Rarible Passes NFT Minting Fee From Creators To Buyers

Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Rarible has unveiled a new feature that enables artists to dabble into the booming digital collectibles space and create NFTs at virtually no cost. 

The new feature, dubbed “lazy minting,” has already been integrated into the platform, Rarible said.

The vast majority of NFTs are now on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, which is prone to high gas fees at times of network congestion. As a result of the recent NFT craze, Ethereum gas fees have spiked once again, increasing costs for NFT artists. 

Meanwhile, Rarible claims that with its “lazy minting” feature, NFTs are minted not at the moment of creation, which is a common practice, but at the moment of purchase.

Consequently, this puts the responsibility of paying the gas fees on the buyer. 

“It’s the buyer who pays the gas fees when purchasing the item. Until then, your NFT is listed on the marketplace just like any other NFT, and the data is being safely stored on IPFS (decentralized storage),” Rarible said.

Per Rarible Analytics, currently, the average gas fee on the marketplace for minting a single ERC-721 token is around ETH 0.127 (USD 480). 

Additionally, the platform added that the new feature is the next step towards sustainability for the platform, “as it reduces the number of unnecessary transactions on Ethereum related to NFTs that don’t get purchased.”

According to BitInfoCharts.com, 7-day average transaction fee on Ethereum was USD 34.3 on October 18, while it had hit its all-time high of USD 46.96 in early September. The 7-day median transaction fee on the same day was USD 15.24, while the September ATH was USD 20.53.

This would suggest that the new feature could give Rarible, which is currently the 9th largest NFT marketplace, an edge over rival platforms at a time when the competition is becoming fierce in the space.

Last week alone, two crypto exchanges – FTX US and Coinbase – announced the launch of their NFT marketplaces. Coinbase said that 1 million (1.5%) of the company’s users registered for the waitlist within the first 24 hours.

FTX, which initially offered NFT minting for free, has added a USD 10 paywall after being flooded with “a massive number of submissions,” most of which were identical images of a fish, indicating spam.

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