Unless you’ve been hiding a rock, you’ve been hearing a lot about NFTs. It’s all over the news and social media. But what exactly is an NFT and why is everyone talking about it?
Today, we have a guide on how exactly to go about creating an NFT and listing it to be sold
What Is An NFT?
Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) are digital assets with a unique identity kept and verified on a blockchain (a digital ledger). They are non-fungible, meaning they can’t be readily exchanged for another asset of similar value. Some NFT assets include images, video, music, and GIFs.
How do NFTs work?
NFTs are created through the process of “minting”. With this process, digital tokens are created. In order to mint an NFT, you usually have to pay for the creation of a smart contract. These smart contracts are software codes that allow the blockchain to store information in a secure and transparent way.
These codes are what manage the ownership and transferability of NFTs.
How to Create And Mint An NFT
Ok, so now you think you know enough that you want to create an NFT. So let’s get started:
What Type Of NFT Do You Want To Create
The most popular types of NFTs currently are in the form of images, audio, or video files. Your NFT can be an artwork, a picture, or video of a rare artifact. There are lots of NFTs you can create but at the end of the day, it really depends on if other people place value on it.
Choosing An NFT marketplace
Now you know what NFT to create, now it needs to be minted and displayed. There are different NFT marketplaces online, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Currently, the most popular NFT Marketplaces are OpenSea, Rarible, and SolSea.
As a beginner, its best to go with the marketplace which is less “complicated”. OpenSea and Rarible allow you to “lazy mint” which allows you to put up your NFT for sale without paying a fee. The fee is passed on to the buyer of the NFT.
When you are putting up an NFT for sale, there is always going to be a “gas” fee. Think of it as a service fee for using the NFT marketplace. Each marketplace has different gas fees. So choose wisely especially if you don’t have that much $$$ in your account.
Set Up A Crypto Wallet
If you’ve figured out which NFT marketplace to use, you can now go ahead and create a crypto wallet (if you don’t have one already).
Before you select a crypto wallet, make sure it’s compatible with the NFT marketplace you’re going to use.
There are a lot of crypto wallets you can use. The most common one is MetaMask and Coinbase which all have browser extensions to easily set up and connect to an NFT marketplace.
Purchase crypto through an exchange
Now that you have your crypto wallet, you need to load it with cryptocurrency so you can pay the gas fee to mint your NFT. Coinbase makes it pretty easy to connect their wallet to your Coinbase account to purchase or transfer crypto.
For NFT minting, make you purchase Ethereum (ETH) or Solana (SOL) currency.
Connect your wallet to the NFT platform and mint
You’ve now topped up your crypto wallet. Now you’ll need to connect it to the NFT marketplace you’re using to mint your NFT.
Each platform will have instructions on how to connect your wallet to its platform. Once that’s done, you can go through the process of uploading your NFT, minting it, and putting it up for sale.
And you’re done! You’ve officially created an NFT.
If you’re just a beginning, we would recommend understanding how crypto exchanges work and how to buy crypto before diving fully into NFT.
