This article was originally written in September 2021 on Medium. Information may be outdated.
At Origin, we’re committed to bringing NFTs to the mainstream. We believe NFTs can be used to create compelling new use cases for creators across to engage and interact with their fans. Art, collectibles, access tokens, social tokens, and tokens that represent physical merchandise and other items will flourish in the next few years.
Today, NFTs are rapidly trading on Origin and other platforms, generating over $3B of sales last month alone. However, the number of NFT creators and buyers still numbers in the hundreds of thousands. As an industry, there’s still a long way to go before NFTs penetrate mainstream audiences. To get there, NFTs need to be cheaper and more accessible to the average user that may be relatively new to crypto.
On August 9th, the Origin community voted to support Polygon as the first alternative to Ethereum layer 1 NFTs (ERC-721), which can be costly to mint and transfer. We’re excited to have brought this decision to the community and then rapidly executed, showcasing the power of decentralized governance in shaping Origin’s product roadmap.
Less than two weeks after the governance vote, we are thrilled to announce that this integration is now complete, opening up a wide range of exciting new opportunities for creators to engage with their audiences through more economical and ultimately, more accessible NFTs. Polygon is a fantastic choice for the first alternative chain to Ethereum for our NFT platform. Polygon’s sidechain technology is very fast and scalable, enabling creators to mint NFTs at ~$0.01 or less. In addition, Polygon boasts one of the strongest and most rabid communities in all of crypto. We’re thrilled to partner with their world-class team and engage with their community on a deep-level.
Creators will now be able to select which chain, Ethereum layer 1 or Polygon layer 2, that they want to use to mint their NFTs. Origin’s NFT Launchpad will allow different NFTs from the same creator to exist on different chains, giving the creator fine-grained control over how they want to sell their NFTs to different audiences. Buyers will be able to see which blockchain NFTs exist on before purchasing.
Here’s more information on why we’re excited about supporting alternative chains on NFT Launchpad. As one of the leading NFT platforms, Origin has had the privilege of working with numerous high-profile creators. Creators have voiced their desires to make drops accessible to their mainstream audiences, wanting to sell NFTs at $1 to $20 price points while enabling credit card payments. Expensive minting fees on Ethereum, which at times can reach upwards of $100, has often made this very challenging. According to a survey by Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg, the median amount Americans were willing to spend on an NFT was just $10, ten times less than the cost to mint a single NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. While this figure will undoubtedly rise as people become more familiar with NFTs and their numerous use cases, it tells us that mainstream adoption depends on lower price points.
Furthermore, environmental concerns about Ethereum’s Proof-of-Work consensus methodology has been a mainstay for mainstream media throughout the year. Artists and collectors are beginning to take notice too, with Michael Yamashita having pledged to use proceeds from his drop on the Origin Launchpad to purchase carbon credits.
By enabling Polygon-based NFTs across the entire Origin platform, we are giving creators the opportunity to mint NFTs that are both inexpensive and environmentally sustainable. Now, artists who want to offer affordable NFTs to their fans will be able to do so using the Origin NFT Launchpad and marketplace. This includes creating NFT tickets, access passes, and other utility-driven use-cases that have until now been economically unfeasible.
If you are a creator that has been hesitant until now to dive in NFTs because of minting costs and environmental concerns, we invite you to get in touch with our team to discuss performing a drop on Polygon.
Looking forward, we anticipate supporting additional chains beyond Polygon layer 2. While we built our initial product and brand as a leader in the NFT space on Ethereum, we are supporters of the cross-chain ethos. Have an opinionated stance on which chain to support next? Create a new proposal on our governance portal and nominate your favorite layer 1 or layer 2 chain for our next partnership integration.
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