that are grouped into blocks along with smart contracts. The blocks form a sequence – a complete history of every transaction ever executed on Ethereum. Everything that happens on the Ethereum network is recorded in real time. A copy of each transaction is distributed throughout the network. Each node in the network stores a copy of this history. Everything that happens inside the blockchain obeys complex mathematical laws that provide reliable protection. Smart contracts Ethereum has a high level of functionality and provides the framework for smart contracts. Contracts on the Ethereum network support transactions and compliance with agreements in the digital environment. At the moment, the main scope of application for Ethereum’s smart contracts is the raising of funds during Initial Coin Offerings and ensuring the smooth operation of thousands of dApp applications. Basically, it is the network’s great diversity of smart contracts that allow developers to define the total supply of the collection, the amount of NFTs that can be minted by each user, the costs of minting and whether there will be whitelisted users or not.  Aside from that, developers are able to modify the code within smart contacts in order to reduce the gas for minting, which we will talk about later on.

Ethereum’s disadvantages

Low bandwidth The principle underlying the operation of Ethereum is old and its bandwidth can only handle 14 TPS. That is, it takes about 17 seconds to generate a new block in the blockchain. Information about a transaction appears within 1-1.5 minutes. This is too long for the proper running of many financial applications. The reason for the low speed is that every blockchain block checks the transaction as it takes place. The bigger the "chain", the more time it takes to verify it. The cost of commission Ethereum, when used as a system for blockchain applications, charges a fee for actions executed via these applications, which is called gas. For any action, including the creation and publication of an NFT, a commission must be paid on the blockchain. To carry out actions in the Ethereum blockchain, users must pay a certain amount of gas (charged solely as payment for actions) and the exact cost is tied to the Ether coin. To a greater extent, the cost of this commission depends on the miners. When the network is overloaded, the cost of gas increases and when activity is low, it falls back down again. The amount of gas a user chooses to pay affects the transaction execution speed — users can generally opt to pay the present moment average gas price or they can choose to pay above/below the average price. The more they pay in gas, the faster their transaction will be completed. But if the price is set too low, there is a danger that the transaction freezes or takes a long time to execute. Another danger with smart contracts is the possibility that not enough gas has been offered for the execution of a transaction. So in addition to the price of the NFT itself, you will need to pay gas. Depending on the network load, this may cost you 0.03 ETH to 0.07 ETH. However, before resigning to how painful this all sounds, there are ways around this problem. We have a few strategies for optimizing gas costs that we are glad to share with you.