The unprecedented rise of NFTs has opened the floodgates for thousands of new digital art projects on Ethereum with celebrities and even institutions scrambling to get a piece of the NFT pie. It’s therefore no surprise that transaction volumes of NFTs surpassed USD $2.1b in the first half of 2021 alone. 

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token — a fungible asset is something that can be traded interchangeably such as an ounce of gold, a Bitcoin, or the U.S dollar. Non-fungible assets on the other hand, are not interchangeable. Examples of non-fungible assets include art, land, or trading cards. 

If you’ve been keeping up with the NFT space at all, you’ve probably heard of CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, or Artblocks.

These incredible NFT projects have likely earned their place in the historical annals of NFT development, and will set the tone for NFT projects for years to come.

However, these projects all share one common trait — they all reside on the Ethereum blockchain. However, there are numerous other projects, innovations, and cultures being built outside of Ethereum.

Here are 6 NFT projects that have been built on non-Ethereum chains:

1. The Bear Market by Zilliqa

Zilliqa is a public blockchain born out of a peer-reviewed academic research conducted at the National University of Singapore.

Since its launch in 2017, Zilliqa has grown tremendously and currently boasts an impressive ecosystem with numerous NFT projects springing up following its success on Ethereum. One up and coming project to look out for is The Bear Market. 

The Bear Market is a commemorative NFT collection comprising 10,000 bear NFTs released by protocol developers Switcheo Labs and Zilliqa.

The NFT collection is not only celebrates the partnership between Zilliqa and Switcheo, but also the launch of the upcoming NFT marketplace on ZilSwap which is envisioned to be the OpenSea of Zilliqa.

Upcoming functionalities of the NFT marketplace will include a cross-chain bridge that allows NFTs on Ethereum to be bridged over to Zilliqa. Holders of The Bear Market NFTs are slated to get first access and perks to the platform upon launch!

The Bear Market NFTs will be set for release on 15 September and can be purchased at thebear.market.

2. ZilDuck by Zilliqa

ZilDuck is the first hard-cap bonding curve NFT art collection on Zilliqa, with a maximum supply of 8192 randomized duck NFTs.

This bonding curve prices the NFDs (Non-Fungible Ducks) according to the supply, meaning that as more ducks are purchased, the price of remaining unsold ducks increases. Since its launch in June 2021, over 30% of the total supply of ducks have been picked up. 

Every NFD is unique and comprises 5 different attributes — base, beak, eyes, hat and outfits, and 4 different rarity classes –  common, uncommon, rare and ultrarare.

Another unique perk that ZilDuck holders are able to enjoy is a highly discounted rate for ZilDuck’s NFTDeployer which allows users to deploy their own NFT contracts.

3. Solarians by Solana

Touted to be the “rival” of Ethereum, the Solana blockchain has been catching the eyes of the NFT crowd recently. In June 2021, the first generative on-chain NFT project on Solana – Solarians, was launched.

A total of 10,000 animated robot NFTs were made available for minting according to a bonding curve, which set the initial public sale price at 4.8 SOL. The cheapest Solarian now costs 17 SOL (~USD $3.5K USD at the time of writing).

Since its launch, the Solarian team has built a strong network across the Solana ecosystem which has benefitted Solarian holders in the form of NFT airdrops, profit-sharing on NFT marketplace Digital Eyes and exclusive pre-sale allocations to other NFT projects.

With more plans and developments down the road for the NFT collection, Solarians is definitely a project to keep an eye out on for those looking to dip their toes in the booming Solana ecosystem.

4. Rogue Sharks by Solana

Beyond being digital art and collectibles, NFTs have also been a vessel in driving efforts for charity and other social causes.

The Rogue Sharks on Solana is one of these collections that aim to drive real social impact with every sale of its 3D generative shark NFT. Upon launch, 15% of proceeds from the NFT sales will be redirected to the Rogue Shark community and ocean conservation measures. 

While the release date of the shark NFTs have yet to be announced, Rogue Sharks has already gained significant traction with over 15k Twitter followers and 17k Discord followers, a clear signal of the community’s high anticipation for the jaw-dropping launch.

5. Pancake Squad by Binance Smart Chain

The rise of Binance Smart Chain earlier this year can be attributed to the massive growth of PancakeSwap, its automated market-maker (AMM).

Its massive user base will soon be able to gain greater access to NFTs on the chain thanks to the new marketplace on PancakeSwap set to launch on 22nd September.

Alongside the launch, PancakeSwap will also be releasing its own NFT collection called PancakeSwap that users will be able to mint using CAKE tokens. Fees from the NFT marketplace and the PancakeSquad NFTs will also be used to buy back and burn CAKE tokens.

While further details such as the maximum number of NFTs minted and their prices have not been made known to the public, PancakeSwap has released sneak-peeks of the upcoming collection on Twitter which has caused much buzz and excitement within the community

6. Battle Pets by Binance Smart Chain

NFTs have also become popular as in-game assets.

You might have heard of Axie Infinity, an Ethereum-based in-game platform that incorporates NFTs into its meta-universe. Battle Pets on Binance Smart Chain is one project that has capitalized on this growing trend.

The game is similar to Pokemon, but since the in-game assets are also NFTs which can be owned, players have the additional option of selling their Battle Pets to realise financial rewards.

NFT games also introduce the concept of play-to-earn. By using Battle Pets in Siege Battles or Tournament Battles, players can earn $PET tokens, which can also be sold on the market for financial gain.

This article was contributed by Switcheo.

Featured Image Credit: Coinbase

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