Okay, let's be honest. We've all been there. You find the perfect NFT. It’s a digital tapestry, a true virtuoso creation… or maybe just one of these cool memes. Then you see the gas fees. All at once, that “steal” of an NFT is now over the price of a weekend trip. It’s enough to make you throw in the towel on the whole Web3 revolution. You feel anxiety, you feel outrage.
We were sold on a decentralized future only to cut checks to centralized banks. Now we’re left with no choice but to purchase hyperinflated JPEGs! Where's the joy in that?
Fear not, fellow degens. The cavalry has arrived. And that cavalry arrives in the form of… Layer 2 solutions.
Gas Fees? Gone. Reduced to Atoms.
Consider Layer 1 (Ethereum, for instance) like a congested highway at rush hour. One, everybody’s bumper-to-bumper, and two, the tollbooths are raping people with prices. Layer 2, in contrast, is the new high-speed rail system built alongside and independent from the highway. It’s able to accommodate so much more traffic, so much quicker, and it costs so much less.
L2s are able to bundle many transactions into one in a very clever way. They do all of the heavy lifting off-chain, and then periodically, fast-post a summary back to the main Ethereum chain. This is, quite simply, mind-blowing.
(Sokha Original Meme: Layer 1 is a super congested highway with a sad Pepe the Frog driving a rusty car. Layer 2 is a really next gen Hyperloop speed train, probably piloted by Chad meme face.
The outcome? Transactions that were previously several dollars, or at least tens of dollars, are now just pennies. Pennies! Now you can afford to truly use your NFTs without eating up the cost of a small nation’s national debt.
Those ludicrous gas fees ensured that NFTs were out of reach for the average person. It was a delightful playground for whales and early adopters. Layer 2 levels the playing field. It empowers artists from the global South to mint their work. They can sell it without losing 50% of their profits to transaction costs. It brings a needed entry point for collectors on a budget to the NFT ecosystem. It fosters empathy and it fosters joy.
Wealth is the only aspect of this landscape that hasn’t changed. Suddenly, NFTs aren’t just for the crypto elite. They're for everyone.
Accessibility for Everyone
A teenager in Argentina creating digital art and selling it to someone in Japan for a few cents in fees. That's the power of Layer 2. And that’s the beauty and miracle of a free, spontaneous, global, decentralized economy.
A broke-looking guy staring longingly at a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. Then the Chad shows up and states “Bro, try Layer 2!” and suddenly the fucking broke dude is all well-adjusted and purchasing the NFT.
Okay, so Layer 2 is great. But why do I claim it’s the hero we needed, not the hero we deserved?
All because we, as a planning and transportation community, were too enthralled by what’s shiny and new. Instead, we followed the shiniest new object, the newest hyped thing, the next biggest PFP project, the hope of a get rich quick scheme. But we brushed under the rug the serious underlying infrastructure issues that were dragging the whole NFT ecosystem down.
We were as naive as children constructing a high-rise on a base of quicksand.
Layer 2: The Unsung Hero?
Layer 3 is the cycle track, and Layer 2 is the concrete foundation we should have been pouring all along. It may not be as sexy as a Lambo, but improving long-term sustainability and resilience is a hell of a lot more important in the big picture.
I get it. It may not be so clear cut when trying to grasp the technical details of what makes Layer 2 solutions tick. Trust me, the benefits are undeniable. It's only going to get better. Improvements such as atomic cross-rollup calls and ZK-proof hardware acceleration would be coming next. Collectively, these innovations should ensure the future of Layer 2 shines even brighter than a laser-eyed CryptoPunk.
A futuristic city skyline with flying cars powered by Layer 2 technology. In the foreground, a multicultural group of excited, young professionals are enthusiastically buying and selling NFTs on their smart phones.
So, are NFTs saved? Maybe not entirely. But Layer 2 has provided them an equally insane fighting chance. It’s given the ecosystem – the infrastructure, the bandwidth, the nimbleness – to help content go mainstream. Read More For the people It’s democratized access to NFTs, making minting accessible and affordable for everyone.
And that, my friends, is something to scream about. It's time for an NFT renaissance!
Here's a final meme to drive the point home:
(Sokha Original Meme: A futuristic city skyline with flying cars powered by Layer 2 technology. In the foreground, a diverse group of people are happily trading NFTs on their phones.)
So, are NFTs saved? Maybe not entirely. But Layer 2 has given them a fighting chance. It's provided the infrastructure needed for mainstream adoption. It's made NFTs accessible and affordable for everyone.
And that, my friends, is something worth celebrating. It's time for an NFT renaissance!
Share this if you're ready for an NFT renaissance!
