Opensea introduces NFT Metadata "Freeze" feature enabling permanent binding of physical and spiritual attributes!

NFT auction platform Opensea has launched a "freeze" metadata feature that supports storing NFT metadata using IPFS and Filecoin, and records the data's URL through smart contracts to ensure the immutability of NFTs.

The Challenges of NFTs

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have gained widespread adoption this year, reaching milestones in traditional auction house transactions, with more and more well-known companies, artists, and athletes announcing the release of NFT digital collectibles. However, despite this, there are still some unresolved issues with the current NFT infrastructure.

According to a previous report, Jonty Wareing, a technologist from London, pointed out on Twitter that buyers often purchase NFTs for their "metadata" (media attachments and attributes related to NFTs). However, this metadata is actually stored in external centralized servers, meaning that if the servers stop running, the image of the NFT will not display.

Even though ownership of the NFT token is still securely recorded on the blockchain, a lost NFT image could become worthless, and NFT issuers may even become ransomers of the image, charging NFT holders for the image in the future.

Without decentralizing this metadata, NFT holders cannot rely on the integrity and immutability of their NFT collectibles. Therefore, securely storing NFT metadata has become an important direction for infrastructure improvement within the industry. For example, the NFT project Larva Labs' CryptoPunks uses "verifiable centralized storage," while Bored Ape Yacht Club directly stores files in decentralized storage networks.

NFT Metadata Freezing

Opensea, the major NFT auction platform on the Ethereum blockchain, announced on June 17th the adoption of a "decentralized metadata freezing solution." According to Opensea'sannouncement, the "freeze" metadata feature they introduced can store metadata to IPFS, Filecoin, or Arweave networks with one click, and record the data's URL through smart contracts to achieve metadata "freezing." Opensea emphasizes that once an NFT's metadata is frozen, it cannot be unfrozen or changed, as long as Ethereum and Filecoin exist, the NFT and its metadata will exist simultaneously.

This feature can be used not only for future NFT creations but also for NFTs created in the past six months that have not been sold. However, it is important to note that while Opensea does not charge any fees for this feature, users still need to pay gas fees to host the new metadata URL in the smart contract.

On the other hand, buyers can directly check on the Opensea platform whether the NFT metadata has been frozen, along with information such as the freezing year, creator, attributes, URL, and where the metadata is stored.