Approaching the world of NFT, you will have to face many decisions. However, some easy others are really hard and need to dig deep into all the pros and cons.
For us, one of them is: which blockchain do we use to cast our art?
When we start thinking about the world, we see a lot of cryptocurrencies moving from one artist to another without really understanding what's going on. All of these activities are dangerous because it can lead you to make bad decisions. The problem is that you realize you're too late to get a chance to go back and start over. But, back to the topic: which blockchain should I use?
Before answering this question, we would like to summarize what a blockchain is in a few simple words:
Blockchains are a growing list of records called blocks, which are linked together using cryptography. Each block contains the cryptographic hash, timestamp, and transaction data of the previous block. The timestamp proves that the transaction data exists at the time the block is published in order to enter its hash. Since each block contains information about its predecessor, they form a chain, and each additional block reinforces the block that precedes it. Therefore, the blockchain cannot modify its data because once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be retroactively changed without changing all subsequent blocks.
In our opinion, yes, because many markets don't have more than one blockchain, you have to use a native blockchain without questioning it. We chose Opensea because it is the largest and because we have the possibility of choosing a blockchain. On Opensea, you can use either the Ethereum blockchain or the Polygon blockchain, but why do you have to choose one of them?
ETH is the king of all blockchains and the second largest token by market capitalization. On its blockchain we find the famous "Boring Ape Yacht Club" and "Cryptopunk".
It is the blockchain of the "rich" because of every operation you need to perform (minting, winding, changing the price, selling...). There is a price that depends on the network. If the ETH network is really busy, you might as well spend a lot of money to mint a new NFT. You may spend more on transactions and fees than the NFT value. Throughout 2021, the NFT world is exploding, and you know how busy your ETH network is every day.
Polygon, on the other hand, is a Layer 2 blockchain that is scalable, fast, and flexible. With Polygon, sellers can fully manage their NFTs at no cost, including errors when you start using new software or products.
After months of use and more than 200 NFT uploads, we remain positive about our choice, even though we found some limitations, starting with: popularity and the number of sellers and buyers.
Other disadvantages are, for example, bundling and auctions.
It is not possible to sell bundles using the Polygon blockchain on Opensea. Bundles consist of multiple items sold at a price. No big deal, but if you have multiple items like ours made with Fibonacci puzzles, you need to change your sales strategy. We had to sell every item instead of selling all the complete puzzles. We're fully aware that this could change the interest people have in selling items, but if you want to show your artwork to the world without hundreds of dollars in commissions, you'll need to weigh the trade-offs.
Another restriction, even if it's not really a restriction, involves auctions. On the ETH blockchain, you can sell items at a fixed price or start an auction where buyers can propose their prices. On the Polygon blockchain, you don't have an auction, but you can set the price by having people bid at different prices at any time. It looks like a permanent auction.
Conclusion, the choice of blockchain is a strategic choice because you have to choose between high investments, paying for fees by having more potential buyers, or not paying commissions but having less popularity, we don't know, perhaps the interest of buyers. We don't think there is a better option anyway. This is precisely one of the risks of investment. However, we can be sure that the Polygon blockchain will evolve very quickly and will certainly become one of the largest and most commonly used blockchains!