Ethereum: the “gold standard” blockchain for minting NFTs
11:10, 23 November 2021
Despite the emergence of so-called Ethereum killer blockchain networks such as Polygon and Solano, Ethereum is still the first choice for minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), says the CEO of the firm behind decentralized art gallery Pixlr Genesis.
Cryptocurrencies such as solana and polygon have seen their value rocket this year as the blockchain technology that underpins their networks is faster and cheaper than the second largest digital currency, leading them to be dubbed Ethereum killers.
But according to Warren Leow, CEO of Inmagine, the company behind Pixlr Genesis, a 100% decentralized NFT-based art gallery, with an inaugural collection of 10,000 AI-generated art pieces, Ethereum remains the blockchain of choice for NFTs.
Ethereum has early mover advantage
The Ethereum blockchain powers Pixlr’s NFT network and Kuala Lumpur-based Leow says this is because that is where the greatest concentration of both capital and community can be found.
“If you look at the marquee blockchains and cryptocurrencies, number one is Bitcoin and number two is Ethereum. So, because of their early mover advantage and the fact the greatest concentration of capital can be found in those two networks, that is where things will get preserved more in terms of value.
“Now you have other people who are also minting on other platforms and blockchains, such as Solana or Binance blockchain. But the important issue is where the community gravitates to, and where the potential buyers come from, and in the case of NFTs, the premium blockchain that everyone looks towards is Ethereum.”
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Solana an emerging threat to Ethereum
Leow says that blockchains such as Solana are emerging threats to Ethereum because gas costs (the fee to complete a transaction) are much lower. Likewise, he points to Polygon as another blockchain where a greater proportion of NFTs will emerge in future.
“Over the next few years, we might see some fragmentation in terms of where different collectors, or different collections and communities, emerge from different blockchains and platforms, but as things stand right now, Ethereum is still the gold standard,” says Leow.
The first 2,000 pieces in the Pixlr Genesis collection go on sale for ETH0.3 (approximately $1,240.00) on 1 December, with the remaining 8,000 being released at different price levels in subsequent waves, each at a higher price.
A mock up of three exhibition posters at a gallery - Photo: Pixlr GenesisClassical and contemporary inspiration
Pixlr Genesis’s art is generated by an algorithm that was given data sets spanning classical and contemporary styles and artists, including Impressionism, Cubism, Van Gogh and Warhol. Pixlr itself is one of the world’s most popular design and photo-editing ecosystems, and data is also drawn from its own in-house designs.
The CEO says it is not just the NFTs themselves that are works of art.
“The visual art piece itself is all generated using our proprietary algorithm, which has been trained with the millions of data points that we have at Pixlr because of our years of history within the content industry.”
“The proprietary nature of the algorithm to generate the art is also a piece of work by itself because it involves different algorithms, creativity and image processing.”
Creating a global art movement
Leow declines to be drawn on the potential secondary market value of the artworks that Pixlr will release but says the firm hopes that the price of the artworks will trend upwards.
“We do believe in the value of the project and its scarcity. Pixlr has been doing a lot of community building because we really want to cultivate a group of collectors who then grow the project themselves because they share the same vision. This is to create a global art movement, one which is fully decentralized.”
Despite the intention to create a new global art movement, Leow is confident that the role of the traditional artist is still safe.
“There will always be a demand for quality art. A demand for anybody who designs and creates something, out of his or her own efforts. AI-generated art is only one part of the equation but it is part of the overall art space.”
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