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We exist to help individuals and businesses harness the power of NFT technology safely. We also want to ensure that everyone who ventures into NFTs stands the best possible chance to be profitable —whether they’re a digital content creator, collector or business.
This mission comes with a responsibility to use the best tools available to deliver cost-efficient, easy-to-use and socially responsible products and services.
As an NFT platform, blockchain powers everything we do (our video What are NFTs? shares why in under 4 minutes). So choosing our blockchain carefully is central to our ability to deliver a fantastic experience for creators and collectors using our social media NFT marketplace, and businesses who use our API to power their NFT-based projects.
With all this in mind, we chose a blockchain called xDai.* Here’s what you need to know about this Ethereum sister chain, and why it trumped competitors.
What’s the big deal with xDai?
As always, we promise not to get too technical so we’ve broken up the big deal into bite-sized chunks: what it is and why it’s better than alternatives.
What is xDai?
xDai is a stable coin….
Going live in 2018, xDai was the first native stable coin — where the native currency of the chain (the Dai) is linked to a fiat currency. In this case, 1 Dai is equal to 1 USD.
Because xDai’s value is linked to the US dollar, it’s spared the dramatic ups and downs of the cryptocurrency market. This makes it an excellent chain to build apps on that involve payments or value exchange.
…That integrates well with other chains.
It’s an Ethereum-compatible side-chain (hence “sister”) — its own separate network that’s connected to the Ethereum main net via two bridges that allow for seamless two-way asset/data transfer. This means that xDai is connected to the bustling Ethereum ecosystem, so value generated on the xDai blockchain can easily be transferred and then spent on the Ethereum chain as Ether.
(Psst! Here’s a quick guide to what Ethereum is and why it’s different to BitCoin).
What’s more, it’s also interoperable with other chains through a technology called EVM, or Ethereum Virtual Machine. They help maintain consensus across the blockchain and allow any code or smart contracts written on xDai to work on any other EVM-driven chain. So a smart contract created on xDai will work on chains like Polygon, Eth, Theta, Artis and many many more.
It’s also Proof of Stake!
All in all, this means that by using xDai you can make fast, inexpensive, stable blockchain transactions that don't cost a fortune in gas fees and don't cost the Earth either.
Why is being Proof of Stake blockchain better?
Because they validate their transactions more efficiently, Proof of Stake blockchains have orders of magnitudes smaller carbon footprint than their Proof of Work counterparts. This lessens the environmental impact of the NFTs you mint on any platform that uses a Proof of Stake chain.
Because Momint uses xDai, minting your NFT is up to 2.4 million times more energy-efficient than Bitcoin and 3921 times more efficient than Ethereum.
But is all of this safe?
xDai is a well known, trusted and widely adopted chain in the blockchain developer community. While blockchain technology has been hit with its fair share of scandal — like the recent theft of more than $600M in cryptocurrencies (including ETH) — here are 3 reasons we know xDai is a safe choice:
- Military-grade encryption. AES-256 is the strongest encryption standard available. It’s practically unbreakable by brute force (based on current computing power) — which makes it the military, and xDai’s, first choice.
- Diverse pool of node operators. xDai is a true blockchain, with a truly decentralised, public ledger. Some blockchains are more…centralised… than others — which could make them less secure. For example, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) only needs 21 validators/nodes to achieve consensus and approve a transaction.
- An excellent whitepaper. This document, released by a crypto project, shares information about the chain’s concept, and its roadmap for growth and sustainability. The xDai whitepaper is, in short, pretty damn good!
Why it’s the Momint favourite
Like we said, we want to maximise the chances of your ventures into NFTs being profitable and safe — and using xDai helps us do that.
Transactions on the xDai chain are fast and affordable, and linked 1:1 with the USD. So it could take you as little as 5 seconds to mint your NFT, and we can charge you a future commission on its first sale, that totally covers the transaction’s gas fees.
It’s also an ecologically aware blockchain network that is constantly working to improve its energy efficiency. This means we can open up the world of NFTs more accessibly for everybody, with a clear conscience.
Multi-chain plans
That being said, there are more and more blockchains out there that have a lot of value to add, and that do things differently. Momint will be supporting multiple blockchains very soon, including Polygon, Ethereum and more. This will allow you to mint your tokens and easily move them wherever you see fit!
Craving a little more detail? Let us know!
Aside from our ever-expanding blog, we’ve set up NFT Academy on YouTube to keep you up to date with all you need to know to succeed with blockchain technology and NFTs. Whether you’re an artist, collector or business — we want to hear from you!
If you have any questions, or would like to read or watch something related to these topics that we’ve not covered yet, email us at help@momint.so.
*xDai is in the process of renaming to Gnosis Chain. Because this merger has only juuuuuust come into effect, doesn’t affect underlying chain functionality and will take approximately 6 months to transition we’ve just kept calling it xDai for now — as that’s still what most people will be looking for online.
