Flow vs. Ethereum Blockchain: What’s the Difference?

NFTs are available on a multitude of different blockchains, but Ethereum and Flow are two of the top five blockchains for NFT sales volume. Ethereum is by far the largest blockchain for NFTs, but the Flow ecosystem has been rapidly expanding due to its offerings and approachability for newcomers. 

There are many differences between the two blockchains, even though they both offer NFTs at various price points. 

Ethereum Blockchain

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain that allows smart contract transactions. This means that people can transact with each other directly and transparently, without any third-party needed. Ethereum was established in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin. 

The blockchain uses Solidity as a programming language to build these smart contracts and decentralized apps. It is powered by the token Ether, which can be purchased almost anywhere where cryptocurrency can be bought. 

The term “Web3” is often used with Ethereum in mind, due to its core focus of being decentralized and permissionless. The network runs across thousands of computers rather than one centralized server, meaning its downtime is nearly non-existent. It is extremely resistant to attacks and is one of the most resilient blockchains out there. Daily volume on just one of the Ethereum NFT marketplaces has surpassed $200m USD on February 1, 2022. 

To process transactions, miners are paid fees in order to validate the transaction before publishing it to the blockchain. These gas fees can range from low to high, depending on the congestion of the network. However, some argue that these high gas fees indicate the demand and popularity of Ethereum over other blockchains. 

Some of the most popular NFTs on the Ethereum network include Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, and Veefriends (pictured below on Evaluate.Market).

Flow Blockchain

Dapper Labs created CryptoKitties, an early NFT collection, on the Ethereum blockchain in 2017. The game was so popular that it crashed the Ethereum blockchain. Breeding their digital kitties became so cost-prohibitive with gas fees that Dapper decided it would build its own blockchain, and so Flow was born.

The Flow blockchain tackles the Ethereum scalability and high-fee issue by assigning specific tasks across four nodes of validators, rather than one single miner. This achieves gas fees equivalent to pennies and fractions of them, rather than up to hundreds of dollars on Ethereum.

The blockchain is powered by the cryptocurrency $FLOW, which is available on many exchanges, but not as many as Ethereum is. Flow is written in the programming language Cadence, which the blockchain touts as highly developer-friendly.  

The largest NFT project that uses the Flow ecosystem is NBA Top Shot, a massive digital trading card platform where people can buy and sell their favorite moments from NBA games. Flow is still a relatively new blockchain that continues to grow with new projects and dapps constantly being created. Other popular projects on Flow include UFC Strike, NFL All Day, and BALLERZ

Pros and Cons

Ethereum

The largest blockchain for NFTs has had over 8 million NFT sales transactions with almost zero downtime. All-time buyers outweigh sellers by almost double, which is a bullish sign for Ethereum NFTs.

• Pros:

  • Decentralized

  • Lack of censorship

  • Widely available cryptocurrency

  • Highly resilient to attacks

  • Many resources available for builders and artists

• Cons:

  • Scalability

  • High transaction costs

  • Accessibility 

  • Smart contract cannot be changed

Flow

Although Flow is a newer blockchain founded in 2019, the number of NFT transactions is staggering. Nearly 18 million of them have taken place. However, the number of buyers and sellers is much lower than Ethereum, and the ratio is closer to 1:1 between them. 

• Pros:

  • Able to handle more transactions than Ethereum

  • Lower transaction fees

  • Low level of complexity

  • Upgradeable smart contracts

• Cons:

  • Lack of resources for builders and artists (Ethereum came first)

  • $FLOW not as widely available

  • Still somewhat centralized

Summary

Evaluate Market covers a variety of both Ethereum and Flow projects, including sales data, new listings, and the ability to evaluate your own portfolio. Both blockchains have brought many innovations to the NFT space, and have allowed all of us collectors to transact securely and efficiently. 

There are many pros and cons to these blockchains for both developers and collectors. Ethereum is more established and therefore has the benefit of more resources available for it. Flow is newer, but is more user-friendly and approachable for NFT beginners. 

Be sure to check out all the projects Evaluate Market offers in the “Top Supported Collections” section on the homepage.