OpenSea now offers cross-blockchain support across the Ethereum, Polygon, Klatyn, and Solana blockchains. This guide briefly explains the differences between them.
Ethereum
Official Website: ethereum.org
Token: ETH
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality launched in 2015.
Ether is the native currency of the Ethereum network and it’s commonly abbreviated to ETH, which is its ticker symbol. Ethereum, like Bitcoin, currently uses a proof-of-work mining model. In proof-of-work, miners are decentralized computers that use their computing power to process and confirm transactions. In Ethereum, new transactions get added in "blocks" every 15 seconds. Miners are a built-in mechanism of the Ethereum blockchain and get paid in ETH.
ETH is used to pay transaction fees (known as gas fees) on the Ethereum blockchain. OpenSea has no say in setting gas fees - they are determined by supply/demand and fluctuate according to network usage.
Polygon
Official Website: polygon.technology
Token: MATIC
Polygon (previously known as the Matic Network) is a separate blockchain that provides scalable, secure and instant transactions with Ethereum currencies like ETH, USDC and DAI.
As one of the first scaling solutions for Ethereum, cryptocurrencies must be "bridged" from Ethereum's blockchain to Polygon. Think of Polygon as a sibling to Ethereum, the currencies are similar, but the two blockchains have slight differences.
Beginning in July 2021, users can use Polygon to create, buy and sell NFTs without paying transaction fees, essentially creating a gas-free marketplace.
Klaytn
Official Website: www.klaytn.foundation
Token: KLAY
Klaytn is an open-source public blockchain project, built to be the fundamental trust layer for the metaverse, respecting and empowering the participation and contribution of its community and stakeholders. Users can use the Kaikas wallet browser extension to buy and sell Klaytn NFTs on OpenSea.
- EVM-based dApp deployment and execution on top of a PoS model that holds 1-second block finality and an elevated TPS environment
- A comprehensive package of open source tooling and supportive ecosystem to make building for the metaverse easier than ever, including: L2 (service chain) solutions, wallets and account management, SDKs, interoperability tools, DAO governance tools, and more.
Solana
Official Website: https://solana.com/
Token: SOL
Solana is a high-speed and low-cost blockchain with low environmental impact. Solana’s performance is driven by a single global state, which is capable of processing tens of thousands of smart contracts at once, and by Proof of History, a distributed clock that unlocks low-latency, sub-second finality across the global state.
Learn more about Solana here.