How to Create NFTs?

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique tokens that can represent a wide variety of different and distinct assets. This can range from art to utility tokens, to unique items in a video game. NFTs allow these types of digital assets to be traded, sold, and/or used like any normal physical item. 

So how can you create your own NFT?

What Do You Need to Create an NFT?

NFTs are an emerging asset class with high liquidity and low barriers to entry. If you’re looking for a quick way to get into the crypto game, they are a great place to start.

To create your own NFT, all you need is the following:

• Cryptocurrency (such as Ether or Matic).
  
• Gas fees to launch the collection.
  
• A cryptocurrency wallet for creation and deployment.

What is a Smart Contract? 

Applications made on the blockchain are done through smart contracts. A smart contract is a computer protocol that allows you to digitally facilitate, verify, and enforce a contract’s negotiation or performance without third-party intervention. Smart contracts allow for transactions under terms that are predefined by both parties involved in said contracts. Essentially, smart contracts are pieces of code that can be automated and run on a blockchain.

Smart contracts ensure that all parties involved in a transaction are transparent with what is being traded, and they can’t be changed once it’s been uploaded to the network because of their immutable and decentralized nature. This makes blockchains an excellent choice for transactions involving NFTs since there will be no way to alter the terms of a contract.

How are Smart Contracts Used for NFT Creation?

When creating NFTs, smart contracts can be used to:

• Store data about the NFT, such as its name, description, usage, or history.
  
• Generate unique identifiers for the NFT.
  
• Manage transfers of the NFT between users.
  
• Enforce ownership and control over the NFT.

Smart contracts can be used to create a wide variety of different types of NFTs, from digital assets to collectibles and even a variety of gaming items. By using smart contracts, creators can trust that their NFTs will be securely stored and managed on the blockchain without needing to worry about security or fraud. This makes it easier for creators to build safe and reliable applications that use NFTs, which in turn helps to grow the overall NFT ecosystem.

Even without technological knowledge, you can use sites such as NFTrade to upload files and turn them into your very own NFTs.

What is NFT Minting? 

NFT minting is the process of creating new non-fungible tokens on the blockchain. Minting an NFT permanently ‘registers’ it onto the blockchain, thus allowing it to be owned and traded between users on the network. The NFT is a digital asset or file such as an image, mp3, or other types of file.

As is the case when a platform creates a cryptocurrency, the procedure of uploading a specific item to the blockchain is referred to as “minting.” The owner of the NFT may set royalties for each subsequent sale at any time after the asset is minted, which will be a commission they earn whenever their work is sold to another person or traded on the secondary market.

How to Mint an NFT

NFTs work exceptionally well when representing a digital file like an image or sound file, but they can be created for almost any digital content. To mint your own NFT, you’ll need a crypto wallet. The most common wallet for NFT marketplaces and blockchain apps is Metamask, which operates as a browser plugin or mobile app.

Next, you will need to go to NFTrade’s create an NFT page here.

Here are 5 simple steps to mint your NFT:

1. Connect Wallet to NFTrade

The first step is ensuring your Metamask wallet is connected to the platform. This can be done by clicking on the Connect Wallet button in the browser. This ensures the NFT will end up in your wallet, while also allowing you to pay the minting fee.

2. Upload the File

Next, you will need to upload the file you want to turn into a NFT. This can be a JPG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, MP4, or MP3. The only requirement is that it can only be a maximum of 30MB.

3. Mint the NFT

After uploading the file or digital artwork, one can now add a title, description, and several other attributes if desired. Additionally, you will need to assign the NFT to a specific collection. You can either select an existing collection or create a new one.  Once the information is filled out, click the Create button.

4. Approve Gas or Transaction Fee

When an NFT is created, it incurs a network cost (gas fee), which is paid in the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency. As a result, to finish the minting of the NFT, a gas fee or transaction fee will need to be authorized in the digital wallet. Some networks have higher gas fees than others.

5. The NFT is Now Minted

After uploading the file and paying the gas fee, the NFT minting process is triggered automatically. The NFTrade smart contracts will then execute, immortalizing your NFT on the blockchain.

Step-By-Step Instructions to Deploy an ERC-721 Smart Contract

If you don’t want to use a platform like NFTrade to mint your NFTs, you can also do it by directly deploying an ERC-721 smart contract. However, this process can get quite technical, so be prepared. 

Whereas cryptocurrencies (fungible tokens) use the ERC-20 standard, the ERC-721 standard is designed specifically for the creation of non-fungible tokens.

Here are 4 steps to deploy an ERC-721 smart contract:

1. Connect to the Ethereum network

As we mentioned above, you will need the browser extension MetaMask to serve as your wallet. After which, you will need to make sure you are connected to the Ethereum mainnet. To do this, select the Ethereum mainnet option from Metamask’s wallet. You should also make sure that there is Ether (ETH) available in your wallet.

2. Uploading your file to the internet

The files you associate with your NFT will need to be stored online. So you should find a secure and dedicated host for your files. This could be anything from Google Drive to a simple file-hosting website.

3. Create Your NFT and Smart Contract

• NFT

ERC-721 tokens are frequently constructed by coders using Ethereum’s native language, Solidity. This part will require understanding a bit of code and creating a Solidity file. Ethereum Remix offers an open-source tool that allows users to develop and deploy smart contracts for free.

Once you’ve opened and started a new Ethereum smart contract project in Ethereum Remix, post this code into the web app.

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

pragma solidity 0.8.6;

import “https://github.com/0xcert/ethereum-erc721/src/contracts/tokens/nf-token-metadata.sol”;

import “https://github.com/0xcert/ethereum-erc721/src/contracts/ownership/ownable.sol”;

contract newNFT is NFTokenMetadata, Ownable {

  constructor() {

    nftName = “PUT YOUR NFT NAME HERE”;

    nftSymbol = “PUT YOUR NFT SYMBOL HERE”;

  }

  function mint(address _to, uint256 _tokenId, string calldata _uri) external onlyOwner {

    super._mint(_to, _tokenId);

    super._setTokenUri(_tokenId, _uri);

  }

}

The important parts to edit here are the “nftName” and nftSymbol attributes. These allow you to define the name and symbol of your NFTs.

You can now compile and deploy the smart contract onto the Ethereum network by using the Inject Web3 option and clicking Compile.

4. Confirm Your Credentials and Transactions

Once you’ve compiled your smart contract, Metamask will prompt you to approve the transaction before it’s deployed to the blockchain. This will cost Ether, so be sure everything is set before you hit accept. Once the transaction is accepted, your smart contract will officially be deployed on the Ethereum blockchain and cannot be changed.

Using IPFS to Store the NFT Asset

The best and most secure way to store your asset is off-chain using an IPFS. IPFS is a decentralized file system that aims to make the transfer of information easier. IPFS, which stands for InterPlanetary File System, is a peer-to-peer protocol used to share and store files. If you use NFTrade to mint your NFT, we will store your NFT on IPFS automatically.

Content addressing is used in IPFS to identify each file that is relevant for your NFTs. This is how you link the NFT metadata to where the asset or artwork is stored. Therefore, IPFS can be seen as more persistent with data pinning when compared to centralized services such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

Connecting Your NFT With IPFS Storage

To use IPFS and connect it to your NFT, you will need to:

• Download the IPFS onto your laptop or computer.
  
• Go through and complete the process for installation.
  
• On your computer, create an IPFS repository.
  
• Open the IPFS daemon and input the image you want to tokenize into the terminal window.
  
• Copy the hash that the database generates for your NFT (you will want to start from Qm in the hash thread).
  
• To add a JSON file to the database, save it in the same directory as your picture.

What is the Fee for NFT Minting? 

Because NFTs are created on different blockchains, their costs vary from one to another. Even when they’re on the same blockchain, the cost of one NFT may not be precisely equal to that of another. However, this can be attributed to a number of variables, including project quality, data size, transaction speed, and gas fee to name a few.

This means that the price of minting an NFT can vary from as little as a few cents to potentially hundreds of dollars. The cost of NFTs is generally on the higher side during weekday hours owing to a plethora of on-chain activities taking up resources of the network. This implies that the expense of creating NFTs is considerably lower on Saturdays and Sundays or any off hours. Hence the importance of research and due diligence when looking for NFT minting platforms. You’ll want to discover a system that is simple enough to use, safe, and secure to interact with but that won’t cost you massively when it’s time to activate your new NFT.

How do I Mint an NFT for Free? 

If you would like to mint your NFT for free, you have two options: lazy minting and solutions where the platform covers the gas fees traditionally incurred by the creator.

• Lazy Minting

Lazy minting cuts the middle man (the miner) and instead defers these fees to the buyer when they purchase, meaning creators don’t have to have anything in their wallet to mint and can mint for free.

• Gas Fees Covered by Platform

An example of a platform providing this solution is Biconomy. In partnership with Showtime, a user-owned NFT social network, together they aim to bring gasless transactions and free minting to the NFT ecosystem.

Users will be able to avoid the steps of obtaining native tokens, calculating gas fees, and paying them. Instead, users will now be able to use Showtime on their wallets without having to manually change their RPC network settings, ensuring that no transactions or NFT mintings fail, even in severely congested situations.

What Chains Can I Mint NFTs On?

There are a variety of chains where you can mint NFTs. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some of the more popular chains to mint NFTs on include: Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and Avalanche. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of each:

• Ethereum is one of the most popular chains for minting NFTs. It has a robust development community and a wide variety of dApps that can be used to create NFTs. However, Ethereum also has high transaction costs and slow transaction speeds. Most high-value NFTs live on Ethereum.
  
• Avalanche is another popular chain for minting NFTs. It has fast transaction speeds and low transaction costs. However, it has a smaller development community than Ethereum.
  
• Binance Smart Chain is a popular chain for minting NFTs because it has low transaction costs and fast transaction speeds. It’s also currently one of the largest altcoin blockchains available. Many gaming projects and gaming NFTs use BSC.
  
• Polygon is a popular chain for minting NFTs because it has a large development community and fast transaction speeds. It operates as a layer 2 blockchain within the Ethereum network.

Can I Create NFTs on Multiple Chains?

– Yes! You can create NFTs on as many blockchains as you’d like!

Can I Delete a Minted NFT? 

– There is no way for you to permanently delete your NFT on the blockchain. However, you can remove a minted NFT from your profile by ‘burning’ it (although this cannot be done if you went through the process of lazy minting to create your NFT). This means sending the NFT to an address that is inaccessible, banishing it, and making it unusable forever.

How to Create NFTs Without Coding Experience

– If you would like to set up your NFT but don’t have any coding experience, NFTrade makes the process incredibly simple and straightforward.

Simply connect your wallet to NFTrade and then navigate to the Create NFT webpage. From there, all you have to do is upload your file, fill in some information, and hit Create. The platform will do the rest, leaving you with your freshly minted NFT.