I just paid $2,699.78 to put my NFT onchain

Hi Pals !

We finally did it ! Zima was launched a few days ago,

Enjoying a sip of Lemonade after a difficult few weeks !

If you have missed it, you can check it out here (it's still minting) at highlight.xyz/zima

Today I show you Why I paid almost $3,000 to put Zima onchain, and how YOU can pay twice less !

What I did (AKA "What not to do")

Zima NFTs are a combination of:

code poems (text)
talismans (images, the heaviest files)

So I focused on reducing image size the most

(you can try compressing your image using the squoosh.app made by Google)

AVIF is the best extension to get the smallest file possible

Remember, I even used AI ✨ to make the images smaller in one of my previous articles !

But I hit a wall, I had 83 files to upload,

At that scale even $20/image is expensive ( 83 x $20 = $1,660 already !).

Also, at some point you can't compress images any further, it starts losing meaning.

...

But wait, let's step back...

WHY do I have to pay $20 again ?

WTF is Gas ?

Gas on Ethereum is like Gas for your car (Surprise, Surprise ! 🤣)

Travel from Vegas to LA ? you'll need 40 Liters.

At 3$/Liter that's $130 for the trip !

I'm quite proud of this analogy, hope it works well !

Ethereum transactions are the same...

but there's only one Gas station,

and you don't pay with dollars, you pay with ETH !

(specifically gwei, where 1 gwei = 0.000000001 ETH)

Like in real life, the price of gas is not constant (FAR from it) !

This year, you can see gas prices fluctuated A LOT, in fact in March it spiked at almost 100 gwei (10 TIMES more than today)

This is why onchain art is so cheap right now !

Even worse,

this week if you had transacted on Wednesday you would have paid 6 TIMES MORE than on Sunday ! 😱

For a 5$ transaction ? Sure, why not, but for a $2,700 one ? **OUCH**

See, I deployed at 11 Gwei (I completely forgot that gas is cheaper on weekends!)

Don't make this mistake, you should:

Plan in Advance: Estimate the overall cost of your deployment
Use a script: Set a target gas price, for ex. 3 gwei → And send the transaction only when gas prices fall below it

I could have saved THOUSANDS of dollars ! 🥶

If you enjoyed this,

Please go check out the Zima mint page

And share the work on Twitter !

See you next week ! ✌

Nahiko

If you enjoyed this issue, please tap the Share button below ❤️ Thank you!

I share 1 new thing I learned in the NFT space, every Sunday ✨ Don’t miss the next one:

Hi Pals !

We finally did it ! Zima was launched a few days ago,

If you have missed it, you can check it out here (it's still minting) at highlight.xyz/zima

Today I show you Why I paid almost $3,000 to put Zima onchain, and how YOU can pay twice less !

What I did (AKA "What not to do")

Zima NFTs are a combination of:

code poems (text)
talismans (images, the heaviest files)

So I focused on reducing image size the most

(you can try compressing your image using the squoosh.app made by Google)

Remember, I even used AI ✨ to make the images smaller in one of my previous articles !

But I hit a wall, I had 83 files to upload,

At that scale even $20/image is expensive ( 83 x $20 = $1,660 already !).

Also, at some point you can't compress images any further, it starts losing meaning.

...

But wait, let's step back...

WHY do I have to pay $20 again ?

WTF is Gas ?

Gas on Ethereum is like Gas for your car (Surprise, Surprise ! 🤣)

Travel from Vegas to LA ? you'll need 40 Liters.

At 3$/Liter that's $130 for the trip !

Ethereum transactions are the same...

but there's only one Gas station,

and you don't pay with dollars, you pay with ETH !

(specifically gwei, where 1 gwei = 0.000000001 ETH)

Like in real life, the price of gas is not constant (FAR from it) !

This year, you can see gas prices fluctuated A LOT, in fact in March it spiked at almost 100 gwei (10 TIMES more than today)

Even worse,

this week if you had transacted on Wednesday you would have paid 6 TIMES MORE than on Sunday ! 😱

See, I deployed at 11 Gwei (I completely forgot that gas is cheaper on weekends!)

Don't make this mistake, you should:

Plan in Advance: Estimate the overall cost of your deployment
Use a script: Set a target gas price, for ex. 3 gwei → And send the transaction only when gas prices fall below it

I could have saved THOUSANDS of dollars ! 🥶

If you enjoyed this,

Please go check out the Zima mint page

And share the work on Twitter !

See you next week ! ✌

Nahiko

If you enjoyed this issue, please tap the Share button below ❤️ Thank you!

I share 1 new thing I learned in the NFT space, every Sunday ✨ Don’t miss the next one:

I just paid $2,699.78 to put my NFT onchain

Nahiko's Bookmarks

I just paid $2,699.78 to put my NFT onchain

I just paid $2,699.78 to put my NFT onchain

Here's how YOU could pay TWICE less ! 🤔

What I did (AKA "What not to do")

WTF is Gas ?

I just paid $2,699.78 to put my NFT onchain

Nahiko's Bookmarks

I just paid $2,699.78 to put my NFT onchain

I just paid $2,699.78 to put my NFT onchain

Here's how YOU could pay TWICE less ! 🤔

What I did (AKA "What not to do")

WTF is Gas ?