Ethereum

Ethereum, founded and conceptualized by Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood in 2013 (though not released until 2015), is a decentralized, community-run, open-source blockchain that incorporates smart contract functionality. The native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum platform is Ether, making it the second most popular digital currency after Bitcoin. Despite being the second most vital cryptocurrency, Ethereum reigns as the largest and most widely used coin and blockchain in the NFT space. The Ethereum network relies on “miners,” a group of individuals who operate high-powered computers to validate transactions and add them to the blockchain.

The notion of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) emerged with an Ethereum token standard designed to differentiate each token through unique signatures. Consequently, the majority of NFTs are hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. These NFTs fall into six broad categories: “Art,” “Collectible,” “Games,” “Metaverse,” “Utility,” and “Other,” with their operative meanings based on NonFungible Corporation’s definitions.

Ethereum serves as a crucial driver behind two popular token standards: ERC-721 for non-fungible tokens and ERC-1155 for fungible tokens, which also facilitates the creation of semi-fungible tokens. These standards account for the majority of existing NFTs. Additionally, Ethereum has proposed EIP-2309 as a new standard to enhance the efficiency of NFT minting, streamlining the process further.

Use Cases 

• Decentralised Finance 
• NFTs
• DAOs – Decentralized autonomous organisations 

What They Offer

• Banking for Everyone – all you need is the Internet
• A more private internet – No need to provide details for non-custodial wallets (KYC)
• A peer to peer network – Can carry out transactions between individuals without the use of a third-party
• Censorship resistance – No governmental or organisational control over Ethereum – Decentralized
• Compatibility for the win – Products on the Ethereum network are compatible so that companies can build on each other’s success. 

Advantages

• Allows for the creation and exchange of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) –  ERC-721 network – the first to do so. 
• A large number of cryptocurrencies operate as ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain + used platform for Initial coin offerings
  • Thousands of Decentralized Apps (dApps) are powered through the blockchain EXAMPLES:
    • Uniswap – Decentralized Exchange
    • OpenSea – Largest secondary marketplace for NFTs
    • Genie.xyz or Gem.xyz – a marketplace you can bundle more than one NFT and save on gas fees 
• Large transaction volume – makes it easier to buy and sell products on the network
• High levels of decentralisation – the higher the number of nodes, the more decentralised the network 

Disadvantages

• The number of transactions it can put out per second is still low than other blockchains – 15 Per second
• Expensive gas fees due to mining and the number of transactions/volume of the blockchain – The more people using the blockchain, the more expensive gas fees become
• All smart contracts are stored publicly on all nodes, bringing elevated costs to the user
• If there are performance issues, these arise in every node of the blockchain, resulting in lower network speeds
• Proof of stake has taken long 
• Transaction privacy – All data is public, so if you are new to the crypto world, people can figure out your real identity

Benefits of Building on the Ethereum Blockchain  

• A rich ecosystem of developer tooling.
• User experience improved by offering a simple interface to interact with the blockchain and smart contracts.
  • Metamask Wallet – See and trade your NFTs
• Large user base and community. 

NFTs on Blockchain

• Largest NFT blockchain
  • Most NFTs are on this blockchain – despite the high gas fees
• Most popular marketplaces
  • OpenSea
  • LooksRare
  • Genie or Gem – Ability to buy multiple NFTs in one go and save gas fees
• Most known/famous NFTs (commonly referred to as blue-chip projects)
  • Bored Ape Yacht Club
  • Crypto Punks
  • Doodles
• The dominance of NFT has fallen from 98%-to-80%

Solana

Solana, a proof-of-stake blockchain, proudly claims to be the world’s fastest, and its scalability is particularly attractive, ensuring that no transaction on the network exceeds $0.01. With the ambition to become the preferred blockchain for crypto apps, Solana has garnered popularity in the NFT sector.

Anatoly Yakovenko designed the Solana blockchain, incorporating a unique combination of proof-of-history (PoH) and proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus processes. The concept behind PoH allows validators to manage their clocks efficiently and expedite the transaction verification process by avoiding the need to expend processing power before validating alternative timestamps.

Solana’s smart contracts, or programs, are executed on-chain using the Rust, C, and C++ programming languages. The platform levies a modest transaction fee, approximately $0.00025, for each transaction.

Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Solana, and the reason for its widespread acceptance, is its lightning-fast transaction speed. Presently, Solana can process an impressive 65,000 transactions per second, with predictions from its creators that this number will soar to 700,000 TPS as the network continues to grow. Moreover, the blockchain’s hybrid protocol enables remarkably faster transaction and smart contract validation times.

Despite being relatively new, Solana already hosts several noteworthy NFT projects, among which Degenerate Ape Academy stands out, featuring an NFT collection of 10,000 smoothest-brained apes.

Use Cases

• Decentralised Finance 
• NFTs
• DAOs – Decentralized autonomous organisations 
• Web3

Advantages

• Scalability 
• Leveraging of sharding tech helps and proof of history maintain the rate of transaction and energy efficiency
• Allows the creation and exchange of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) SPL network. 
• A large number of cryptocurrencies operate as SPLM tokens on the Solana blockchain
  • 400+ projects (dApps) are powered through the blockchain. EXAMPLES:
    • Solsea
    • DigitalEyes.market
    • Metaplex
• Process transactions quickly no matter how big or small it is
• Secure
• Uses zero-knowledge proofs to keep data and identity, thus safe from third parties
• Cost-effective because:
  • Transactions process at a breakneck speed for a low gas fee
  • 50,000 -65000 transactions per second 
  • It is ETH-interoperable
  • Low barriers of entry for validators
  • Speed
    • Allows up to 710,000 transactions per second w/1-gigabit network

Disadvantages

• Centralisation is still relatively high when compared to other blockchains
• Not much transparency
• NFT markets for the Solana Blockchain are not very transparent 
• Lower user base than Ethereum
  • However, their user base is still quite large – 1.25million +

NFTs on the Blockchain

• It is the second biggest and fastest-growing market for NFTs – a contender for Ethereum.
• The Solana and Phantom wallets will soon be incorporated into OpenSea, thus reducing Ethereum dominance.
• High volume of sales – crossed the 1 billion mark in trading volume in January 2022.
• Low gas fees are a great incentive.

Advantages

• Allows the creation and exchange of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) – SPL network. 
• A large number of cryptocurrencies operate as SPLM tokens on the Solana blockchain
  • 400+ projects (dApps) are powered through the blockchain. EXAMPLES:
    • Solsea
    • DigitalEyes.market
    • Metaplex
• Large transaction volume makes it easier to buy and sell products on the network.

Disadvantages

• It has been criticised for not being decentralised enough.
• If there are performance issues, these arise in every single node of the blockchain, resulting in lower network speeds.
• Proof of stake has taken long to be accomplished.
• Transaction privacy – All data is public, so people can figure out your real identity if you are new to the crypto world.
• An exemplary hardware configuration for Solana is a bit more expensive.
• Numerous implementations are still in the process of being released on the Mainnet Beta version.

Benefits of building on Solana Blockchain  

• A rich ecosystem of developer tooling.
• User experience improved by offering a simple interface to interact with the blockchain and smart contracts.
  • Solana SPL Token Wallet– See and trade your NFTs.
• A growing user base and community.
• High transaction speed.

Flow

Flow, the brainchild of Dapper Labs, the Canadian firm behind the CryptoKitties phenomenon, is a proof-of-stake blockchain with the capacity to drive vast ecosystems of applications, particularly in the realms of gaming and digital assets. Its purpose-built architecture, focused on consumer applications, has enticed prominent corporations to trade their digital assets via the Flow network. Among them are UFC and NBA, while CNN is “collecting” memorable moments from its network. Flow’s innovative multi-node architecture tackles scalability challenges, ensuring swift and cost-effective transactions. All of this is made possible through the use of the FLOW token, which facilitates transactions, staking, and governance voting.

Flow’s primary goal is to achieve heightened scalability through extendable smart contracts powered by Cadence, the programming language developed by the Flow team. The blockchain’s multi-node and multi-role design plays a pivotal role in core transaction processes, encompassing consensus, execution, collection, and verification.

One of Flow’s most impressive attributes is its speed, capable of processing over 10,000 transactions per second. The platform implements a two-tiered fee structure for transactions: one for account registration, starting at 0.001 FLOW (the native token), and another for actual transactions, commencing at 0.000001 FLOW. To support its users, Flow offers a comprehensive set of APIs and well-documented utilities.

Launched in 2020, Flow has garnered significant attention from crypto enthusiasts and is often touted as a robust alternative to Ethereum.

• Decentralised Finance 
• NFTs and dApps
• Web3

Advantages

• Developer-first experience
  • Easy to learn and use the programming language that was designed for dApps and digital assets
  • Upgradeable smart contracts
  • Fast and responsive 
• Consumer-friendly onboarding
  • Mainstream ready experience – multiple payment on-ramps and optimised for consumer applications
  • Secure – it protects mainstream users against malicious apps 
  • Smart user accounts – easy to pay transactions and recover lost keys for users
  • Early adopters get incentives
• Greener Web3 Network
  • No need for sharding or layer two 
  • Minting an NFT on Flow costs less carbon than a post on a social networking site!

NFTs on the Blockchain

• The idea was to create an ecosystem that would combat the issues Ethereum had with network congestion. A blockchain that could support billions of dApps users with capabilities to scale up easily 
• One critical factor in favour of this blockchain is its multi-node architecture (Ethereum uses Sharding)
  • Ability to support the creation of apps with security and composability 
• Transaction fees or general fees are VERY CHEAP if compared to Ethereum
  • First fee in flow blockchain is creating your account = 0.001 Flow = 0.007 USD
  • The second fee is an actual transaction fee that is around 0.000001 Flow = 0.000007 USD
• Known Projects – CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot

XRP Ledger (XRPL)

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) is a global developer community-led decentralised public blockchain. It’s quick, efficient, and dependable. It provides developers with a robust open-source basis for executing even the most demanding projects—without harming the environment—due to its simplicity of development, minimal transaction costs, and educated community.

David Schwartz, Jed McCaleb, and Arthur Britto founded the company with the purpose of producing a more sustainable digital asset that was developed exclusively for payments.

Use Cases

• NFTs -allows issuance of IOUs that can represent a currency of any value, which can extend to the issuance of NFTs
• Decentralised Finance – Provide access to financial products and services online.
  • Decentralised smart contract protocols are replacing the traditional financial institutions 

Advantages

• It is considered to be one of the ‘greenest’ blockchains out there as no energy is wasted/required in the transaction process
• It is a public and decentralised exchange that is maintained by the community and not just one organisation or individual
• Its ability to settle/perform thousands of transactions per second makes it quicker than most other blockchain networks
• The XRPL does not waste energy as there is no need for mining
• Transactions are incredibly affordable (a fraction of a cent), removing obstacles for users from lower socio-economic backgrounds

Disadvantages

• XLS 20-d protocol in beta phase – still needs to be incorporated into XRPL mainnet.
• However, this protocol will allow developers to access essential NFT functionalities such as:
  • Minting, Trading and burning of tokens 
  • Setting automatic royalties 
  • Co-ownership 
  • Numeration, transfer and storage of tokens 

NFTs on the Blockchain

• People are still waiting for xls20-d to be adequately incorporated; however, they can test on the XRPL through the NFT-Devnet
• Efficient because NFTs will be available on the entire network
  • No smart contract
  • NFT identity is built in the transaction of the NFT itself 
  • Multisign layers allow you to claim ownership of NFTs over all the blockchain