What Does it Mean to «Mint» an NFT and How Do You Do It?

Author: Rachel Martin

 

Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/dpJMHumNc6E

 

In the world of art, a new opportunity is arising: digital art and its changing of the landscape of the typical outlines of the art world. Rather than selling a physical work, typical copyright laws, and auction houses, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) present unique chances to buy and sell artworks. But how does one make an NFT, let alone sell one?

 

Minting an NFT made from scratch requires access to a crypto blockchain and an NFT marketplace. “Minting” an NFT is, in more simple terms, uniquely publishing your token on the blockchain to make it purchasable. A simple step-by-step for starting this involves creating a digital wallet, specifically one that securely stores Cryptocurrency (well-known wallets include Coinbase, MetaMask, and Rainbow). Once this is done, you can purchase a small amount of Cryptocurrency to cover the cost of minting the NFT. Finally, you link your wallet to an online marketplace (such as Rarible, OpenSea, or Zora).

 

Now that your wallet is created, you can mint your NFT. The first step to this is to create the digital file (any digital file, such as JPEG, MP3, GIF, or PNG, that is compatible with the preferred marketplace is able to be turned into an NFT as well as not copyrighted). You can choose to “create a collectible” as a single image or multiple images. Depending on the marketplace you have linked your wallet to, you can add a name, description, price, and other metadata to your token.

 

Once you have created this NFT, the marketplace will charge a small fee for publishing it, which will be taken from your wallet. The act of adding the metadata and publishing this makes it “minted”. From here, your NFT can be listed on the marketplace for sale. There is also an option to keep the NFT private. After the NFT is on the market, viewers can make bids. As an acceptable bid is made, the user can finalize the sale.

 

You can also set royalty amounts for NFTs, from 10-30%, where the artist is able to track the sales of their works on secondary marketplaces after their initial sale on the marketplace of their choice. Some of the digital marketplaces allow you to see NFT sales throughout the day, listing the biggest sellers.

 

If you create digital art, minting your NFTs can become a valuable revenue stream. Though there are more complicated methods of coding and creating NFTs, there are numerous online marketplaces and wallets that make creating a sellable digital artwork easy.