Are you wondering how to develop smart contracts for your NFTs? Smart contracts are critical to NFT development because they execute predetermined rules. With smart contracts, NFT creators eliminate the requirement for physical intervention. The contracts verify the authenticity and rarity of your non-fungible tokens. Furthermore, you develop a smart contract to prevent tampering or counterfeiting of your NFTs. Here, we explore the steps to follow when creating smart contracts.

What is a smart contract?

Before exploring the steps to develop a smart contract, it’s essential to answer the question: ‘what is a smart contract?’ According to Investopedia, a digital contract is a self-executing agreement whose terms are written in computer code. Any smart contract exists in a blockchain environment. This means that it’s impossible to tamper with them. Furthermore, tracking the transaction history of an NFT is possible because of the decentralized ledger. Here are the primary reasons why you need smart contracts:

• They expedite transactions: the agreements enable parties who don’t know each other to conduct business in a trustless environment.

• They are faster and more affordable: smart contracts remove intermediaries from a transaction. Thus, they’re quick and more affordable than traditional contracts that require intermediaries.

• Irreversible: one of the attributes of a smart contract is that they’re immutable. This means that upon deployment, parties can’t tamper with them.

• Transparency: Because digital contracts exist in a decentralized environment, they’re open and visible to each party concerned.

• Customizable: programmers who know How to develop a smart contract can customize it to fit the needs of a business.

Where to develop a smart contract

At this stage, you know ‘what is a smart contract?’ and its benefits. The next level is to understand where to develop these agreements. Smart contracts stay in a blockchain ecosystem. There are multiple blockchain networks where you can build your contracts. Here are the popular networks:

Digital agreements on Solana

You can develop smart contracts on mainets such as Ethereum. However, the downsides of such networks include high gas fees and slow processing of transactions. Solana is a network that overcomes the challenges mentioned above.

Solana is famous for its high transaction speed and efficiency. Furthermore, a Solana smart contract is executed promptly and attracts a low transaction fee. Here are the main perks of the Solana smart contract:

High settlement speed

A Solana smart contract dispenses over 50,000 transactions per second (TPS). This makes it a popular network among developers.

Eco-friendly

A critical downside of Ethereum mainnet is that it uses a proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism when mining blocks. This consensus approach consumes much energy, leading to carbon emissions. Fortunately, Solana utilizes the Proof of Stake (PoS) agreement approach. The PoS consensus mechanism is almost 100% energy efficient. So, if you’re an environmentally-conscious individual, you should adopt Solana.

Affordable transaction cost

Many users of NFTs encounter high transaction costs on different networks. The fees are significantly reduced thanks to Solana’s Proof of History (PoH) and Turbine protocols.

Rust programming language

Developers use Rust to create Solana’s non-fungible marketplace. Rust is the latest language that’s valuable in creating blockchain games and dApps.

Despite its advantages, Solana has multiple downsides, such as a low adoption rate. The low rate of adoption exposes Solana to minimized liquidity. So, developers should weigh the platform’s pros and cons before deciding.

Polygon

A polygon smart contract is built on Polygon, an Ethereum scaling solution. Polygon boosts the functionality of Ethereum by enhancing its speed and scalability. Here are the main perks of the polygon smart contract:

High transaction speed

Polygon has a high settlement speed over its parent chain, Ethereum. The faster transaction makes the platform have a low transaction fee than Ethereum.

Dapps

A polygon smart contract can be used for different dApps, enabling apps to work with minimal error. Because Ethereum supports the Polygon, a polygon smart contract can be used for different apps backed by Ethereum and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Ethereum smart contract

Professionals who know How to develop a smart contract know Ethereum. Ethereum is a popular platform to Develop smart contracts. It’s the second crypto in market capitalization. The network was designed to facilitate the development of the digital agreement, hence the popularity of an ethereum smart contract.

Besides its use to launch an ethereum smart contract, developers can also use the platform to operate dApps like DAOs. Here are the main advantages of an ethereum smart contract:

Adaptability and liquidity

Ethereum is a popular network for smart contract development. The platform is highly adaptable and comes with high liquidity.

Availability of developers

Ethereum is a popular platform that has attracted many developers. The many choices give entrepreneurs multiple options for identifying the right developers within their budgets. Furthermore, entrepreneurs can easily find.

Expansive network

Ethereum has undergone extensive testing and experimentation over the years as a popular platform to develop smart contracts. These moves have attracted a large community that supports the platform.

Ethereum keeps innovating

Each day, Ethereum developers look for innovative techniques to enhance the network and create new dApps.

Ethereum suffers from various downsides despite its draws, such as high gas fees and network congestion. Furthermore, the platform uses a proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism that gobbles up much energy, leading to greenhouse emissions. The good news is that you can develop a smart contract on the platform’s scaling solutions, such as Polygon.

How to develop smart contracts

Here are the steps to follow to develop a smart contract

Choose an appropriate blockchain network

Before you start the development process, it’s critical to identify the right network for your solution. Some options include Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon.

 Select appropriate tools

There are multiple tools to use in creating your smart contracts. Thus, you should identify the right ones that meet your development needs.

The tools can be in the form of programming languages, integrated development environments, and frameworks. The blockchain network you use determines the type of programming language to use. For example, Ethereum developers can use Solidity.

The integrated development environments are critical when writing and testing the code. Some essential ones include Remix and SettleMint.

Frameworks tools are critical during smart contract testing and deploying smart contracts. The choice of Framework tools depends on the developer’s knowledge and experience. Some tools to choose from here include Truffle, Hardhat, and Brownie.

Finally, Testnets create a controlled environment to examine whether the sample you make passes muster.

How to develop smart contracts

Here, the developer crafts a code for the digital contract and converts all the agreement conditions into lines of code. Once you’re through with the development, innovative contract testing and deployment follow.

Conclusion

Smart contracts allow developers to create unique NFTs with provable ownership and authenticity. The digital agreements facilitate transactions, remove third parties, and facilitate transparency among the transacting parties. Here, we’ve explored three key steps to follow when developing smart contracts. There are various steps to follow, from choosing an appropriate network and selecting tools to establish the agreements.