An esteemed NFT minting platform, Zora, announced the launch of its own Ethereum layer-2 scaling network, the Zora Network, a move that aims to enhance user experience and lower costs for artists and creators. This initiative comes as a result of weeks of meticulous testing and careful development.
Zora Network, introduced initially in May on a cryptic website, presents itself as a symbol of the pure internet, marked by freedom, value, resonance, connection, independence, and expansion, catering to all aspects of creation.
Built on the tech stack of layer-2 scaling network Optimism, it is secured by the robust Ethereum blockchain and is already backed by more than 35 platforms. Among its supporters are on-chain music platform Sound, wallet provider Rainbow, and the Web3 app toolkit Thirdweb.
Over the last six months, Zora has been increasingly pushing against the upper limits of the Ethereum mainnet, noted Jacob Horne, CEO and co-founder of Zora. With an impressive count of 880,000 collectors and millions of NFTs minted, Zora discovered that the Ethereum network’s gas price was a major obstacle to adoption, causing difficulties for both collectors and creators.
Zora Network was conceived to tackle this problem by subsidizing and abstracting away these costs. According to Horne, minting on the network is 25 times cheaper compared to Ethereum. This development indicates a significant shift in the market, with layer-2 solutions, previously mainly used in DeFi, now being adapted for art and media.
They have recently added a groundbreaking feature that allows creators to write their own NFT smart contracts.
In May 2022, Zora raised $50 million in a round led by Haun Ventures, reaching a valuation of $600 million. Zora likens itself to Shopify or WordPress for NFTs and the emerging Web 3 economy and has reportedly had around 130,000 users so far in June.
On the revenue front, Zora generates income via sales of development tools to help companies tailor its free protocol for their specific needs. It has also been the base for many high-profile NFT drops, including a $4 million sale of the Doge meme NFT. Zora remains ambitious, envisioning the creation of a DAO with token-based membership that could potentially fundraise through the sale of governance tokens in the future.
