Over the past year, the Hedera network has witnessed substantial growth, scale, and adoption within its non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem. The ecosystem has seen the emergence and expansion of innovative applications — from NFT marketplaces such as ZuseMarket, TurtleMoon Launchpad, SentX, HashAxis, DPub, and HashGuild to minting tools and services like TurtleMoon Tools, MintBar, and Altlantis along with advanced NFT analytics with NFTier — the diversification and enrichment of Hedera's NFT ecosystem is evident.

Reflecting this growth, the NFT community has seen a significant surge in active monthly NFT ecosystem accounts, leaping from 1,570 in November 2021 to over 19,537 as of July 2023. This vibrant expansion signifies the increasing interest and investment in NFTs on the Hedera network.

To better accommodate this growth and ensure the sustainability of the NFT ecosystem, the Hedera Council has voted to make changes to the network fee schedule for minting NFTs in the upcoming v0.41 release. This release takes place on the testnet on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, and the mainnet on Tuesday, September 12, 2023. These changes, which will only affect individual and bulk minting of NFTs, are vital for maintaining the economic viability of the Hedera network.

Here are the key changes:

A More Sustainable Economic Model

The storage cost for NFT data on validator nodes is greater than initially anticipated as the ecosystem scales; this is especially true with the accessibility of bulk-minting NFTs on the Hedera network. As the numbers were crunched, it was realized that the costs incurred by network validators were disproportionate to the price charged. This has made it necessary for the Hedera Council to review and revise its fee schedule.

Under the new pricing schedule, the fee (in USD) for minting individual NFTs will be reduced from $0.05 to $0.02, while the fee for bulk-minting NFTs will not receive a discounted rate as it did previously. For instance, if bulk-minting 10,000 NFTs, the cost will be $200 ($0.02 x 10,000) instead of $76.80. This adjustment better reflects the actual costs of storing NFT data across validator nodes.

This change ensures the economic sustainability of the Hedera network and allows the ecosystem to continue providing scalable services to every participant, including builders, projects, and retail collectors.

Key Dates for Fee Schedule Changes

This fee schedule change will take effect on mainnet with the v0.41 release of the Hedera services code. The testnet upgrade to v0.41 is set for Tuesday, August 22, followed by a mainnet upgrade to v0.41 on Tuesday, September 12. Applications on the Hedera network should not require any modifications to adapt to this change.

Please note that the dates for network upgrades may be subject to change. To stay up-to-date on all network upgrades, it’s highly recommended that you subscribe to the Hedera Status page. Upon subscribing, you'll receive notifications about important information related to Hedera network upgrades and maintenance.

The Hedera Council believes these changes will foster a healthier network environment and continue to serve the best interests of the Hedera community. As always, your understanding and support is appreciated.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes, please feel free to reach out to us in Discord — the team is here to help.