NFT Minting: How to Mint an NFT?

There are endless stories about a new way of earning — NFTs — in the crypto space. This direction gained its popularity in 2021 and only gaining momentum this year. Some users have not yet fully understood how cryptocurrency works and what a blockchain is, as it is time to move on to the study of such concepts as “non-fungible tokens” and their minting. We invite you to take a deep dive into NFT technology and learn how to mint your first NFT. 

What Are NFTs?

To understand what NFT is, it’s enough just to decipher the abbreviation and dig a little into such a concept as “fungibility.” You’ve probably already heard such explanations that cryptocurrency is fungible, and each BTC coin is equal to another BTC coin. On the contrary, each NFT is unique, and none can be replaced by another. However, this explanation is not always clear to ordinary users. Therefore, we will take the liberty to draw a simple analogy to clarify the concept of fungibility.

Most likely, you are currently reading this article using your smartphone. So, when you bought it (you chose the model, color, and so on), it was fungible. There were hundreds of identical ones, and you could not distinguish them. But, as soon as the smartphone gets into your hands, you set up your Google account, download the necessary apps and contacts, etc., it has already become different from the others, i.e., unique or non-fungible. 

This was sorted out, but what about the last word — token. Calling a token a kind of cryptocurrency is not correct. A token is also a digital asset, but it is issued on the blockchain of a particular cryptocurrency. That is, it does not have its own blockchain. Thanks to a unique combination of encoded characters, all the necessary information is recorded in the token. It contains information such as:

• data about the item itself;
• data about the copyright holder;
• user rights data;
• data about the token purchase and sale operation.

Thus, thanks to blockchain technology, the creators of NFTs can protect their copyrights, which will be declared in an open and secure registry.

How Do NFTs Work?

With the help of NFT technology, creators can tokenize any digital product, such as images, music, gifs, videos, and game collectibles. To create your first NFT, you need to perform several steps: have a file that you want to convert to NFT, choose the blockchain on which it will be created, select a platform for NFT mining, have a suitable Web3 wallet, and have some amount of crypto to pay the minting fee.

After creating the NFTs, you can store them in your wallet for as long as possible. Thanks to blockchain technology, information about the history of operations and item data always remain transparent and accessible, and no one can compromise it. Thanks to this chain, you can find out who is the creator of the virtual item and who has the right to own it.

With the help of NFT technology, creators can declare their creativity to the whole world and establish possession of a digital object. For example, NFTs are becoming extremely popular among musicians, artists, and other creative personalities. For example, musicians can release their tracks, convert them to NFTs, and sell them on open marketplaces. In such cases, they get rid of expensive intermediaries and take most commissions for themselves. Since all operations take place on the blockchain, the musicians can prove that they are the sole creators of the NFT track, and no one can dispute this. Moreover, by selling their NFTs on open marketplaces, creators can receive royalties from each transaction with a digital art object.

Thanks to blockchain technology, virtual items gain value, and the storage system becomes reliable. The problem of confusion between the original and the copy disappears. The code of the source file and the copied one are different, and this information is also encrypted in the token.

Which Blockchain Should I Choose?

The Ethereum blockchain has become a pioneer in the field of NFTs. The first-of-its-kind NFT collection was launched on Ethereum. Ethereum is an NFT hub for the majority of projects. Still, the choice is not limited to it. Today, users can create their first NFTs on such blockchains as Binance Smart Chain, Solana, Avalanche, Tron, Polkadot, and others.

Such NFT-compatible blockchains as Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) are particularly popular. Note that once you have created an NFT on a particular blockchain, it will be almost impossible to transfer it from one blockchain to another. Moreover, it will be possible to sell this NFT only on specific marketplaces dedicated to a particular blockchain. The choice of blockchain depends on the creator’s priorities:

• The Ethereum blockchain is one of the most secure and popular. As a result, Ethereum has a strong community, and NFTs based on it are more popular and in demand. In addition, NFT marketplaces supporting Ethereum, such as OpenSea and Rarible, are among the top famous and visited. However, for the opportunity to create NFTs on Ethereum, you will have to pay a rather hefty fee.
• Binance Smart Chain ranks second in popularity after Ethereum. NFTs released on BSC are slightly less in demand, and BSC marketplaces such as BakerySwap and Treasureland are less visited. However, creating NFTs on BSC is much cheaper.

Thus, if you want to get a lot of publicity for your NFTs and put it up for sale on the top marketplaces, it is recommended to choose Ethereum. According to statistics, Ethereum-based NFTs bring a jaw-dropping income and glory, which more than pays off the fees spent.

How Do I Mint My First NFT?

So, as we have already mentioned, after choosing a blockchain, the creators have a choice of NFT marketplaces dedicated to this blockchain. In general, the NFTs mining process is not much different at each platform. Since today the OpenSea marketplace is the most popular and visited, in this article, we will analyze the process of creating NFTs specifically within this platform.

Before starting work, you need to have an item that you want to convert to NFT (image, gif, video, and so on). In addition, you need to install a Web3 wallet that supports the Ethereum mainnet, for example, the SimpleHold wallet. 

On the main page of the OpenSea marketplace, you will immediately see two options: create or explore.

Click the “Create” button, after which you will see a web page where you can connect your wallet. If you have not yet installed the SimpleHold extension, you will be automatically redirected to the installation page, where you can configure your wallet in seconds. 

Before creating your first NFT, it is recommended to create a collection. A collection is a separate folder where you can accumulate works on a specific topic. Collections help organize your work and offer collectors pre-assembled thematic sets. Treat the collection as a showcase of your store. To create your NFT collection, open the account tab in the upper right corner and click “My Collections” - “Create a collection.”

Collections can be created directly on OpenSea, or imported from an existing smart contract. You can also use other services, such as Rarible or Mintable, and import items into OpenSea.

Next, we are preparing the design. We recommend that you arrange everything carefully and take the procedure seriously because the showcase is the face of the collection. Try to design and describe your NFT collection to the maximum. Add logo, featured, and banner images. In addition, come up with a catchy name for your collection.

Additionally, you can configure the following parameters:

• Create a customized link that can be placed, for example, in your social networks. Your subscribers will see a page with your collection when clicking on this link.
• Write a description of the collection. The description helps collectors to understand the meaning of the collection. This field can hold up to 1,000 characters.
• Add your collection to a specific category to make it easier to find. For example, the categories Art, Music, Photography, Sports, and others are available.
• Add links to your social networks, including YouTube, Telegram, Discord, or even to your own website, if there is one.
• Set the percentage of royalties. Royalty is a percentage of each subsequent resale of your NFT. The maximum royalty percentage is 10%.
• Choose a payment token. Here you can choose tokens that can be used when buying or selling items from your collection.
• Explicit & sensitive content. Check this box if your NFTs have 18+ content. 
• Once you have designed your collection, you can proceed to the NFTs minting.

In the upper right corner, click the “Create” button, after which you will see a page dedicated to NFTs minting:

• Upload the file you want to convert to NFT. It can be an image, gif, track, and so on, but the maximum size should not exceed 100MB.
• Enter the name of your future NFT.
• Enter a description of the uploaded item.
• Add the future NFT to your collection.
• Next, you can configure additional properties of your NFT. With the help of tools such as Properties, Levels, and Stats, creators can rank their NFTs by scarcity, uniqueness, and, therefore, price.
• Once you have finished the settings, click the “Create” button.
• Confirm the transaction in your wallet and receive your newly minted NFT.

Then you can do whatever you want with your NFT. If you’re going to put it up for sale on OpenSea, navigate to the appropriate section, and configure the necessary parameters: price, royalties, etc. In addition, two functions will be available to you: a sale on auction or at a fixed price.

Conclusion

As you can see, minting your first NFT is not as difficult as it might seem. In this article, we have considered all the questions you may have with NFTs minting, examined the advantages of the most popular NFT-compatible blockchains, and described in detail the process of tokenizing the item.

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