The gas war is one of the main reasons for the high transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain. So what are gas wars in NFT and how do you beat a gas war? If you do not know yet, you should read this article to learn more.
What are gas wars in NFT?
NFTs have dominated the cryptocurrency market throughout 2021, sometimes giving off a 2017 vibe. Back then, traders tried to jump on every new ICO to make sure they didn't miss out, and the same goes for NFTs down today - FOMO is real.
Gas War is a term to describe the absurd spike in the price of Gas - everyone trying to confirm a transaction in a very short period of time, which encourages users to set their Gas price higher and higher, increasing the required gwei beyond Reasonable range expectations.
Just like the rules of the market in real life, when the demand for a crypto asset is higher than its supply, a gas war begins. Therefore, once the blockchain reaches its real-time transaction volume threshold, transactions may fail or slow down. Therefore, some people tip blockchain validators to speed up transactions, prompting them to increase gas fees based on this tip.
How do you beat a gas war?
To reduce the impact of a timely NFT drop and avoid FOMO madness, a few ideas have surfaced. Some are still in the research stage, some are already implemented in some way:
- Standard Booking: The way people book a spot in advance to avoid a rush during the casting phase. Additionally, this will limit how many NFTs each person can mint.
- Early Backer Rewards: If you are one of the first 1000 people in Discord, or the first to follow the project and are an OG, you may be rewarded for your support. Nifty Island is a great example, they rewarded early adopters of the project with exclusive NFTs and exclusive minting opportunities.
- Stealth Drops: A project may have a release date, but not a fixed time. They get everyone ready and then drop it when no one is "queuing at the door". It's not a perfect system, as gas may soar, albeit probably less, once word comes out that casting has begun.
- Lottery: Simple and easy. NBA Top Shot has been using this method for a while, and it's fairer to wait.
- Mint Passes: These tokens can be purchased and burned in future airdrops in exchange for NFTs. It can be difficult to find a Mint Pass for an item, but once it's in your collection, you're ready to go - you can use Mint for free for a long time without worrying about fighting in gas wars.
I hope now you will understand what are gas wars in NFT and how do you beat a gas war. If you're bent on investing, you can buy on the secondary market at an all-time low for a project's reserve price rather than paying a hefty sum for gas at the time of the purchase. But remember, this is not financial advice.
