What is Lazy Minting?

Lazy minting is a strategy that is increasingly being used in NFT contracts. It helps in reducing high gas fees on Ethereum.

The process of converting a digital item into a crypto-collectable or non-fungible token on a blockchain is known as minting. It is the process of uploading a particular item and allocating it to a unique token on the blockchain. The digital item is kept in a decentralised database, or distributed ledger, and cannot be edited, modified, or deleted.

What is lazy minting?

Lazy minting allows NFT artists to sign "minting authorisations", enabling users to mint NFTs later. These mint authorisation signatures are free to create and ensure that no NFTs are minted without prior approval.

It is a method of deferring minting until the non-fungible token is about to be sold. Buyers pay the fee after their NFT has been sold, making digital asset creation more affordable and equitable for creators.

It is now available on major NFT platforms such as OpenSea and Rarible.

What is the significance of lazy minting?

It is vital because it allows artists to save money when minting, which is a significant concern when gas prices for Ethereum transactions are high.

When the Ethereum blockchain is overcrowded, the gas price can skyrocket. This forces artists to pay large sums of ETH to list their work for sale on digital asset marketplaces.

During hyped NFT launches, bull markets, and market-related headlines where many people try to conduct on-chain transactions, the cost to mint an NFT can become relatively high.

How does it function?

The creation of off-chain NFTs is used in lazy minting. This implies that until an NFT is purchased, it is not officially on the blockchain. Once the digital item is bought, it is minted on-chain and the buyer is responsible for paying the gas costs to mint the NFT.

It can be broken down into three general steps:

1. A smart contract is used by the creator to mint an NFT. On behalf of the seller, this contract will mint and sell the NFT.

2. To approve the lazy procedure, the seller offers a private signature containing a wallet and token information (such as the token ID, price, etc.).

3. The buyer buys the token and pays a price that includes the NFT and the cost of minting it. After that, the NFT is added to the chain and delivered to the buyer's wallet.

What advantages does it offer?

It offers several advantages, including:

1. Reducing the impact of gas fees: By moving the payment of the gas fee to mint NFTs after the sale, sellers can include the fee in their pricing models, reducing the deterrent effect of the high costs on budding artists.

2. Lowering the entry barrier: One of the chief advantages is the removal of high gas costs required to mint an NFT, lowering the entry barrier and making the process more accessible to developers and artists.

3. Boosts liquidity: It promotes liquidity because NFTs can only be transferred after being sold. As a result, buyers won't have to wait an eternity for their NFT to be transferred, and sellers won't end up with a stockpile of newly minted, unsold NFTs.

Bottom line

Lazy minting is a thriving trend in the market for non-fungible digital assets, with numerous advantages for artists and developers. It removes the initial cost of minting NFTs, making the process more affordable and accessible.

Furthermore, because only sold NFTs are minted, and unnecessary power-hungry transactions are removed from the blockchain, the benefits aren't limited to artists and developers.