NFTs have become one of the hottest crypto trends of 2021, with overall sales up 55% already since 2020, from $250 million to $389 million. Here’s
NFTs have become one of the hottest crypto trends of 2021, with overall sales up 55% already since 2020, from $250 million to $389 million. Here’s how you can make, buy and sell NFTs.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are unique collectible crypto assets, have been around as early as 2012 when the concept of Bitcoin Colored Coins first emerged. These coins were simply satoshis – small fractions of a bitcoin – marked, or “colored in” with distinct information that could link the coins to real-world assets, such as “this satoshi represents $500 of John Doe’s New York office building.” For the most part, however, Colored Coins were used to create and trade artwork like “Rare Pepe” digital cards on Counterparty, a peer-to-peer trading platform built on top of Bitcoin’s blockchain.
These cartoon frog images adapted from a viral internet meme were some of the earliest examples of unique digital artwork tied to crypto tokens. This paved the way for the ideation and creation of new non-fungible token standards – a set of blockchain building blocks that allow developers to create their own NFTs.
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NFTs can be used to represent virtually any type of real or intangible item, including:
- Artwork
- Virtual items within video games such as skins, virtual currency, weapons and avatars
- Music
- Collectibles (e.g. digital trading cards)
- Tokenized real-world assets, from real estate and cars to racehorses and designer sneakers
- Virtual land
- Video footage of iconic sporting moments
How to make an NFT
Creating your own NFT artwork, whether it be a GIF or an image, is a relatively straightforward process and doesn’t require extensive knowledge of the crypto industry. NFT artwork can also be used to create collectibles like sets of digital cards.
Before you start, you will need to decide on which blockchain you want to issue your NFTs. Ethereum is currently the leading blockchain service for NFT issuance. However, there is a range of other blockchains that are becoming increasingly popular, including:
- Binance Smart Chain
- Flow by Dapper Labs
- Tron
- EOS
- Polkadot
- Tezos
- Cosmos
- WAX
Each blockchain has its own separate NFT token standard, compatible wallet services and marketplaces. For instance, if you create NFTs on top of the Binance Smart Chain, you will only be able to sell them on platforms that support Binance Smart Chain assets. This means you wouldn’t be able to sell them on something like VIV3 – a Flow blockchain-based marketplace – or OpenSea which is an Ethereum-based NFT marketplace.
Since Ethereum has the largest NFT ecosystem, here’s what you’ll need to mint your own NFT artwork, music or video on the Ethereum blockchain:
- An Ethereum wallet that supports ERC-721 (the Ethereum-based NFT token standard), such as MetaMask, Trust Wallet or Coinbase Wallet.
- Around $50-$100 in ether (ETH). If you are using Coinbase’s wallet you can buy ether from the platform with U.S. dollars, British pound sterling and other fiat currencies. Otherwise, you will need to purchase ether from a cryptocurrency exchange. A guide on how to buy cryptocurrencies using the most popular exchanges can be found here.
Once you have these, there are a number of NFT-centric platforms that allow you to connect your wallet and upload your chosen image or file that you want to turn into an NFT.
The main Ethereum NFT marketplaces include:
- OpenSea
- Rarible
- Mintable
Makersplace also allows you to create your own NFTs but you have to register to become a listed artist on the platform beforehand.
OpenSea, Rarible and Mintable all have a “create” button in the top right corner.
Here’s how the process works on OpenSea, currently the largest Ethereum-based NFT marketplace.
Clicking the “create” button (blue) will take you to a screen that asks you to connect your Ethereum-based wallet. Once you’ve entered your wallet password when requested it will automatically connect your wallet with the marketplace. You may have to digitally sign a message in your Ethereum wallet to prove you own the wallet address, but it’s just a case of clicking through to proceed.
Digitally signing a message does not incur a fee, it’s just to show that you have ownership over the wallet.
The next step on OpenSea is to hover over “create” in the top right corner and select “my collections.” From there, click the blue “create” button as shown below.
A window will appear that allows you to upload your artwork, add a name and include a description.
This part is essentially just you creating a folder for your newly created NFTs to go in.
Once you’ve assigned an image for your collection, it will appear as shown below (blue). You’ll then need to add a banner image to the page by clicking on the pencil icon in the top right corner (red).
Your page should end up looking something like the image below.
Now, you’re ready to…
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