NFTs have risen to become one of the most popular crypto trends in 2021, with global sales jumping 55 percent from $250 million to $389 million since 2020. Here’s how to make, buy, and sell these well-known digital assets.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are one-of-a-kind collectible crypto assets, have been existing since the concept of Bitcoin Colored Coins was introduced in 2012. These coins were just satoshis – minuscule fractions of a bitcoin – with unique information that could be used to link the coins to real-world assets, such as “this satoshi represents $500 of John Doe’s New York office building.” Colored Coins, on the other hand, were primarily used to create and trade artwork such as “Rare Pepe” digital cards on Counterparty, a peer-to-peer trading platform based on Bitcoin’s blockchain.
Creating your own NFT artwork, whether it’s a GIF or an image, is a reasonably simple procedure that doesn’t necessitate extensive crypto knowledge. NFT artwork can be used to make collectibles such as digital card sets.
Before you begin, you must choose which blockchain you wish to use to issue your NFTs. Ethereum is now the most popular blockchain platform for issuing NFTs.
Since Ethereum has the largest NFT ecosystem, you’ll need the following to mint your own NFT artwork, music, or video on the Ethereum blockchain:
- MetaMask, Trust Wallet, or Coinbase Wallet are examples of Ethereum wallets that support ERC-721 (the Ethereum-based NFT token standard).
- Approximately $50-$100 in ether (ETH). If you use Coinbase’s wallet, you can purchase ether using US dollars, British pounds sterling, and other fiat currencies. You’ll have to buy ether from a cryptocurrency exchange otherwise. Here’s a tutorial on how to buy bitcoins on the most prominent exchanges.
Once you have these, you can connect your wallet to a number of NFT-centric services and upload the image or file that you wish to make into an NFT.
The most popular Ethereum NFT exchanges are:
- OpenSea
- Rarible
- Mintable
You can also make your own NFTs on Makersplace, but you must first register as a listed artist on the platform. In the upper right corner of OpenSea, Rarible, and Mintable, there is a “create” button.
While making NFTs on OpenSea is free, some platforms charge a fee. This fee is known as “gas” on Ethereum-based platforms. The quantity of ether necessary to accomplish a specific action on the blockchain – in this case, adding a new NFT to the marketplace – is known as Ethereum gas. Gas prices vary according to network congestion. The price of gas costs rises in proportion to the amount of users transacting value through the network at any one time, and vice versa.
To sell your NFTs on an online marketplace, find them in your collection, click on them, and then look for the “sell” button. By selecting this option, you will be taken to a pricing page where you may specify the terms of the sale, such as whether to have an auction or sell at a fixed price.
The most common cryptocurrencies for which you can sell your NFTs are ether and other ERC-20 tokens, but some platforms only support the native currency of the blockchain they were founded on. For instance, VIV3 is a Flow blockchain marketplace that takes only FLOW tokens.
You can programme in royalties and choose which ERC-20 token you’d like to get for selling the NFT by selecting the “edit” button next to the collection image on OpenSea, signing the message with your wallet, and scrolling down. NFT creators can earn a commission every time the asset is sold to a new person thanks to royalties. Smart contracts have the ability to automatically create everlasting passive revenue streams for artists and other content providers.
As you might have guessed, some NFTs are only available on certain platforms. To buy NBA Top Shot packs, for example, you’ll need to register with NBA Top Shot, create a Dapper wallet, and fund it with either the USDC stablecoin or a supporting fiat money. You’ll also have to wait for one of the card pack drops to be announced and hope that you can get one before they sell out.
Pack and art drops are becoming more popular as a way to offer rare NFTs to a large audience of eager customers. Users are usually required to sign up and fund their accounts prior to the drop in order to avoid missing out on the opportunity to purchase NFTs. Pack and art drops can happen in a matter of seconds, so prepare ahead of time.
As you might have guessed, some NFTs are only available on certain platforms. To buy NBA Top Shot packs, for example, you’ll need to register with NBA Top Shot, create a Dapper wallet, and fund it with either the USDC stablecoin or a supporting fiat money. You’ll also have to wait for one of the card pack drops to be announced and hope that you can get one before they sell out.
Pack and art drops are becoming more popular as a way to offer rare NFTs to a large audience of eager customers. Users are usually required to sign up and fund their accounts prior to the drop in order to avoid missing out on the opportunity to purchase NFTs. Pack and art drops can happen in a matter of seconds, so prepare ahead of time.
