You mention saving the files in IPFS to avoid the files dissapearing and you don't want to store them centrally.
However, what is to stop the creator of unpinning/removing the files from the IPFS? Then your blockchain would refer to a Json file on IPFS which is no longer accessible.
I agree its better than storing it on a central server, even a simple IP / dns change could break that... just wondering if there is any idea about how to solve the "evil creator" issue? (I know, not an issue that would occur easily, but Satoshi can't just unplug bitcoin anymore... while the NFT creator could remove parts of it).
Read up a bit more. To avoid this issue, you could run your own IPFS node and "pin" all related files yourself. So they are not removed when the original author "unpins" them.
I wonder how many NFT holders actually do this... because hosting a node is not trivial? Or is it very common to use services like Pinata to keep the pins alive?
(Sorry if questions to basic, don't know much about NFTs nor cryptocurrencies, yet).
Pinning is trivial using Pinata which is why I use it in this tutorial. Pinata will pin up to 1 GB of data for free, and charge $0.50/month for every extra GB. You can, of course, choose to host your own node should you choose to do so.
There is no solution to the 'evil creator' issue. NFT projects will always have its creator as a potential centralized point of failure. If I wanted to conduct a rug pull, all I'd have to do is change the base token URI to point to something else. IPFS would not prevent this. IPFS is useful because it helps an honest creator prove that the original collection hasn't been tampered with, and also gives the community control and freedom to host the media files should they see fit.
Opensea has a feature that allows you to freeze the metadata of your collection on their platform. I'm not sure if they host their own IPFS node though.
You mention saving the files in IPFS to avoid the files dissapearing and you don't want to store them centrally.
However, what is to stop the creator of unpinning/removing the files from the IPFS? Then your blockchain would refer to a Json file on IPFS which is no longer accessible.
I agree its better than storing it on a central server, even a simple IP / dns change could break that... just wondering if there is any idea about how to solve the "evil creator" issue? (I know, not an issue that would occur easily, but Satoshi can't just unplug bitcoin anymore... while the NFT creator could remove parts of it).
Read up a bit more. To avoid this issue, you could run your own IPFS node and "pin" all related files yourself. So they are not removed when the original author "unpins" them.
I wonder how many NFT holders actually do this... because hosting a node is not trivial? Or is it very common to use services like Pinata to keep the pins alive?
(Sorry if questions to basic, don't know much about NFTs nor cryptocurrencies, yet).
Pinning is trivial using Pinata which is why I use it in this tutorial. Pinata will pin up to 1 GB of data for free, and charge $0.50/month for every extra GB. You can, of course, choose to host your own node should you choose to do so.
There is no solution to the 'evil creator' issue. NFT projects will always have its creator as a potential centralized point of failure. If I wanted to conduct a rug pull, all I'd have to do is change the base token URI to point to something else. IPFS would not prevent this. IPFS is useful because it helps an honest creator prove that the original collection hasn't been tampered with, and also gives the community control and freedom to host the media files should they see fit.
Thanks for the clear response. Does OpenSea in any way support pinning NFTs? Seems like they should at least host their own IPFS node.
Opensea has a feature that allows you to freeze the metadata of your collection on their platform. I'm not sure if they host their own IPFS node though.
Good question