Anybody can create, or “mint”, their own non-fungible tokens. Minting NFTs isn’t just limited to artwork though, as game designers, musicians, YouTubers and even meme creators can all get involved.
What is an NFT?
Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, are one-of-a-kind digital assets that exist on a blockchain with unique identifiers and data. Blockchains can have smart contracts built in them to ensure that original creators of an NFT earn royalties whenever their NFT sells.
Most NFTs are bought with cryptocurrency. You can exchange one NFT for another, but since they’re all unique, it could mean a loss or gain.
It’s worth noting that when you mint an NFT, you’re not actually handing over ownership of the artwork’s file, but a representation of ownership. This distinction is important to understand before journeying into the world of NFT creation.
How do I make an NFT?
Making, creating or minting and NFT all refer to the same process. Minting originally meant “to make,” in reference to making a coin by stamping metal. It can also mean to produce something for the first time.
Minting an NFT means putting it on a blockchain and putting it in circulation. Once a file is minted on a blockchain, it can be bought or sold, and the blockchain automatically tracks all this information. Minting is also called tokenizing.
Wait – what’s a blockchain?
A blockchain is a shared electronic ledger that permanently records transaction history and allows for transactions between users without a middle-man. It’s a system of computers, called nodes, that keep track of ownership and transaction history.
Each node is connected and verifies information through consensus. Data is recorded in blocks, and before new information can be added, it must be verified by all nodes on the network.
In other words, it’s a whole lot of computers working together to make sure transaction history and data is correct, without the need for a centralized entity watching over it, like a bank or government agency.
One of the most widely used blockchains is Ethereum. It’s an open-source blockchain and Ether (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency. We’ll use the Etheruem blockchain in our example below.
5 steps to make an NFT
Here’s an overview of what you need to mint an NFT:
A unique digital file
A blockchain
An NFT marketplace
A crypto wallet
Cryptocurrency for transaction fees
Let’s dive in to the steps of minting your first NFT.
Step 1. Create your digital file.
All NFTs are digital files. The style of NFT you want to mint could be pretty much anything — an avatar, cartoon animal, abstract art, an icon, a funny GIF or even a song — it’s up to you. These are typically accepted formats:
JPEG
GIF
MP3
MP4
WAV
PNG
FVG
WEBM
OGG
CLB
If you’re not the artsy type or want to make a large collection of NFTs, look into hiring a freelancer to design your NFT or NFT collection for you. Legislation around NFTs and property rights is still a little messy, but plagiarizing someone else’s work to create an NFT could lead to legal issues. So stick to your own unique work and creations.
Step 2. Choose a blockchain.
NFTs can be hosted on various blockchains, and every blockchain offers different token standards. However, most blockchains follow standards set by Ethereum. The best-known NFT token standards are Ethereum’s ERC-721 and ERC-1151.
These token standards are designed specifically for minting NFTs. Unlike other comparable token standards, each issued ERC-721 token is non-fungible and unique. This means you cannot swap an ERC-721 token for another, the way you could with Bitcoin. This token is supported by most major NFT platforms, so we’ll use it as an example.
Step 3. Choose a marketplace and make an account.
Marketplaces can vary in what file formats they accept, NFT genres they sell and how much you can earn from royalties per secondary sale.
Marketplaces such as Crypto.com, Rarible, Foundation and Gate.io’s MagicBox allow users to upload their own file to be minted. OpenSea is the biggest NFT marketplace based on daily volume and user activity, so we will be using this platform to illustrate how you can create an NFT.
After you choose an NFT marketplace, create an account. It’s usually just an email and password combination and verifying your account via email or social media.
Compare and choose an NFT marketplace in the table below.
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Step 4. Connect your funded wallet.
A marketplace will require you to have a specific Web3 wallet to hold the cryptocurrency you’ll need to mint an NFT on the blockchain. You’ll need to buy some ETH, and store your holdings in an ERC-721 compatible wallet.
Transaction fees — called gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain — are what users pay to cover the cost of powering the blockchain. Since putting the future NFT on the blockchain requires interacting with it, you have to pay a transaction fee with cryptocurrency.
These fees vary by the second and can be anywhere from $1 to $1,000 per transaction, largely depending on the speed at which the blockchain is processing transactions.
MetaMask is a browser extension and mobile application intended to grant users of Ethereum and other popular blockchains seamless integration with DeFi platforms. It is one of the more popular DeFi and NFT wallets, having an active user base of over 1 million.
Trust Wallet
Trust Wallet is a free mobile application that has in-built support for most major cryptocurrency tokens, including ERC-standard tokens, Bitcoin and more. The application allows users to directly engage with DeFi and NFT platforms on the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain networks.
For those who wish to use a “cold” (offline) hardware wallet, the Ledger wallets are popular choices. Users can safely store their cryptocurrency offline, helping mitigate the risks of hacking and exploits that “hot” (online) wallets may encounter. Ledger users will need to download officially supported firmware for the wallet in order to store certain cryptocurrencies.
Trezor is another popular “cold” storage hardware wallet. In order to make transactions, Trezor creates temporary online wallets that must be confirmed by pushing buttons on the hardware. This creates an extra layer of security for your tokens.
Step 5. Mint the file.
With a marketplace account, wallet and file at the ready, simply follow the market’s steps on minting your NFT.
Typically, a marketplace has a button labeled Mint NFT or Create NFT on the top navigation bar. Once selected, upload the file, complete its title and description, then choose tags and genre. Verify the transaction by paying the transaction fees with your connected wallet.
And that’s it. The NFT is created, and it’s now a crypto asset that can be bought or traded on a blockchain. You can hold on to it for yourself or try your hand at selling it.
Here’s our example below for step-by-step instructions for minting an NFT on OpenSea:
How to mint an ERC-721 NFT on the OpenSea platform
OpenSea is one marketplace which caters to beginners looking to mint NFTs, as it offers off-the-shelf tools and solutions that will take care of some of the hard work for you.
Founded in January 2018 by American developers Alex Atallah and Devin Finzer, OpenSea was once known as the eBay for CryptoKitties but has grown to become a general-purpose online marketplace for non-fungible assets.
If you haven’t already done so, go to OpenSea and create a profile.
Click where it says “My Collections”.OpenSea uses these collections as a default organising system for user-created NFTs. It makes the platform simpler to navigate and stops things from getting confusing when you start to really take off. “My Collections” is where you’ll be able to find your NFTs going forward.
Click “Create a collection” to get started.
When prompted, type in what you want to call your collection, a brief description and upload an image.If inspiration doesn’t strike, don’t worry – none of this is permanent at this stage and you can change it all later.Note that you’re given a choice of blockchains to use – to create an ERC-721 NFT, you can use Ethereum.
Once your collection has been created, it’s now time to upload the files you’ll actually be using to create your NFT.Select “Add item” from the menu and choose the file you want to upload – the official maximum file size is 40MB, but bear in mind that if you go over 20MB, the process will slow down considerably both for you and anyone who wishes to buy your NFT.An extensive range of file standards are supported: JPG, PNG, GIF, SCG, MP4, WEBM, MP3, WAV, OGG and GLTF.
Once your file has been uploaded, that’s it – you have created your first NFT!Your new NFT will have a unique address and its total supply embedded in its identifying data.This means that you’re the only person who can mint more, even if you sell it to someone else. If you do mint more NFTs of the same file, each new buyer will be able to see what “number” version they have – kind of like a serial number.It’s now time to get your collection looking slick for any potential buyers, so we recommend updating your banner image.Click on the pencil icon in the top right of the window to upload a banner image – the ideal size is 1400 x 1400, and it’s a good idea to avoid text.This will help set your collection apart from the crowd and give it a unique identity all of its own.
We strongly recommend you tag your collection with as many social links as possible to help spread the word about your project.If you click the “Edit” button, you are presented with a range of options.First, choose a category to tag your collection to help people find it. Then, you can link to the various relevant social platforms, as you can see:You can link to your own website, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Medium or Discord.
In the same “Edit” window, you can determine if you want royalties when another user sells your NFT. These come from the price another buyer pays for the asset and are paid monthly – the maximum is 10%.
You can also set which tokens other people can use to buy or sell your NFT.Readers with more technical experience may prefer to create their own bespoke ERC-20 token, but most users will be happy with the pre-set options of ETH, WETH, DAI and USDC.
Can I make money with NFTs?
Yes, if it sells.
When you mint an NFT, you’re putting it on a blockchain, which lets you sell or send it to other users. You can earn from the initial sale of the NFT and also earn royalties from secondary sales forever — thanks to smart contracts built into blockchains.
A smart contract automatically executes its function without the need for a third party. It’s an agreement between two people that’s stored on a blockchain. They’re used for things like trading, investing and royalties.
In NFT sales, this means that if someone sells an NFT you minted, you automatically earn a percentage of the sale price from that secondary sale in perpetuity, thanks to the smart contract built on the blockchain.
Let’s will stick with OpenSea for our example.
To sell an NFT on OpenSea, previously you had to create your own storefront and pay minting fees but with the recent explosion of interest in NFTs, they have now streamlined the process – although there is still a gas fee for first-time sellers.
Here’s how it works:
Click on the icon at the top right of the screen to land on your profile page. You’ll be able to access your NFTs that you have created, along with NFTs you have acquired from other people along the way.
Select the NFT you want to sell, and then click “Sell” on the top right of your screen.
Next, you’ll see a window with a number of options.You can set the price for your NFT or determine what kind of auction you want to hold. The auction options are as follows:
“English” auctions, where the highest bid wins
“Dutch” auctions, where the price will fall until you have a buyer.
OpenSea automatically completes the transaction if the final price in the auction is above 1 ETH, but if the auction ends below 1 ETH, it is up to you as the seller to accept the highest offer.
Note that any bid made in the last 10 minutes of an auction will extend it by 10 more minutes, and you as the seller can cancel the auction at any point – although this will incur a gas fee. Additionally, you can choose to accept any given bid at any point in time that suits you.
Also, if this is your first time selling an NFT on OpenSea, there are 2 transactions you need to carry out that are for “free” but incur gas fees:
One transaction to activate your account
Another to allow OpenSea access to your NFT or NFTs whenever they are sold.
Every transaction on the Ethereum network incurs a gas fee, which is paying for the computational costs of executing a smart contract. This can be difficult to avoid, but as NFT marketplaces become more mainstream, more options for fee-less NFT creations are popping up. Two such platforms that offer zero gas fees are Mintable and Immutable X.
One very important thing to remember: OpenSea charges a commission of 2.5% on every sale you make through their platform.
Things to consider when making an NFT
Minting an NFT can be an exciting process, whether you’re an artist looking to expand your revenue or you just want to immortalise a meme for your friends and family.
Check the platform fees. We’ve used OpenSea in this example as it is user-friendly, but there are many platforms available that have their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s a good idea to shop around and make sure any given service is the right one for what you want to do – make sure you especially look at fees charged on sales by the platforms, these can range as high as almost 10%.
Know the vetting processes. Are you trying to sell your art or do you want a laugh? Both are valid, but make sure that you’re using the right service for each one.
Consider platforms that use verified identities. This guards against plagiarism and fraud. NFTs are unique, but the creative work that goes into them doesn’t have to be, and creators can face uphill struggles preventing cynical or malicious actors from profiting off their work.
Volatility. In the spring of 2021, NFTs appeared to be a licence to print money, but as with any crypto market, extreme levels of volatility are frequent. Relying on selling NFTs as a path to fame, fortune and comfort to the neglect of anything else is not wise. As always, it’s about a cool-headed balance of risk and reward – although this applies more to NFT trading than specifically creating and selling them.
Bottom line
Many people see dollar signs when NFTs are mentioned — but understand that crypto and NFTs are both very volatile markets. The value of these digital assets can change by the second, and the driving force behind their values is demand, scarcity and overall consumer interest.
While anyone with a little crypto and a digital file can create an NFT, there’s no guarantee that it’ll sell at all or that you’ll break even when it’s sold. We don’t recommend dumping your life savings into cryptocurrency or NFTs. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll make any money by minting NFTs to sell on the market.
Yes and no. They are tokens – but they are unique and cannot be divided or duplicated.
If you want to look at them through a crypto lens, each one is basically a cryptocurrency that only ever has one in existence.
It helps if you’re already a creator with some profile, but NFTs are like any other unique asset – the value lies in their exclusivity.
Also, in embedding royalties for artists into re-sales on the secondary market, they are a potential new revenue stream for creative industries that saw revenues decimated by the easy duplication of the early digital era. Many people want these industries to continue and are excited by the potential of leveraging blockchain technology to reward their favourite artists.
Not necessarily, but most people do.
You could create your own blockchain and native cryptocurrency or build your own NFT marketplace using existing blockchain tech. However, these options require programming experience and knowledge or enough resources to hire a person or team to do it for you.
The nature of blockchain technology means that they are reliable as verifiers of authenticity. That said, it’s worth investigating sellers’ profiles to ensure they are trusted users, as scams have been performed in the past where users sell “stolen” digital artwork from other creators.
In general, NFTs are considered a part of the broader DeFi ecosystem. Although a lot of NFT exchanges themselves aren’t fully decentralised, many are putting roadmaps in place to hand over governance to the community.
Not really – you may remember the CryptoKitties phenomenon a few years ago when during the first wave of mainstream attention on blockchain, its enthusiasts traded virtual cats with one another. These were NFTs.
We can go even further back and trace their origins back to 2012, but the concept and its application have both undergone significant evolution since then.
Yes. NFTs cannot be divided, but “shares” in them can be created and sold just like stocks in mainstream financial markets.
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OpenSea uses these collections as a default organising system for user-created NFTs. It makes the platform simpler to navigate and stops things from getting confusing when you start to really take off. “My Collections” is where you’ll be able to find your NFTs going forward.
If inspiration doesn’t strike, don’t worry – none of this is permanent at this stage and you can change it all later.Note that you’re given a choice of blockchains to use – to create an ERC-721 NFT, you can use Ethereum.
It’s now time to get your collection looking slick for any potential buyers, so we recommend updating your banner image.Click on the pencil icon in the top right of the window to upload a banner image – the ideal size is 1400 x 1400, and it’s a good idea to avoid text.
This will help set your collection apart from the crowd and give it a unique identity all of its own.
You can link to your own website, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Medium or Discord.
You can set the price for your NFT or determine what kind of auction you want to hold. The auction options are as follows: