Hi everyone! I’m completely new to blockchain development and want to understand how NFTs work on Ethereum. I’ve been doing some research but have a few basic questions that I hope you can help with.
First question: Are NFTs stored on the same blockchain as regular ETH transactions? I’m worried about storage requirements. Won’t the blockchain become massive if it stores both currency transfers and all digital assets? Do miners really need to download everything to validate new transactions?
Second question: What are the actual costs involved? I saw that a basic ETH transfer costs around 21,000 Gwei (roughly $0.03). How much would it cost to mint an NFT? Also, what about running simple smart contract functions - like basic calculations or data reads that don’t write to the blockchain?
Third question: Can anyone recommend good tutorials or documentation for NFT development? Most resources I find focus on currency transactions rather than creating and managing digital assets.
just to add on, NFTs aren’t all that heavy on the chain since they just keep a link, not the whole image, u know? minting can vary, sometimes even goes up to 100 bucks if it gets congested. OpenZeppelin is def a good place to start for tutorials!
Yes, NFTs do indeed utilize the same blockchain as regular ETH transactions; however, the storage impact is often overstated. Most ERC-721 contracts primarily retain metadata links on-chain rather than the entire files. While full nodes are required to maintain the complete historical data, techniques like pruning are implemented to keep the blockchain size manageable.
Regarding costs, minting can vary widely based on network traffic, generally consuming between 50,000 to 150,000 gas units, translating to approximately $2 to $50 or more during peak times. In contrast, reading data incurs negligible costs since it involves no alterations to the blockchain. For effective learning, I’d recommend starting with the official Ethereum documentation and experimenting in Remix IDE. Patrick Collins has excellent YouTube tutorials focused on NFT development—ensuring familiarity with ERC standards before progressing to complex concepts is crucial. If you plan to handle multiple assets, look into ERC-1155 as it facilitates batch operations efficiently.
You’re right to worry about blockchain bloat - most beginners don’t think about that! Most NFTs don’t store image data on-chain (like CreativePainter said), but what happens when those external links break? What if IPFS goes down or the metadata server dies?
Gas fees are a total rollercoaster! I’ve seen simple mints cost anywhere from $5 to $200+ depending on network traffic. But check out layer 2 solutions like Polygon or Arbitrum - minting there usually costs under a dollar.
For learning, start with Hardhat tutorials instead of jumping straight into NFT stuff. Understanding smart contract development helps way more. Try building a simple ERC-20 token first - it’s way less scary than diving into NFTs.
What kind of NFT project are you planning? Art, gaming, or something else? Your approach really depends on your goal.
Also, set up a testnet wallet if you haven’t already. Play around on Goerli or Sepolia before touching mainnet with real ETH.
