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At the end of the day, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are simply a primitive of blockchains, like fungible, ERC-20 tokens. But the narrative of NFTs as a category has taken off to refer to a broader trend and thus, similar to DeFi, the term “NFTs” now encompasses its own ecosystem.

However, non-fungible tokens will utilize many of the same financial primitives as DeFi and thus the stack ends up looking fairly similar but with a more consumer-centric lens.

Layer 1: Layer-1s

To date, the NFT landscape has been dominated by Ethereum, Flow, and to a lesser extent Wax. It’s likely that most NFT applications will need to transition from Ethereum mainnet onto a Layer-2 solution or sidechain while relying on Ethereum for the settlement layer. The exception to the rule may be for high-end digital art or blue-chip collectibles that require more robust censorship resistance.

Other base layers (Layer-1s) like Solana are actively building out their NFT infrastructure like Metaplex which enables individuals to set up their own NFT storefronts and issue NFT collections with customizable royalty splits.

Layer 2: Layer-2s & Sidechains

Most consumer-centric applications of non-fungible tokens – gaming, sports, virtual worlds, utility assets, etc – have experienced turbulence on Ethereum. After building CryptoKitties and CheeseWizards, Dapper Labs decided that Ethereum would never provide the robust scalability that the gaming studio required and opted to build Flow. Similarly, even projects like Sorare – that correctly determined where the scalability puck was going – built on sidechains like Loom that eventually shuttered – failed in their attempts to scale their NFTs. Unwilling to rely on another third party, Axie Infinity took the path of building their own sidechain, Ronin, which to date has been very effective at reducing gas costs and increasing user adoption.

As an Ethereum hybrid Layer-2, Polygon’s biggest advantage to date has been its compatibility with Ethereum, which lowered the learning curve for both users and developers. Additionally, Polygon’s use of its token to incentivize bridging onto its network has been incredibly effective. Notably, Polygon is doubling down on NFTs with a new a $100 million fund for gaming and non-fungible token projects.

Developers of Gods Unchained, Immutable Labs is on the cusp of launching its Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution, ImmutableX. The Layer-2 is built using ZK-rollups, which the Immutable team claims are better for NFT based applications.

To learn more about the NFT ecosystem, read the full article here.

Modern warfare has evolved from aiming mortars at enemy combatants using maps and protractors. The thought of drone striking an individual (even a terrorist) based on meta-data – data that describes info about a set of data – is unsettling, even downright terrifying.

Instead of focusing on how our data is used and abused in the long term, I want to discuss the immediate importance of data and metadata in the context of non-fungible tokens. The rising importance of metadata and increasing prevalence and value of NFTs means that how we store NFT data and metadata is crucial.

Crash Course on The Importance of NFT Storage

Blockchains like Ethereum are great at replicating a small amount of data on hundreds (if not millions) of computers across the world, but they’re often limited in the amount of on-chain storage capacity. Because not every part of the NFT is suitable to be stored on-chain, NFTs often leverage other immutable storage solutions for their metadata.

When we talk about NFTs, the token can be broken down into a few core parts: