Layer-1 blockchain Solana has introduced a new solution called state compression that aims to significantly reduce the cost of on-chain storage and NFT minting.
This technology promises to bring down the cost of minting one million non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the network to nearly $110. According to the Solana Foundation tech lead Jon Wong, compressed NFTs on the network are “2,400-24,000 times cheaper than uncompressed peers with identical structures”.
The state compression solution relies on Merkle trees, a data structure that can “compress” the verifiability of a tree of data into a “hash” or “fingerprint” of the current state of the tree. This compression-friendly data structure allows developers to store small amounts of data on-chain, which directly updates the Solana ledger, significantly reducing data storage costs while still utilizing Solana’s base layer’s security and decentralization.
According to Wong, compressed NFTs are now live on Solana’s mainnet-beta and are powering the next wave of novel on-chain product experiences. He noted that the development is a “true cross-ecosystem effort” involving developers from Solana Labs and Metaplex, with support from Phantom and Solflare, and powered by RPC node providers and indexers Helius, Triton, and SimpleHash.
Solana State Compression A Game-Changer?
Many Twitter users classified the state compression solution as a “game-changer” and a path “to make Solana a much more viable option for enterprise use cases.” Solana ecosystem projects such as Dialect, Crossmint, Helium, and Wordcel are among the early adopters of the state compression solution, leveraging it for NFT minting, integrations for business loyalty programs, and improvements in user experience.
Solana’s state compression technology could have significant implications for the blockchain industry, particularly in terms of reducing storage costs and improving efficiency. The technology’s widespread adoption could result in more enterprise use cases for the Solana network, further boosting its reputation and adoption rate.
