Why Do Artists Love Tezos? (5 Reasons Tezos is a Favorite Art Blockchain)

Tezos is a favorite blockchain for many NFT artists. Photographers, painters, musicians, poets, and generative artists all enjoy minting their art on the Tezos blockchain.

To find out why so many people love minting on Tezos, I hosted a Twitter space and Tweeted out a query to directly ask the Tezos community what they love about this constantly evolving blockchain. Read on to find out the community’s top reasons for minting and selling art on Tezos.

What is your favorite #blockchain right now?

Why? 👇

I am a huge fan of #tezos. I love that it has a low cost barrier to entry and gives artists from all over the world the opportunity to share and sell their art.

— Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography TEZ/ETH (@LAMPphotography) November 22, 2022

My name is Lauren McDonagh-Pereira. I am a photographer, NFT artist, NFT collector, and web3 blogger. I have been fully immersed in the NFT art space since February 2022.

The goal of the NFT Art with Lauren blog is to help educate the wider public about the web3 art scene and to showcase the wonderful work of the artists in my global community. 

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ⓒ Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography 2013[/caption]

Before we get into it, please consider a few quick DISCLAIMERS.

• Do your own research before investing in web3. 

• This post represents my personal opinions and is NOT financial advice.

• Links may lead to NFTs or web3 investments that I own. 

• As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualified purchases.

• Review my Privacy Policy here. 

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The Tezos blockchain shines with its well-thought out code, excellent minting platforms, and user-friendly crypto wallets. 

The technology behind Tezos is fantastic. Originally created by Kathleen and Arthur Breitman, the Tezos blockchain code was built with a self-amending protocol. This means that as blockchain technology evolves, coders within the community will be able to propose and make updates to the Tezos network over time through a democratic self-governance process.

The most popular Tezos minting platforms are beloved by artists. Objkt.com, FXHash, and Teia all have visually appealing interfaces, low gas fees, and a commitment to maintaining artists’ royalties for future sales of Tezos NFTs. Every other day on Crypto Twitter, there is some new uproar about an unpopular decision made by an ETH NFT platform. This simply isn’t the case with the most popular platforms on Tez.

Do you have a favorite #Tezos minting platform?

Which one is it? What do you like about it?

— Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography TEZ/ETH (@LAMPphotography) January 25, 2023

Tezos wallets are easy to use and are relatively secure. The Temple wallet works as a browser plugin, or as a handy mobile app for on-the-go minting and shopping. This mobile feature is especially important because it allows users who do not have access to a desktop computer to participate in the Tezos NFT community.  Meanwhile, the Kukai wallet can be connected directly to a users’ Twitter profile, and is a great straightforward choice for newcomers to the web3 space. 

If a #Tezos newcomer asked you to recommend a wallet, which one would you suggest? Why?

— Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography TEZ/ETH (@LAMPphotography) January 26, 2023

For artists, and collectors of Tezos NFTs, this means that users can have confidence that the Tezos blockchain, and the assets minted on it have staying power. Technology is constantly evolving, you have to adapt or you will become obsolete. Tezos was coded to meet these challenges, the Tezos platforms work hard to ensure a positive user experience, and the Tezos crypto wallets are constantly improving their features and accessibility. 

ⓒ Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography 2022

Whenever I start talking about crypto, NFTs, and web3 on TikTok, I start to get a lot of angry comments about how I am personally a supervillain bent on complete environmental annihilation.

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© Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography[/caption]

And while, most of these comments come from teenagers with a flare for the dramatic, the environmental concerns of blockchain technology are not unfounded. 

The Bitcoin network is a notorious energy-vampire at an absurd scale. Before the merge, the Ethereum network was also guilty of using an unjustifiably high amount of energy to function. This is because Bitcoin does, and Ethereum did work using a proof-of-work protocol. 

Proof-of-work means that the people who validate transactions and create new tokens on the network (miners) need to compete for the opportunity to do so. Miners are required to build increasingly energy intensive computer hardware setups to beat the competition to jobs on the network. This leads to a computer hardware arms-race where the person with the biggest, baddest computer setup wins. Since these setups require a lot of power to run, the environmental impact of completing a transaction on a proof-of-work network is deeply problematic.

However, these issues have never affected Tezos. Tezos was built to run on a proof-of-stake protocol. This means that the people who create new tokens and validate transactions (bakers) put up a share of their own Tezos as collateral and use it to request an opportunity to perform a job on the network. Bakers are randomly assigned a validation job, and given advanced notice of when they will be expected to perform it. Because they do not have to beat each other to the punch, there is no incentive to build a mega computer that could rival Ultron. This keeps the energy consumption of the entire Tezos blockchain very low.

In early 2022, it was common for artists to talk about their Tezos NFTs using #CleanNFTs. This is because, before the ETH merge during the summer of 2022, which moved he ETH network from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, Tezos was the most environmentally friendly blockchain to use for minting and collecting NFTs.

Many artists are still loyal to Tezos because it has always maintained a commitment to reducing its carbon footprint as much as possible. This ethos can be seen rippling forward as artists mint works to raise funds for environmental causes, or mint art with clear and direct messages about the importance of conservation.

Blockchain Basics by nftartwithlauren.com

The Tezos community is constantly gaining traction in the cultural consciousness of web3. Popular artists sing it’s praises, large web2 companies keep partnering with Tezos, and the top selling artists on the blockchain are earning a decent income for their work. 

Celebrity artists and collectors have caught the Tezos bug. Cozomo de'Medici, the not-so-secret-crypto identity of Snoop Dogg, and his son, using the name Champ Medici, are collectors and supports of Tezos artists. Misan Harriman, the renowned photographer and chair of the South Bank Center has been working with the Tezos Foundation to collect a million dollars worth of Tezos art for their Permanent Art Collection. Maria Abramovic, the world famous conceptual and performance artist, has immortalized some of her work on the Tezos network. And in January of 2023, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York , began curating a collection of Tezos art for "The Duchess Gallery". These high profile artists and collectors continue to bring attention and positive PR to the Tezos ecosystem.

In the last year, Tezos has announced several exciting partnerships with web2 companies and institutions. Tezos has a multi-year partnership with the Manchester United football club, Tezos is working with the State of California to integrate their Department of Motor Vehicle records onto the blockchain, and an exciting partnership between Tezos and tech-juggernaut Google was recently announced. These partnerships show that Tezos is pushing itself to the forefront of the conversation with the general public about wider blockchain technology adoption. 

Gallery-worthy art on Tezos is increasingly being traded for higher and higher prices. Historically, the top 5-selling artists on Tezos are jjjjjohn, zancan,
Lucréce, ABOSCH, and qubibi. To date, they have earned 423,788ꜩ, 354,020ꜩ, 187,090ꜩ, 174,629ꜩ, and 134,751ꜩ respectively. These earnings are nothing to scoff at, and I expect they will become more commonplace as the new, curated objkt.one gains traction. 

The Tezos computer code was written to grow and change. That sentiment has carried over to the community of artists and coders who have adopted the chain. New exciting moves are being announced all the time. I am personally, very excited to see what the Tezos network has up its sleeves next.

© Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography

If you ask any artist why they love Tezos, the first thing most will say is “THE COMMUNITY!”. On Crypto Twitter and in Crypto Discords, the word “community” has been bandied about so much, it has become a cliche. In lots of corners of web3 “community” has become a meaningless buzzword like “synergy” or “guest services”.

This is not true for Tezos. The community of artists on Tezos is vibrant, supportive, and fun! Tezos artists and collectors are eager to support each other, work to raise money for important global causes, and thrive on collaboration.

The Tezos community is a supportive place. Groups like TezTown and the TezTunas run Community Events to help people sell their art through cooperative marketing efforts. Newcomers are happily welcomed into Tezos-based Twitter Spaces or Discord channels, where questions are answered freely and advice is offered without judgement.

I am in way too many group direct message groups on Twitter that started off as a place to share and promote art, and quickly evolved into a daily chat amongst friends. There is just something about being an artist on the Tezos network that makes people feel warm and fuzzy.

The Tezos community is known to quickly rise to global challenges to create fundraising efforts for people in need. When the deadly earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria in February 2023, the community came together to create #TezQuakeAid. Hundreds of pieces of art have been donated by hundreds of artists to raise thousands of dollars to help people on the ground dealing with the aftermath of the disaster. There have been similar calls to action for Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion and children in need of health and education funding in Jamaica.

The Tezos community loves collaboration. Friends work together on Collaborative Collections where different artists all mint to the same collection to bring eyes on everyone’s pieces. Artists create collaborative pieces with one another and are able to mint the piece in a way that permanently shares earnings between both artists’ Tezos wallets. Community events often turn into hundreds of artists working together to celebrate a theme and boost each others’ sales. The smart contracts on platforms, like Objkt.com, were written to make collaborations between artists a no-brainer, and people love to take advantage of these opportunities. 

© Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography

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Gas fees are incredibly low on Tezos, which is usually what first catches people’s eye about the blockchain. The low gas fees give artists the opportunity to experiment with different styles of work, allows collectors to take chances on new artists, and gives people of lower socio-economic backgrounds the ability to participate in the crypto art scene. Anyone who scoffs at gas fees being a barrier to entry for artists and collectors simply doesn’t live in the real world.

On Objkt.com, it costs about $2 USD to set up a new profile and create your first collection. After that it cost roughly 11 to 16 cents per transaction. This means that when you mint a new art piece, list it for sale, collect a piece of art, or decide to burn a piece of your art, you will only need to pay a few cents to do so. Compared to the gas fees on the Ethereum network, this is nothing.

On ETH, paying $50 USD to create a collection, mint a piece, and list it for sale would be considered a bargain. ETH gas fees fluctuate wildly based on network traffic. So if you want to collect a piece at the wrong time of day, or when some big project has a new drop, you might end up being charged more in ETH gas fees than you are spending on the artist’s work. 

The low gas fees on the Tezos blockchain give artists the opportunity to experiment with different styles of their work to see what attracts an audience and what flops. I do not mind spending $3 to find out whether or not people are interested in my macro flower photography. However, I simply cannot afford to spend $100+ on the ETH network to deviate from my landscape work only to find out that no one is interested.

This flexibility allows artists to test the market, explore their personal creative boundaries, and showcase a myriad of talents. None of this experimentation would be possible without the low cost of minting on Tezos.

Low gas fees also allow collectors to take risks. Because gas fees are lower, artists are able to sell their work for a lower price point on Tez then they would need to to break even on ETH. These lower prices, in turn, allow collectors to pick up pieces from a wide variety of up and coming artists without sinking too much money into any particular unknown person. The NFT Art world is still very new. No one really knows what is going to happen over the next decade, whether these pieces will grow in value, whether artists will still support the work they are minting now and so on. For a collector, its much more palatable to give an artist $20 to collect a gorgeous Tezos edition that might have a high value in a few years than it is to give an artist $800 for an ETH 1-of-1 that might be worth nothing in the future. This allows collectors to buy work from new and unknown artists, which in turn grows the Tezos art community as a whole. For collectors, low gas fees helps them hedge their bets and diversify their collections. 

Diversity is one of the best parts about the Tezos art world. Artists from all over the world are able to have a seat at the table. Established artists and student artists can afford to mint work. At times, people who are unable to afford the roughly $5 USD to get started are offered the startup funds from communities like, Flare. Many artists from wealthier countries are happy to offer someone else the small fee to get them started if its true barrier for them. This would be nearly impossible on other blockchains with higher minting fees. High costs of transactions serves to disenfranchise and gatekeep any artist who does not have ample disposable income. Tezos benefits from a wide variety of art by creators from all over the world because its minting fees are low and the financial barrier to entry is minimal.

Low gas fees on Tezos transactions are a big draw to the blockchain for both artists and creators. I expect, as blockchain technology begins to spread to the wider society, the gas fees on Ethereum and Bitcoin will be a major point of contention for many consumers, and that Tezos will have a distinct advantage with its minimal transaction costs. 

© Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography

In case you missed the memo, I love Tezos. 

I love that I can mint my macro photography and my landscape photography and my bird photography without fear of “confusing” my audience or breaking the bank.

I love that I can collect art from other artists at a reasonable price to show my support and to help the community grow. 

I love that I have met artists from all over the world and been exposed to different cultural perspectives through art on the Tezos blockchain.

And most of all, I love that I have helped to build a community of artists who support each other, encourage each other, and constantly inspire each other to do better. 

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