How to Mint an NFT | Investing for Beginners

• NFTs have become increasingly popular over the past couple of months, and because of their rising popularity, more people have begun selling these digital items on blockchains. 
• For NFT sellers to make money off their listed items, they must “mint” the NFT, meaning they must pay a gas fee, an expense associated with the computing energy required to transfer the cryptocurrency from one account to another. 
• As the NFT journey can be complicated, below is a list of steps to help you get started.

Over the past couple of months, the digital asset non-fungible token, or NFTs, has become an increasingly hot topic many have searched for on the web. As NFTs have seen exponential growth in popularity and price over the last few months, many have begun minting and placing an NFT for sale on various marketplaces. 

What does NFT Minting mean?

Like many other professions, artists sell their products to customers to generate income from their work. NFT minting works similarly to this, as a user must mint their NFT to be eligible for receiving payments on their work. However, prior to becoming eligible for receiving money from their NFTs, the user must pay a gas fee every time they conduct the transaction of a digital item. 

Now that the term ‘NFT Minting’ has been defined, here are the steps required to start minting NFTs. 

Creating an NFT

The process of making and selling NFTs begins with creating the NFTs themselves. NFTs can be any form of media, primarily real or animated pictures and videos. To ensure the NFT will be uploaded onto the marketplace with ease, the file itself must be under 100MB and be from one of the following formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG, MP4, WEBM, MP3, WAV, OGG, GLB, GLTF. 

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Once the NFT has been created with one of the aforementioned file formats, the next step before uploading it onto a supported platform is to set up a digital crypto wallet. 

How to Open a Digital Wallet

Prior to selling NFTs, you must connect your wallet to your desired NFT marketplace platform. Connecting your wallet will allow you to receive payment when your NFTs are sold, and it will also allow you to pay the gas fees NFT marketplaces have on their platform, which a user must pay for every time they conduct a transaction. 

You will need to go on a trusted digital wallet website compatible with most blockchain platforms to set up a digital wallet. The most popular and trusted digital wallet is the MetaMask wallet, as its app is relatively easy to set up, use, and link with various platforms. 

By setting up the digital wallet, you can add funds into the wallet and purchase Ethereum, the cryptocurrency many blockchains use to fund their transactions. Therefore, once you have set up your wallet and have some Ethereum stored, it is now time to find a suitable platform that allows for the sale of NFTs.

Where can I sell my NFTs?

Determining which platform is ideal for you when selling NFTs is vital as these platforms each have their pros and cons. The most popular platforms that people use when they wish to pursue a transaction involving NFTs are OpenSea, Rarible, and Mintable, and below is a list of their pros and cons.

OpenSea

OpenSea is the most popular NFT marketplace that most traders use to trade NFTs. Due to its high volume of users, its main benefit from a seller’s perspective is there are many potential buyers for their NFT. 

Furthermore, the site is extremely user-friendly, making it easy to navigate. It also allows the seller to sell their NFTs rather quickly and efficiently, and the creator of the NFT can charge up to a 10% royalty on each sale subsequent to the original one. 

However, two main disadvantages of using OpenSea as the desired marketplace to sell an NFT are gas fees and a lengthy verification process.

Gas fees are paid every time an NFT is uploaded because when a transaction occurs between the buyer and the seller, cryptocurrency is exchanged for the NFT. Transferring cryptocurrency from one account to another requires computing energy, which is why sellers typically pay this fee when they wish to mint and sell their NFT. 

Secondly, OpenSea has a verification process that takes a couple of days before the NFT can be traded. The reason for the long process is that the platform is trusted by many within the NFT space, and OpenSea does not want to compromise its reputation by allowing a fraudulent NFT to appear on its platform. 

Rarible

Rarible is another NFT marketplace that operates on Ethereum blockchain technology. The main pro of Rarible in comparison to OpenSea is its lack of gas fees when minting an NFT. As mentioned above, the seller must pay the gas fee every time an NFT is uploaded to the blockchain.

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Fortunately, Rarible has implemented a new feature that benefits sellers called “Lazy Minting,” as it helps them get around the gas fees. The “Lazy Minting” feature allows the seller to upload their NFT onto the blockchain without paying any fees. However, if the seller’s NFT were to find a potential buyer, the buyer takes on the gas fees, making it more beneficial for the seller as they do not have to pay this sometimes hefty fee.

Once the NFT has been bought, it is minted, and the rights are transferred to the new owner.

Mintable

Mintable is similar to the other blockchain platforms listed above with one main difference; it allows its users to create and mint their NFTs for free. In addition, the elimination of gas fees makes it appealing to novice NFT creators, as eliminating these costs means they save money in the minting process.

However, one key issue with Mintable is the prolonged account creation process, which makes it unappealing to most users and causes them to use one of the two alternatives listed above. 

Uploading NFTs to Digital Networks

After choosing your desired Ethereum network to list your NFT, it is time to upload it onto the website. Regardless of which platform you decide to upload your NFT on; the process is similar for all of them. 

Once you have created an account on the marketplace and have linked your digital wallet, all you have to do is click the create button, after which you can upload your NFT onto the platform. After the NFT has been successfully uploaded onto your account, it is now ready to be sold on the marketplace. 

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With the world of collectibles and digital media constantly changing, NFTs have been at the forefront of this change. As some NFT traders have become somewhat successful in this venture, more people have considered entering this space. Following the steps listed above will allow you to get a rough idea of minting NFTs from start to finish.