If you’re looking for ways to save gas fees on minting NFTs, you’re not alone. Lately, Ethereum gas fees have been so high, NFT trading became almost impossible for new creators starting out. After all, it’s kind of hard to list a collection of NFTs and make a profit if you can’t even afford the cost of minting them to begin with. Luckily for you, I’ve collected a few tips that can help you get your NFT collection listed without sacrificing all your profits.
1. Lazy minting
One of the easy ways to save gas fees on minting NFTs is to just… not pay them. There are some NFT marketplaces that recognize how prohibitively expensive Ethereum gas fees can be. So they’ve implemented “lazy minting,” which basically passes the gas fee on to the buyer. Instead of minting the NFT when you list it for sale, it’s minted when someone buys it and the gas fee is rolled into the sale price.
2. Mint on Polygon
One of the increasingly popular ways to save gas fees on minting NFTs is to use Polygon. This side chain has offered such low gas fees that the NFT marketplace will often cover it for you. Be aware — by minting your NFT on Polygon, it exists on that side chain (which is how you avoid Ethereum gas fees). If you think your buyers will be okay with an NFT not minted directly on Ethereum, go to town!
3. Simulate transactions
Something that makes NFT trading a crap shoot is gas fees being volatile. You never know exactly what the cost will be. So, while there’s nothing you can do to change prices, one of the ways to save gas fees on minting NFTs is to streamline your transactions. Using a tool like DeFi Saver, you can create a “recipe,” or an example NFT transaction, simulating how much it’s likely to cost. By doing this, you can game out different minting scenarios and strategize your NFT trading instead of randomly walking into surprise gas fees.
4. Mint on Solana
If Ethereum gas fees have gotten in your craw so badly that you throw up your hands and rage quit your Ethereum-maximalist position, there are still other options for your NFT trading aspirations. Other blockchains like Solana are rapidly growing their NFT markets as traders flee the high fees on Ethereum. You can skip the crazy fees altogether and just mint your NFT collection on Solana instead.
5. Mint by night
At peak volume times, Ethereum gas fees can be hundreds of dollars. Of course, you don’t want to be shelling out that kind of money just to get your art tokenized. Luckily, volatility means if fees are high one minute, they can be low the next. Tracking price patterns and choosing to mint during low-traffic times can save a lot of money. If you don’t want to track it too closely, late on a Saturday night tends to see lower gas fees. There are also tools that track various gas costs and show you analysis on when it’s a good time to transact.
Which of these ways to save gas fees n minting NFTs will you choose?
Whether you’re lazy minting, using a side chain like Polygon, strategizing your minting with simulations or timing, or going to a completely different blockchain like Solana, there are quite a few ways to save gas fees on minting NFTs. Ethereum gas fees seem to be coming down for the time being, but don’t let your NFT trading profits get rekt cause you didn’t think about gas fees.
About the Author
Michael Hearne
About Decentral Publishing
Decentral Publishing is dedicated to producing content through our blog, eBooks, and docu-series to help our readers deepen their knowledge of cryptocurrency and related topics. Do you have a fresh perspective or any other topics worth discussing? Keep the conversation going with us online at: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
