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How Much Pollution Do NFTs Create?by@alfredodecandia
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How Much Pollution Do NFTs Create?

by Alfredo de CandiaApril 17th, 2021
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Many forget with the explosion of NFTs that took place in the last period, is that related to the environmental theme because the NFT, acronym for Non Fungible Token, are nothing but unique tokens and to make or exchange them, it is necessary to exploit and make transactions on the reference blockchain. This means that every time we create or trade an NFT we will have to make one or more transactions on related blockchain and, as we will see, not all of them are eco-friendly with the environment.

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An aspect that many forget with the explosion of NFTs that took place in the last period, is that related to the environmental theme because the NFT, acronym for Non Fungible Token, are nothing but unique tokens and to make or exchange them, it is necessary to exploit and make transactions on the reference blockchain.

This means that every time we create or trade an NFT, we will have to make one or more transactions on the related blockchain and, as we will see, not all of them are eco-friendly with the environment in which we live.

In fact, often most of the authors and users who approach this sector for the first time, do not have and do not know how the same works or what advantages and disadvantages there are in operating one or the other blockchain, starting right from the cost of the transaction in which in some blockchains they exceed 100 dollars without problems, while in others the entire procedure is even free.

Returning to the environmental issue, a parameter that mainly affects the environmental impact of a blockchain and indirectly also the various transactions such as those related to NFTs, depends a lot and exclusively on the type of consensus protocol that a particular blockchain uses.

For example, everyone knows how much the bitcoin blockchain that uses the Proof of Work protocol consumes, alas, the same protocol also uses the Ethereum blockchain and this means that even the NFTs we are creating and exchanging, pollute and a lot in turn.

But how much do the various platforms consume for NFTs on Ethereum?

To answer this question, we can observe the data collected with special tools, such as Carbon.fyi, which are updated a few weeks ago:

  • OpenSea produced over 67 million kg of CO2
  • Nifty Gateway has produced over 15 million kg of CO2
  • Rarible, it produced over 12 million kg of CO2

These are some data of the most used platforms and we can already see how inevitably all the NFTs that have been produced on the Ethereum blockchain have indirectly impacted environmental pollution and not only, since a lot of energy is also consumed by the blockchain itself. .

Let's not forget that we are not only talking about creating the NFT itself, but also all transactions involving exchanges, and as NFTs run on the blockchain, they will continue to pollute as long as the blockchain is up and potentially polluting the people indefinitely. same NFT.

Would you like to buy or trade an NFT that will forever pollute the world?

Not me.

So should we stop creating and trading NFTs?

No. The point is that we need to take advantage of platforms and blockchains that are already eco-compatible and carbon neutral such as the EOS blockchain which not only allows you to create and exchange NFTs efficiently but also not pay any fees for the transactions.

In fact, the EOS blockchain, which uses a consensus protocol system called Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), allows you to manage a large number of transactions, so high that it would be able to manage the entire centralized banking system, and by exploiting special wallets we obtain even free transactions every day and this also allows you to have the entire creation and exchange process completely without paying transaction fees.

Can I create and trade NFTs for free?

Exactly, by exploiting some main wallets regarding the EOS blockchain such as Anchor Wallet, it is possible to make transactions without worrying about paying anything, in fact it covers that misery of fees that do not exceed 0.0010 EOS.

For those who want to deepen this aspect then we refer to the first book in the world concerning NFTs was written, Mastering NFT - Practical Guide for beginners and not, a real manual that analyzes the various aspects that bind an NFT and from various points of view, for example these are the various chapters that deals with the book in question (here the complete index):

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Chapter 2 - Getting started

Chapter 3 - How to create an NFT

Chapter 4 - How to sell an NFT

Chapter 5 - NFT and the environment

Chapter 6 - NFT and copyright

Chapter 7 - The ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards

Chapter 8 - Conclusions

As we see, we are talking about a really well-finished book that also analyzes the more legal aspects of NFT, with in-depth care as all the
national, European and even international regulations are listed, such as
American, Japanese and Chinese legislation. , something that is hardly within everyone's reach unless after consultation with a lawyer.

Let's not forget that in this book 5 different blockchains are analyzed, with all the pros and cons of using one blockchain over another, demonstrating how the sector offers much more than we think, in fact the blockchains that are analyzed in detail are:

  • EOS, the first and only blockchain in the world to be carbon neutral
  • Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and its SLP tokens
  • IOST, blockchain based on the Proof of Believability consensus protocol
  • Zilliqa (ZIL), which uses a hybrid system of PoW and PoS
  • Ethereum (ETH), the most widespread and well-known blockchain

The various sectors of NFTs are analyzed, since it is not only about art but it is also possible to use them to recover funds, contain other tokens and crypto, for games, digital tickets, tokenize rights, books, films, music and any other element multimedia, documents, link them to physical products and more.

In addition, answers to the following questions will be provided:

  1. Do NFTs pollute?
  2. How much does an NFT pollute and consume?
  3. Can I create an NFT from a work I own?
  4. How to Protect NFTs with Copyright?
  5. How much does it cost to protect your work?
  6. How long does the copyright last?
  7. Copyright and freedom of expression
  8. Copyright around the world

There is no lack of interesting material for everyone and can be an excellent guide for all those who want to approach this sector, and will be an indispensable book for those who are already with their hands in the blockchain and have created their own NFTs, but do not know how. interface with or protect their works in the event of legal disputes.

It is not enough to hoist a sail to sail the seas, but it takes all the knowledge to choose the right boat, auxiliary tools and the right type of sail so that we row in the right direction and do not find ourselves with the wind against.

The book Mastering NFT - Practical Guide for beginners and not, is only available on Amazon and has been translated into 8 different languages
​​such as ItalianEnglishFrench, GermanDutchSpanishPortugues,
Japanese.