Solana Introduces State Compression to Lower NFT Minting Costs
Solana, the high-performance blockchain platform, has announced the implementation of state compression technology to significantly reduce storage costs associated with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its network. By enabling more efficient storage of NFT metadata, state compression reduces data storage requirements, which can ultimately lead to lower minting and trading fees for NFT creators and collectors.
State compression technology offers a novel approach to addressing the scalability and storage limitations often faced by blockchain networks. As the demand for cost-effective and efficient storage solutions increases, Solana's state compression presents a promising solution by optimizing the way NFT metadata is stored on its blockchain.
"Although state compression can be used to store any sort of data on-chain, the first use of this innovative technology is compressed NFTs. Compressed NFTs are just like regular NFTs, only drastically cheaper — minting 100 million compressed NFTs costs about ◎50 to store on-chain, compared to ◎1.2mm for their uncompressed counterpart," the protocol explains.
Already recognized as an industry leader in creating scalable web3 experiences, Solana boasts speed, minimal environmental impact, composability, and low gas fees. The introduction of state compression is expected to further reduce the cost of building user-centric web3 projects on the Solana platform.
Developed as a collaborative effort between Solana Labs, Metaplex, and other partners, state compression uses Merkle trees to create a compression-friendly data structure. This allows developers to store a small amount of data on-chain while maintaining the security and decentralization of Solana's base layer, resulting in dramatically reduced data storage costs.
Across the Solana ecosystem, various teams are utilizing state compression to create large-scale, user-friendly experiences. For instance, Dialect, a blockchain-based messaging service, uses compressed NFTs to cover minting costs for NFT stickers. Meanwhile, Crossmint, an NFT and API tooling company, leverages state compression to develop integrations aimed at enhancing customer loyalty. Other projects, such as Helium, DRiP, and Wordcel, are also employing state compression to bring scalable, user-first experiences to the Solana ecosystem.
