Is Tezos an environmentally friendly way to collect NFTs?
As the hype around NFTs and actual digital ownership continue to bubble in 2022, high gas fees on Ethereum and environmental factors concerning the creation of NFTs rage on. Because collectors start looking elsewhere, NFT marketplaces on networks like Tezos, with its ‘clean’ blockchain promise, are beginning to find more traction.
The ten NFT marketplaces on Tezos tracked by DappRadar reveal that 7 of the ten have seen a noticeable increase in active users. At the same time, the three leading marketplaces have seen considerable increases in both active wallets connecting to them and transaction volume. The FX Hash marketplace has seen the most significant rise. Active wallets grew more than 14% this week, taking the figure close to 5,000.
Meanwhile, the objkt.com NFT marketplace pulls in the most trading volume. The platform attracted more than 10,000 active wallets that completed over 93,000 transactions, generating $3.3 million in volume.
Important to note is that while Tezos sees a surge in active wallets and transactions, the numbers pale to insignificance when stood next to the leading NFT marketplaces on Ethereum. According to the latest January Dapp Industry Report, trading volume for NFTs surpassed $16 billion in January alone. However, a lot of that comes from artificial trading on LooksRare.
Nonetheless, in January alone, OpenSea still racked up over $4.5 billion in trading volume. Moreover, we are observing an optimistic, even bull-like NFT market scenario amidst a backdrop of BTC and ETH losing nearly 50% of their value since hitting new highs in 2021.
Clean NFTs?
The recent interest in the ecological footprint of NFTs has served to amplify a relevant and substantial advantage Tezos has against other networks: substantially lower energy consumption and a smaller environmental footprint.
The Tezos network is a Proof-of-Stake blockchain that consumes over two million times less energy than Proof-of-Work networks like Bitcoin or Ethereum. The low carbon footprint of Tezos means developers and users can prioritize innovation without compromising sustainability. The self-amending properties of Tezos allow the network to stay ahead of the constantly evolving trends in the blockchain ecosystem, such as gas optimizations and NFTs.
Further evidence to support a growing NFT category on Tezos comes from Coin Metrics. They observed a significant increase in smart contract activity in the Tezos ecosystem over the past year as it became a magnet for NFT activity. According to their State of the Network report, the number of transactions involving smart contracts on Tezos has surged over 12 months. They see more than 50,000 a day, from less than 10,000 a day in January 2021.
The report showed that growth on Tezos is driven by NFT platforms such as the generative art platform FX Hash. Additionally, gaming giant Ubisoft also announced Tezos support for gaming NFTs in December 2021.
The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your research. The writer holds ETH, BTC, AGIX, HEX, LINK, GRT, CRO, OMI, IMMUTABLE X, GALA, AVASTR, GMEE, CUBE, RADAR, FLOW, FTM, BNB, SPS, WRLD, ATOM, and ADA.
