Compressed NFTs: A quick dive into the stack

NFT is an exciting vertical within the world of cryptocurrencies. As the use case expands and the path toward the digital universe seems inevitable, the underlying framework for NFT needs support and a much more robust technical infrastructure. To further bring adoption and merge with the Web2 world, Metaplex launched NFT Compression as a way to support large-scale NFT minting and function, for use cases of Gaming/Commerce and those at the Enterprise level (large-scale social/ marketing).

What are Compressed NFTs?

Simply put, NFT compression dramatically reduces the cost of minting and storing NFTs. The possibility of mass-quantity NFT collection has now become a reality. To achieve this, Solana Lab’s Concurrent Merkle Tree program (Gummyroll) and the Metaplex Foundation’s Compressed NFTs program (Bubblegum) work in tandem to allow Metaplex NFTs to be encoded into the Solana ledger.

With compression, it is cheaper and much more convenient to deploy a collection at size. Metaplex has the actual statistic comparing the current solutions, and it looks encouraging for further adoption in Web3.

How this work:

Compressed NFTs are stored in Merkle trees via the Gummyroll program where:

• Roots of Merkle trees are stored and updated on-chain in a buffer stored in a program account

• Modifications to a tree (e.g. mint, transfer, delegate) are encoded in the Solana ledger

• Off-chain indexers observe changes to the tree via the ledger and cache NFT-related metadata, then serve data and proofs needed to power dApps and smart contracts

In an essence, the solution allows for a store of a compressed hash of the asset data (the metadata) on-chain while maintaining the actual data off-chain in a database. The program provides a way to verify the off-chain data on-chain and also make concurrent writes to the data.

Unique Properties:

With the current design, the solution allows for several properties to be utilized:

• Lossless compression: Compressed NFTs can be losslessly decompressed into uncompressed Metaplex NFTs — which means users don’t lose quality at any step throughout the process.

• Backward compatibility: compressed NFTs maintain backward compatibility with Metaplex NFTs and can be easily transferred, delegated, and even decompressed into account space for interoperability with existing smart contracts.

Potential Use Cases:

For the ecosystem, this is a step forward for the heavy usage of digital assets, such as gaming, concerts, and the virtual world. the tooling available here allows you to mint, and distribute a 1-Million-items collection, with a much-approved efficiency level.

The biggest use case for the function. in our opinion, is the utilization for gaming, social media, and commerce. These businesses share similarities in digital identity, social marketing, and high entertainment value. As socials continue to evolve, ownership over digital assets, as part of user identity, will increasingly become important. Here are some examples that we think can wildly proliferate in the future:

• Digital items, such as in-game shoes/ character skins, that are tradable, with economic value

• Redeemable NFTs exclusive for in-platform users, as part of a roll-out marketing campaign. Imagine a new Yeezy X Adidas campaign, with exclusive NFT on Fortnite

• Mintable and tradable items, such as concert tickets, hotel and booking reservations, etc.

Conclusion:

While the progress is still in its “experimental” phases, it’s safe to say that the devs haven’t stopped working. It’s also encouraging that the series of ecosystem partners also rally around the initiatives and deliver a product that has opened up the design space, and catered towards a bright future. As always, we are bullish on the further development of the Solana tech and ecosystem.

Our post doesn't truly cover the complexity and advantages of the compression solution on Solana. If you wanna see yourself become bullish like us, feel free to navigate down the rabbit hole below:

Metaplex Public Notion page:
https://metaplex.notion.site/Compression-for-NFTs-Public-94f9faa25f034110b513414a11a85bbe

Bubble Gum NFTs program:
https://www.bubblegum-nfts.com/about