Lately, I’ve been completely obsessed with drawing. After picking up some half-baked skills in thick painting, I’ve decided to go back to pixel art.
I created a pixel art piece, tweaked the colors a bit, and listed it on Bigverse (NFT China). However, the review process was painfully slow, taking about three days. Initially, I thought Bigverse was a public chain and that my work should be upgradable to Ethereum, with Bigverse just handling the on-chain process on my behalf. I didn’t realize that while Bigverse isn’t a private chain like those run by tech giants, it is actually a sidechain. This was my first time hearing about such a thing. Although transactions can be recorded and verified, being a sidechain means they cannot be verified on Ethereum, so chain-based uniqueness cannot be guaranteed (I heard Bigverse requires a manual review after searching for the image on both Baidu and Google first…). A sidechain merely handles some public chain tasks, so there’s no need for gas fees. It turns out this works on the same principle as Polygon on OpenSea. Wow, if I had known this earlier, why would anyone bother with Bigverse? Wouldn’t Polygon be much better?
Overall, Bigverse still feels like it’s in development. The frontend interface is just terrible; I guess all the work is focused on the backend on-chain process. Also, the fuel fee is a bit high, yet they call it a ‘paid service’ without telling us whose wallet it goes into. Furthermore, the platform deducts a transaction fee for every trade? Confusing? This already goes against the original intent of NFTs—charging fees just to mint and trade on the chain? Additionally, anonymity is unrealistic and likely non-existent in China, so the anonymity that blockchain promises is lost here.
That said, Bigverse is indeed one of the few available solutions in China where virtual currencies are effectively non-existent. If it’s a sidechain, so be it; at least it’s far better than private chains like Alipay’s that exist just to scam people? There are a few viable development paths for the future. One approach, which Bigverse seems to be pursuing now, is signing famous artists to mint their works. Another idea is to combine NFTs with physical goods; given the recent popularity of 3D-style NFTs, creating figurines via 3D printing seems feasible. Additionally, collaborations with social media platforms and game developers could work. Currently, the biggest use case for NFTs is probably profile pictures, hhhh. Social media could directly support profile pictures, while game developers could allow users to DIY game skins or character avatars. If NFTs become fully legal in China, this group of pioneers at Bigverse will definitely be the first to reap the benefits.
Finally, if you register through this link, you can get 3 free fuel credits, meaning you can mint 3 works for free.
