What are gas taxes in the context of NFT creation and why do they exist?

by James · April 4, 2023

Gas fees are usually seen as one of the most basic costs associated with doing anything on blockchains that support smart contracts, such as Ethereum.

They are transaction fees for any activity on a network. These transaction fees are also an important aspect of minting, selling, buying or trading non-fungible tokens (NFT).

But users rarely know what gas taxes actually are and why they are charged. Some who are aware question how they can potentially avoid or lower them. With that in mind, today we’ll explore gas taxes and some best practices for minting NFTs.

Table of Contents

Gas taxes and their functionality: How it all works

In the context of blockchain networks like Ethereum, when someone refers to “gas”, they are referring to a unit that measures the amount of computational effort required to perform operations on the network.

Each individual transaction will require a fee to incentivize completion. Gas, in this case, is a reference to the fee, and the fee must be paid.

However, the amount of gas required for a specific transaction will vary, depending on how complex it is. Those responsible for executing the transactions and maintaining the network will charge a fee for their services.

Gas fees are paid in the network’s native cryptocurrency. For example, Ethereum, Ether or ETH is the original coin that powers the network. This means that users must have ETH in their cryptocurrency wallets to pay for the transaction fee. Each user must pay gas fees to perform a transaction or do another activity on the blockchain.

The price of ETH gas is expressed in a different unit, known as “gwei.” One gwei will correspond to a total of 0.000000001 Ether (ETH).

Numerous other blockchains that can facilitate smart contracts and perform operations will also typically charge their own gas fees.

How are gas taxes used in NFTs?

Any transaction that occurs on a blockchain does not happen automatically. The execution of each transaction will require a specific amount of computing resources to be executed.

The gas fees are the compensation paid to those responsible for confirming the transactions and putting them on the blockchain. The gas incentive encourages individuals to stake the network, or mine, depending on its underlying consensus mechanism. Each transaction will typically have an associated fee to prevent infinite loops or malicious actors from abusing the system and compromising the system’s security.

In the context of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gas fees are used to compensate miners or validators, depending on the network’s consensus mechanism, for their documentation of NFT mining transactions on the blockchain.

When artists aim to put their artwork on a blockchain, they have to stamp it. When they create it, they execute an order to the network that stakers or miners must complete. For their services they charge a gas fee. The same happens when they record specific data on a blockchain or when someone buys, sells or trades an NFT on a specific network.

The minting transaction of the non-fungible token (NFT) will only take place at the time when the creator pays for the approved gas fees and afterwards they will find out that their NFT is live on the respective blockchain network.

These NFT gas fees are variable, and the price paid for a specific transaction will depend on a number of metrics, including network activity, the amount of data being recorded, or general congestion.

Is there a way to avoid gas charges with NFTs?

Several ways have been created to help creators pay as little as possible in gas fees. For example, some NFT marketplaces have implemented the ability for creators to list their NFTs for sale, and then the gas fee is paid at the time a buyer submits and completes an offer. The gas tax is included in the sale price when the purchase is accepted.

Listing multiple NFTs as a collection will also lead to a reduction in gas fees, as the creator will collect the assets and sell them as a package to a potential buyer.

Experts at SmartMint say that switching from a congested network like Ethereum to another network that focuses on keeping gas fees low can save users from high costs.

Proceed to create NFTs through Pastel’s SmartMint

For creatives who want to focus on creating artwork, or primarily music, the process of manually coding a smart contract, then putting it on a blockchain to sell it can be tedious, difficult and time-consuming.

SmartMint by Pastel Network aims to simplify the procedure by offering a code-free solution that enables anyone to create an NFT easily.

“SmartMint addresses these challenges by providing creators with a no-code NFT mining platform accessible to all,” said Pastel co-founder Anthony Georgiades.

Users can create NFTs on multiple blockchains, as SmartMint supports Ethereum, Polygon and Solana. Users can also add custom attributes, properties, and metadata to their creations without being limited to existing standards.

SmartMint also has Sense, a near-duplicate NFT detection protocol, and Cascade, a distributed, permanent storage system designed for NFT data, where users have to pay once and store the NFTs forever.

These tools can help relieve users of some of the costs associated with creating and minting NFTs.

With all of this in mind, we’ve gone through some of the most fundamental aspects of gas taxes and how they connect to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). By using the right tools and choosing the right blockchain, many advertisers can reduce the costs associated with creating NFTs and listing them on marketplaces.

Disclaimer: This is a paid release. The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily represent those of NewsBTC. NewsBTC does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information available in such content. Do your research and invest at your own risk.