The rarity of an NFT is a crucial metric, helping quantifying the uniqueness (and for collectors, desirability) of a specific NFT token within its collection (or vs another token on another collection). Actually calculating and comparing a numeric metric for rarity, and then using that to compare across collections is a challenge however - major chains have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of NFT collections (over 500,000 on Ethereum and 2M on Polygon), and each collection frequently has thousands or more individual tokens. Plus, rarity is usually calculated based on the traits or attributes of a token vs. others, and each token may have dozens (if not more) different traits and types. Fortunately, SimpleHash helps with this.
How SimpleHash helps developers calculate NFT rarity
SimpleHash offers a consistent approach to calculating NFT rarity. Specifically, the platform adheres to the OpenRarity standard to calculate consistent, mathematically-grounded rarity score for NFTs. Utilized by many web3 and crypto platforms, OpenRarity allows for reproducible and transparent rarity calculations. SimpleHash includes OpenRarity rarity calculations for all tokens adhering to the ERC721 standard on EVM, and the Metaplex standard on Solana, where trait data is available.
Specifically, the fields SimpleHash makes available for rarity data include:
- Rank: The actual rarity rank, relative to the scores of all other NFTs in the collection
- Score: The raw rarity score
- Unique Attributes: The number of unique attributes, or traits, if any, that this NFT possesses - this can be useful for trading purposes, or to highlight specifically to end users
Many types of web3 or crypto applications can take advantage of NFT rarity scores, and comparing these across collections, including;
- Marketplaces: To highlight desirable and undervalued tokens
- Wallets: To provide users with a deeper understanding of their NFTs, and drive engagement
- Games: To help drive in-game dynamics, and to aid with in-world item collecting and managament
Querying NFT rarity data using SimpleHash
Actually querying the NFT rarity scores with SimpleHash is easy, as they appear on all of the core NFT endpoints. For example, when querying NFTs by Wallet(s) to get the token metadata of all NFTs in a user's wallet(s), the rarity field will appear at the top level of each NFT response body.
Using these fields, the relative rank and rarity score can be used to compare the rank and relative rarity of a token, either within its own collection, or compared with others. Many developers using the SimpleHash platform will also use this data in conjunction with the floor price and sales volume also provided by the SimpleHash API to determine which collections are desirable, valuable, or should be highlighted to users.
If you wish to dive even deeper, SimpleHash also makes it easy to get back the full set of key value pairs of the traits for all tokens within a collection via the Traits by Collection endpoint.
Beyond the data and fields themselves, SimpleHash is continually calculating the rarity scores of all new and existing collections, meaning if there is an update to a collection's traits (e.g., for a dynamic collection), or when a new one is minted, developers will always have the most up to date rarity data.
Got questions, thoughts or feedback on NFT rarity? Reach out to us at hello@simplehash.com - we'd love to hear from you.
