Dear Bankless Nation,
The majority of NFTs store their art and key metadata âoffchain.â
Yet thereâs growing demand for âonchainâ NFTs for better permanence and security.
Not sure what makes a project actually onchain, though?
No worries, Iâve got you covered â for todayâs post letâs go over the different shades of onchain and some example projects and DIY resources to note!
-WMP
A Beginnerâs Guide to Onchain NFTs
The Offchain-Onchain Spectrum
In the NFT ecosystem, metadata storage isnât an either/or question as there exists a spectrum of different approaches, ranging from the entirely offchain to the fully onchain. Each approach has its unique nuances, so letâs delve in below.
Offchain
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Offchain storage occurs when essentially only an NFT collectionâs tokens exists on the blockchain while its core metadata (e.g. trait info) and media (i.e. the art) are hosted externally. This approach is inexpensive and offers flexibility but on the flip side it has the least guarantees with regard to long-term durability, especially if the NFT data is stored in a private server setup rather than via decentralized storage networks like Arweave, Filecoin, or IPFS. At least with these networks, a community can take over stewardship if the original creators close up operations, and these sorts of shutterings have happened before with NFT platforms like Ascribe, Digital Objects, Editional, and yes, even FTX. So offchain storage isnât bad per se and is a spectrum in its own right, but itâs something to look out for when present with other potential issues, e.g. a centralized and editable smart contract.
Semi-onchain
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In non-generative contexts, semi-onchain storage is when a project stores some or most of its key metadata on the blockchain while storing its media content offchain, e.g. on IPFS. In the context of generative art a la Art Blocks, this type of storage occurs when a collection stores its main code (output instructions + input âseedâ hash) onchain but it still relies on some offchain dependencies, e.g. external code libraries.
Calldata storage
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An alternative onchaining technique that eschews NFTs in favor of encoding media within Ethereum transaction calldata. This technique, recently repopularized by Ethscriptions, has been around since 2016 and experimented with by projects like 0xmons, Blitnauts, and beyond. The catch? These encodings are at risk of being wiped amid Ethereumâs proposed âPurgeâ upgrade.
Hashed onchain
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This method was famously popularized by Larva Labs, who put it into action six years ago with the original CryptoPunks smart contract. In the creatorsâ own words: âWhen we created CryptoPunks in 2017, we linked the composite images of all the punks to the smart contract by storing a cryptographic hash of the image in the Cryptopunks contract. This way, it was clear that the contract pertained to that image, and that image only.â
Hybrid onchain
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This hybrid approach happens when a project is retroactively brought onchain. In other words, letâs say a collectionâs original smart contract stores its media externally. Then later the project decides to deploy the collectionâs media in a new, separate smart contract to officially archive it onchain. The original contract and the subsequent contract arenât connected directly, but practically speaking they come to live side by side. Examples of projects that have performed this effort are CryptoPunks in 2021 and CrypToadz in 2022.
Fully onchain
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The âgold standardâ as far as token durability goes, this storage method is when all data and media needed to view or reproduce an NFTâs content is stored directly on the same chain the NFT was issued on, e.g. Ethereum. This method is powerful because it means the content will be accessible (and composable, interoperable, etc.) for as long as Ethereum exists, i.e. indefinitely. This category can include when projects upload files entirely onchain (e.g. CyberBrokers SVGs) or when projects have their NFT content entirely generated in real time onchain (i.e. âinchainâ) by the Ethereum Virtual Machine, e.g. Runtime Art. This category also encompasses when generative art projects store their code onchain and rely on onchain libraries, e.g. p5js. In the past creating fully onchain art was relatively expensive with regard to gas costs, though in recent times innovators have been devising increasingly affordable ways to affordably mint onchain. Chaos Roads by Chainleft is one such example of the more efficient possibilities here today.
Examples of onchain NFTs
- đ˛ Autoglyphs â Created by CryptoPunks creators Larva Labs, Autoglyphs is hailed as the first onchain generative art collection on Ethereum.
- đ˝ Avastars â Inspired by Autoglyphs, Avastars later became the first PFP collection to entirely store its metadata on Ethereum; it pioneered the method of storing a pingable bank of SVG traits within a smart contract.
- đ¸ Baby Pepes â An animated GIF collection whose odyssey to becoming onchain was conducted and documented by xtremetom, a developer and co-founder of Cool Cats.
- đĄď¸ Loot â If you were around in 2021 you probably remember the text-centric Loot adventurer gear NFTs becoming a sensation, but what you may not know is that the 8,000 pieces were generated directly âinchainâ by their code and the EVM as no files were uploaded to Ethereum.
- đŚ Moonbirds â An onchain migrator, this PFP collection started out with IPFS storage but later invested into uploading all its trait layers to an Ethereum smart contract, which is now responsible for assembling and backstopping the images.
- 𧎠Neolastics â By onchain innovator and creative Simon de la Rouviere, this is one of the first-ever onchain generative art projects and the first to use a bonding curve for NFT minting.
- đŤ Nouns â Nouns DAOâs architecture, from its art generator to its governance system, is not only entirely onchain but also incredibly innovative. As RTFKT chief technology officer Samuel Cardillo has previously explained, â[This] smart contract ⌠is out of this galaxy. Just pure perfection. Everything decentralized, onchain, generated in a SUPER clever way.â
Making your own onchain NFT
In the past, if you wanted to create an onchain NFT and didnât have smart contract development skills, youâd have to enlist the help or services of someone who did.
Now, though, there are some no-code resources available that creatives can tap if they want to readily mint stuff onchain. For instance, Indelible Labs is one tooling suite that specifically makes it straightforward to drop large NFT collections onchain. A newer release here to note is Efficax by diid, a streamlined interface that allows you to mint fully onchain ERC-1155 NFTs on Manifold.
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Additional resources
Zooming out, if you want to get a better sense of the range of onchain projects weâve seen in NFTs to date, check out the Onchain Canon, a great repository that was collectively curated during my time at JPG. Another resource to keep an eye on here going forward is On-Chain Checker by tokenfox. In early access for now, the platformâs designed to help you get an idea for just how onchain a given collection is using a five-point scoring system.
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Zooming out
The big picture? The shift from a technical niche, requiring intricate knowledge to craft onchain NFTs, towards more accessible, no-code solutions like Indelible Labs and Efficax signifies a democratization of onchain minting.
While NFTs continue to grow in popularity, itâs essential to take into consideration not just where their data lives, but how that location might impact their longevity and value. For collectors and creators alike, it's less about choosing a side in the offchain-onchain spectrum and more about understanding the implications of each choice.
As for the implications of âthe fully onchain,â thatâs major durability, full composability, and persistent interoperability. And I think thatâs a damn compelling combo for us cryptonative dreamers!