NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, meaning it represents something unique that cannot be duplicated. Regular cryptocurrency is fungible. Person A’s 1 BTC is the exact same as Person B’s 1 BTC. They can swap them and each person would still have something of exactly the same value as before. However, if Person A has an NFT and Person B also has an NFT, one might be more valuable than the other because each NFT is unique. Read more about it in our NFT guide.
What does it mean to mint an NFT? To mint an NFT means to create an NFT on the blockchain. Once created it cannot be removed. It will exist forever. The person who mints it, is the owner of the NFT, but they can sell it to other people. Since NFTs are created on the blockchain, a verifiable public ledger, every sale and wallet address is recorded. Anybody will be able to see the chain from creation to the latest sale or “update”. This chain is completely fraud-proof because it cannot be tampered with.
There are many real-world use cases of NFTs from ticketing to collectibles, real estate, deeds, and contracts. In this article we will concentrate on art NFTs. We will also show you step-by-step how to mint an NFT.
An NFT acts as a deed or certificate of authenticity of the art. The wallet address on the blockchain that holds the NFT is verifiable as the current owner. It is undisputedly theirs. This, therefore, means anyone could right-click and save the jPEG file of the artwork, but there can only be one verifiable, true owner. Since every NFT is unique and can only have one owner, it can give NFTs value. When the NFT is sold and resold, the creator of the NFT can also receive royalties on their art.
How to Mint an NFT in Canada: Step-by-Step
There are several NFT marketplace on several blockchains. Opensea is the most popular NFT marketplace but since it runs on Ethereum, gas prices can run into the hundreds of dollars. There are NFT marketplaces on Solana, Binance, XRP and more that allow you to mint an NFT for just a few dollars or cents, so NFT minting does not have to be expensive.
When you mint an NFT on one blockchain, you won’t be able to transfer it to another blockchain, so choose wisely. In this article, we will show you how to Mint NFT art on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
Step 1
First, you will need a Metamask wallet. Go to Metamask and install the wallet for your browser.
Step 2
Connect Metamask to the Binance Smart Chain and send BNB to your wallet. For a detailed guide, see our previous article.
Step 3
Once you have BNB in your Metamask wallet, you can now connect to the Nafter app. Go to Nafter and in the top-right corner click “connect wallet.” Select Metamask and on your Metamask wallet, approve access by clicking “sign”.
Step 4
Click “new post” at the top.
Now, you can upload your image file and fill in the rest of the details. You can add a name and a description for your artwork, hashtags so it can be found more easily, and a category e.g. digital art.
Step 5
Next, you can add how many copies you wish to sell (similar to prints of an original artwork). Then you can choose to sell your NFT at a fixed price or via an auction. With an auction, people will bid on your item until the time runs out and the highest bid wins. With a fixed price, people have to buy your NFT at the price you set.
Step 6
Choose whether to list your item in BNB, ETH or NAFT. NAFT is the Nafter token and can be bought on PancakeSwap. Simply connect your Metamask wallet to PancakeSwap and swap some of your BNB for NAFT. See our previous article about using PancakeSwap.
Both BNB and ETH incur a small service fee for each sale, so selling NFTs in either of these currencies will be more expensive. If you choose to sell in NAFT, the cost to mint an NFT is small. You will only pay network fees in BNB and there are no service fees.
Step 7
Create your item. Once you click this button, you will need to sign the transaction with your Metamask wallet. After that, your NFT will appear on the Nafter platform for anyone to buy. You can check your profile to see all of your minted NFTs and sales.
Minting NFTs with Nafter is easy and since it runs on the Binance Smart Chain, you only pay a few cents in network fees. Nafter also has an option where you can mint several NFTs at once which can save you time and money. Nafter currently only runs on desktop but they are planning to release an app soon, meaning you will soon be able to mint your NFTs straight from your phone.