You might be a seasoned artist, or even an aspiring one, who wants to continue feeding his or her curiosity about the blockchain industry, particularly in the NFT space. Your knowledge in blockchain, NFTs and crypto might be competent, but if you plan to sell your art or projects as NFTs in different marketplaces, it is a MUST to know how NFTs are created.
The creation of NFT on the blockchain is called “minting.” In this guide, you’ll learn what minting an NFT means for you to better understand why it is ridiculously expensive and the process of how it is done.
What is NFT minting?
In creating NFTs, you’ll start with “minting” the digital version of your artwork or project. Minting refers to the process of tokenizing an asset in a marketplace. That can include issuing a token to guarantee the artwork or project’s authenticity and uploading it to an NFT marketplace.
Then, you’ll have to pay “gas fees” to start the transaction on the blockchain and publish it as an NFT on a marketplace.
After minting the asset on a marketplace as an NFT, you shouldn’t mint it on another platform, just yet. Keep in mind, some platforms reserve the right to delete the NFT or even ban users from their platform, but you still possess all commercial rights to the artwork underlying the NFT. What does that mean? You can still market your art by making prints or licensing it.
On the other hand, NFT collectors aren’t allowed to do this — they can only transfer, trade, or sell the NFT. Unless they get the artist’s written authorization, they cannot exploit the NFT commercially, sell any item incorporating the NFT, make people pay to view the NFT, or mint a copy of that NFT.
Does copyright protect NFTs? NFTs are not likely protected by copyright because they do not meet the basic criteria for copyright protection. They represent data on a blockchain, which could not constitute an original work of authorship under the intellectual property law. But the artwork or project minted can be protected by copyright.
For that reason, you should never mint an artwork you did not create yourself.
How long does NFT minting take?
There is no specific lead time as to how long the minting process will take, but most marketplaces, tools, and platforms today make the NFT creation process easy.
Logging into or creating an account in major NFT marketplaces begins by installing a browser extension called Metamask, an Ethereum wallet.
Now, uploading the file to NFT marketplaces or turning your digital content into an NFT and listing it for sale is similar to listing a digital item on Amazon, uploading music on Spotify, or uploading a video on YouTube.
Upload the file (MP4, MP3, GIF, JPG, or PNG), assign a subtitle and title, add a short description, set up royalties, and list it for sale.
What To Consider Before Minting An NFT?
Minting an NFT might appear easy, but you have considerations to take before you can start. You’ll have to make sure that your asset is adequately represented. NFT guarantees that the artwork can be traded or purchased on the market more flexibly.
It also offers collection or resale flexibility and ownership monitoring.
Here are the following factors you should consider before minting an NFT:
1. Blockchain’s Platform
Different blockchains back the NFT token standard. Here are some of the most reliable options:
- Ethereum
- Polkadot
- Binance Smart Chain
- Tron
- EOS
- Tezos
- WAX
- Flow by Dapper Labs
- Cosmos
2. NFT Marketplace
Another important factor to consider before minting an NFT is picking the right NFT marketplace. In the Ethereum blockchain, you might encounter numerous platforms, including OpenSea, Mintable, and Rarible.
For Binance Smart Chain, they have BakerySwap, Treasureland, and Juggerworld.
3. An Affordable Platform
Most beginners in NFT minting will start their attempts at creating NFTs in an affordable platform. Opting to look for popular choices can be helpful in such situations. Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain are the most used blockchain systems for minting NFTs.
Their massive scale allows them to operate as the largest NFT market while also providing additional visibility to buyers.
4. NFT’s Ecosystem
Identifying the blockchain’s ecosystem is the next factor you’ll consider while looking for affordable means to mint NFTs. Ensuring that your chosen platform can handle sales and transfers to different blockchains is necessary.
With each blockchain, developers must examine the drawbacks and benefits of the NFT ecosystem.
How To Mint NFTs?
Minting an NFT has five basic steps:
- Creating your unique asset.
- Buying cryptocurrency to pay for transactions.
- Depositing the funds into your crypto wallet.
- Choosing the right marketplace to sell your NFT.
- Listing the NFT on the marketplace.
1. Create Your Unique Asset
Decide on what kind of asset you want to produce. It can range from special in-game items to basic digital artwork. They can be digital land plots or access to a real-life establishment in some cases.
If you want to stick to the basics, you’ll have to turn your artwork into data that lives on the blockchain. That doesn’t mean that your artwork is stored on the blockchain, but rather the metadata that represents it.
Today, Ethereum is the most popular choice for NFTs, but it’s also the most expensive in terms of fees.
2. Buy Cryptocurrency to Pay for Transactions
Transacting in any blockchain entails buying tokens or cryptocurrency. You’ll have to narrow down your wallet and market services choices because not all of them are interchangeable. For example, you’ll need Ether when transacting in Ethereum, it’s native cryptocurrency.
You can buy some at a crypto exchange of your choice.
3. Deposit the Funds into Your Crypto Wallet
You’ll need a non-custodial wallet in this phase, meaning you should be managing the wallet yourself. Your “hot wallet” on an exchange will not help since the cryptocurrency isn’t in your wallet. It’s only stored in your exchange’s wallet, and they display it on their dashboard as if it was yours.
This isn’t different from our current banking system. It also means that you might lose your funds if something happens to the exchange.
Make sure you have those tokens stored in your non-custodial or self-custody wallet.
4. Choose the Right Marketplace to Sell Your NFT
Today, you can find numerous NFT marketplaces, but it’s essentially controlled by two to three players, namely Foundation, Rarible, and OpenSea.
OpenSea is the biggest market right now. Meanwhile, Foundation is also unique since they work with an invitation-only system. Each marketplace will have its charges for many things, including listing an NFT for auction, setting up your account, etc.
5. List the NFT on the Marketplace
Each marketplace might have its system, but the process is always the same. You start by uploading your artwork, filling in the metadata, and minting the NFT. You could also have it minted upon purchase.
Once you have created your NFTs, you can start listing them for sale and promote.
How To Sell Your Minted NFT/s?
For early crypto adopters, owning an expensive digital artwork is a status symbol, and paying for these assets has garnered popularity from people who also want to be a part of the trend.
But not everyone can sell their newly minted artwork for thousands of dollars, and jumping into this trend blindly will not be helpful.
Here are the top tips you can refer to for accelerating your NFT’s sales process:
1. Take Advantage of Your Creative Skills
Your project should come from creativity despite what you’re trying to sell on the blockchain. It takes careful planning to stand out from average listings. If you can’t determine where to start, explore the projects that people have already published.
Talk to people who have sold several projects and ask how they did it. One thing that’s notable about NFTs is the community aspect. People are always willing to talk about their successful projects and failed ones. It never hurts to ask.
2. Join Communities for Better Guidance
Joining a like-minded community is the best way to promote your art or digital assets, including Clubhouse, Discord, and Twitter. If you can’t keep up with the latest trends, you might be missing out on potential customers for your digital assets.
Other sites like the NFT calendar features upcoming drops, and this can be your starting point to see who’s publishing the project and what their community links are.
You can follow people in the space, and you’ll reach at least 100 other people who also share the same passion or interest.
3. Find the Time to Learn More About NFT
If you can’t be dedicated, it will feel like a burden to try and sell your NFT. For that reason, it’s best to spend more time to continue learning about blockchain as the industry is moving at a faster rate than ever before. Different things are happening behind the scene and if you don’t keep yourself updated with the latest developments, you will surely miss out the opportunity to grow your network.
Final Thoughts
NFTs, minting, and cryptocurrencies might sound overwhelming, but it’s not as difficult as it sounds so long as you do your research first before jumping into the bandwagon. It is not recommended to learn the blockchain space by applying different theories that you just will work — that will surely cost you a hefty sum.
Instead, dive in and do the work. That might mean making a few mistakes along the way, but you should take it as a valuable investment in your education.
NFTs and cryptocurrency will surely affect everyone’s lives sooner than we think, and that impact will most likely go far beyond the basic world of art.
