NFTs on Solana
Minting an NFT on Ethereum costs $50-100. On Solana: $0.02. For compressed NFTs: $0.0001. That's 500,000x cheaper than Ethereum for compressed NFTs. The cost difference transforms what's economically viable.
Gaming with tradable in-game items? Ethereum charges $50 per item mint—impossible for most games. Solana charges $0.02. Compressed NFTs charge $0.0001, making millions of game items practical.
Cost, speed, and compressed NFTs storing 22 million NFTs in a single account make Solana dominant NFT infrastructure.
What Makes NFTs Non-Fungible
Non-fungible tokens have three properties:
Indivisible: 0 decimals. You own 1 NFT or 0 NFTs, never 0.5 NFTs.
Unique: Supply of exactly 1. Only one instance exists. No identical copies.
Fixed supply: Mint authority set to None. No one can create more. Scarcity is permanent.
These properties distinguish NFTs from fungible tokens like USDC (divisible, millions of identical units, unlimited mintable supply). If you want to understand how tokens work on Solana, that's covered in the Tokens on Solana course.
On Solana, NFTs are SPL tokens with specific constraints:
Mint account: decimals=0, supply=1, mint authority=None
One token account holds that 1 token
Metadata describes the NFT
Without metadata, an NFT is just a mint account with supply 1. Metadata makes it meaningful: name, image, attributes, collection membership.
Cost Comparison
Ethereum:
Deploying ERC-721 NFT contract: $200-500 depending on gas prices.
Minting each NFT: $50-150 per mint.
Transferring NFT: $15-50 per transfer.
10,000 NFT collection: $500,000-1,500,000 in gas fees just for minting.
Solana - Regular NFTs:
Creating mint account: $0.02 (0.00144 SOL rent).
Creating metadata account: $0.01 (varies by metadata size).
Minting: Included in creation.
Transferring: $0.00025 (5,000 lamports).
10,000 NFT collection: ~$300 total.
Solana - Compressed NFTs:
Creating Merkle tree for 1,000,000 NFTs: ~$500 (one-time cost).
Minting each NFT: $0.0001 (proof update).
Transferring: $0.00025 (same as regular).
1,000,000 NFT collection: ~$600 total (tree + mints).
The cost difference is 1,000-10,000x cheaper for regular NFTs, 100,000-500,000x cheaper for compressed NFTs.
Speed Difference
Ethereum:
12-second block time. 2-3 blocks for safety = 24-36 seconds minimum confirmation.
Network congestion extends this to minutes.
Minting 10,000 NFTs: Hours to days depending on network load.
Solana:
400ms slot time. Transactions finalize in seconds.
Minting 10,000 NFTs: Minutes (limited by compute per transaction, not network speed).
Compressed NFT minting can process thousands per second.
Real-time applications (gaming, events, live drops) become practical. Ethereum's minutes-long confirmation is too slow for interactive use. Solana's sub-second finality enables responsive applications.
Compressed NFTs: The Game Changer
Regular NFTs require one mint account and one metadata account per NFT. 1 million NFTs = 2 million accounts = expensive storage. Understanding Solana's account model helps grasp why this storage cost matters.
Compressed NFTs use Merkle trees. Store proof of NFT ownership/metadata in a tree structure. One tree account holds millions of NFTs.
How it works:
Create Merkle tree account with maximum capacity (e.g., 1,048,576 NFTs).
Mint compressed NFT: Update tree with proof of ownership. No separate mint account created.
Transfer compressed NFT: Update tree proof. Change owner in tree without creating new accounts.
Storage comparison:
Regular NFT: 2 accounts × 0.00144 SOL = 0.00288 SOL per NFT.
Compressed NFT: Shared tree account / number of NFTs = 0.000000476 SOL per NFT (for 1M NFT tree).
Cost for 1 million NFTs:
Regular: $28,800 in rent deposits.
Compressed: $500 tree creation + $100 minting = $600 total.
48x cheaper storage, 100x+ cheaper minting.
Use cases:
Gaming items (millions of swords, shields, potions). Loyalty programs (points, rewards, badges). Event tickets (thousands per event). Any application needing scale.
Mad Lads used compressed NFTs for 10,000 collection. Drip Haus uses them for fashion NFTs. Games use them for in-game assets.
Metaplex Standards
Solana NFTs use Metaplex standards. Two main approaches:
Metaplex Token Metadata (original standard):
SPL Token mint (supply=1, decimals=0) + separate metadata PDA.
Metadata PDA stores: name, symbol, URI, collection info, royalties.
Most existing Solana NFTs use this. Well-supported, battle-tested, extensive tooling.
Rent cost: ~$0.03 per NFT (mint + metadata accounts).
Metaplex Core (new standard):
Single account containing mint + metadata. No separate SPL Token mint.
Simpler, cheaper, faster. Less account overhead.
Rent cost: ~$0.01 per NFT (one account instead of two).
Newer but gaining adoption. Better for new projects starting fresh.
Compressed NFTs:
Use Merkle tree approach. Compatible with both Token Metadata and Core.
Drastically cheaper storage. Scales to millions of NFTs.
Trade-off: More complex indexing (need specialized indexers to read tree proofs).
Collections and Verification
NFTs group into collections. Mad Lads is a collection. Okay Bears is a collection. Your project will be a collection.
Why collections matter:
Marketplaces filter by collection. Users browse "Mad Lads collection" not individual NFTs.
Verification prevents fakes. Anyone can create an NFT claiming to be "Mad Lad #5001." Collection verification proves authenticity.
Floor prices and statistics apply to collections, not individual NFTs.
How verification works:
Collection NFT is the collection identifier. Usually supply=1.
Individual NFTs store collection field pointing to collection NFT.
Collection authority verifies the NFT belongs to collection. Sets verified=true flag.
Unverified NFTs claiming collection membership show as unverified. Marketplaces warn or hide them.
Creation flow:
Create collection NFT (the collection identifier)
Mint individual NFTs with collection field
Collection authority verifies each NFT (proves it's authentic)
NFTs display as verified collection members
Royalties
NFT metadata includes royalty configuration. Creators earn percentage on secondary sales.
How royalties work:
Mint NFT with royalty field: { "seller_fee_basis_points": 500, "creators": [...] }.
500 basis points = 5%. Every secondary sale, 5% goes to creators.
Marketplaces honor royalties by design. They split payment: buyer pays full price, seller receives 95%, creators receive 5%.
Royalty enforcement:
Not enforced at protocol level. Marketplaces choose whether to honor royalties.
Most major marketplaces (Magic Eden, Tensor) honor royalties by default.
Some allow royalty-free trading. Creator can't prevent this—no protocol enforcement.
Token Metadata includes configurable royalty enforcement options. Programmable NFTs can require royalty payment. Trade-off: added complexity.
Why Solana for NFTs
Cost enables scale:
$0.02 per NFT means experimentation is cheap. Launch collection, test market fit, iterate. No $500K gas fee commitment.
Gaming with millions of items becomes economically viable. Loyalty programs can issue NFTs for small actions.
Speed enables interactivity:
Mint NFT on user action immediately. In-game item drop? Instant mint. Event ticket purchase? Instant NFT generation.
Ethereum's minutes-long confirmation breaks real-time experiences. Solana's sub-second finality enables them.
Compressed NFTs enable massive collections:
1 million NFTs on Ethereum: $50-150 million in gas.
1 million compressed NFTs on Solana: $600.
This unlocks gaming (millions of items), large-scale loyalty (millions of members), and applications impossible on expensive chains.
Ecosystem maturity:
Metaplex provides production-ready tools. Magic Eden, Tensor, and other marketplaces support Solana NFTs. Wallets display them. Indexers track them. Infrastructure exists.
Real Examples
Mad Lads: 10,000 NFT collection using compressed NFTs. Backpack team's project. Demonstrated compressed NFT viability at scale.
Drip Haus: Fashion NFTs using compressed NFTs. Thousands of digital fashion items minted cheaply.
Okay Bears: 10,000 NFT collection using Token Metadata standard. One of most successful Solana PFP projects.
Star Atlas: Space game using NFTs for ships, items, land. Thousands of in-game assets as NFTs. Only viable on Solana due to costs.
Helium: IoT network using NFTs for hotspot ownership. Migrated to Solana for better economics.
What This Course Covers
Metaplex Token Metadata standard:
How the original NFT standard works. Mint accounts + metadata PDAs. Collections, verification, royalties. Creating standard NFTs.
Metaplex Core standard:
The new simplified approach. Single account for mint + metadata. When to use Core vs Token Metadata. Migration considerations.
Compressed NFTs:
Merkle tree architecture. Minting and transferring compressed NFTs. Trade-offs and use cases. Indexing considerations.
Building your collection:
Practical steps for launching NFT project. Metadata standards, collection setup, marketplace integration.
After this course, you'll understand all three NFT approaches on Solana and when to use each. Time to choose the right standard for your project.
Next: deep dive into Metaplex Token Metadata—how the original standard works and when to use it.