TL;DR:

  • Bubblegum enables compression of NFTs using Merkle trees on the Solana network
  • Compression reduces the cost of creating and managing NFTs by eliminating the need for separate mint, token, and metadata accounts
  • Merkle trees allow for large amounts of data to be stored with minimal cost and maximum security

Problems Solved:

  • Creating and managing NFTs on the blockchain can be expensive
  • Compression reduces costs by eliminating the need for separate mint, token, and metadata accounts
  • Merkle trees also reduce the amount of data stored on-chain, ensuring that the system remains highly scalable

If you're familiar with the world of blockchain and web3, you've likely NFTs. These digital assets have become increasingly popular in recent years, with high-profile sales making headlines around the world.

While NFTs offer many benefits, they also come with some drawbacks. One of the most significant is the cost of creating and managing NFTs on the blockchain. This reason alone steers enterprises away from Public Blockchain like Solana and into Private Blockchains where cost may be more manageable. This is where NFT Compression comes in.

Bubblegum is a program that enables compression of NFTs using Merkle trees. This innovative approach drastically reduces the cost of creating and managing NFTs on the Solana network. Let's take a closer look at how it works.

The compression process involves storing each NFT in a Merkle tree, eliminating the need for separate mint, token, and metadata accounts. This reduces the cost of creating and managing NFTs, making it easier for developers to bring their ideas to life.

To mint a compressed NFT, developers simply append a new item to the Merkle tree with information about the NFT, such as its name, collection, and owner. Developers can also use a range of other methods to manage the lifecycle of their compressed NFTs, such as transfer, burn, delegate, cancel delegate, redeem, cancel redeem, decompress, verify creator, and set and verify collection. These methods ensure the authenticity and security of the NFTs, providing developers with peace of mind.

All of these operations are performed off-chain, with the entire history of the Merkle tree recorded on the Solana ledger via transactions. This means that developers can easily switch providers or replay the tree's history if necessary.

The aim of compression is to reduce the amount of data stored on-chain. This is achieved by storing the data, such as image metadata, in Merkle trees on the Solana ledger and storing the roots on-chain. Off-chain indexers maintain the current state of the Merkle tree by processing all transactions involving the tree. Users can quickly retrieve their data from the indexer. The on-chain root ensures that program interactions are valid and secure, and users can cross-reference the off-chain data with the on-chain root to ensure the data is up-to-date and valid.

This approach to compression is highly effective, as it allows for the storage of large amounts of data with minimal cost and maximum security. By using Merkle trees and off-chain indexers, developers can reduce the amount of data stored on-chain, which reduces costs and ensures that the system remains highly scalable.

Finally, the Digital Asset Standard (DAS) API provides an open-source specification and system that offers a unified interface for querying tokens. The system is backed by an indexer that processes all Bubblegum transactions and stores Merkle trees off-chain. The API allows users to search for NFTs by creator, collection, and owner. What's more, the DAS API is not limited to compressed NFTs, but can also be used for regular Solana NFTs.

If you want to start using Compression and have NFTs that evolve and dynamically changed based on activity within your dApp - visit underdogprotocol.com

We’re rolling out account compression and can’t wait to share it with you! Sign up for early access here.

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