Once you have created your NFT, the next step is to mint it.

Minting means publishing an NFT on the blockchain so that it can be purchased.

In a nutshell, the process of minting involves:

  1. Creating a wallet, e.g MetaMask
  2. Purchasing crypto (Ethereum) to cover the costs of minting the NFT, commonly about 0.2 to 0.9 Ethereum (ETH)
  3. Linking your wallet to OpenSea or another marketplace. OpenSea is the most commonly used marketplace to mint NFTs

Make sure you own the rights to tokenise the asset you’re minting.

So, here’s how to mint your first NFT:

  1. Select the marketplace you’re going to use to mint and sell your NFT (I’m using OpenSea as an example).
  2. Have the asset accessible as a source, JPEG, PNG, or GIF file. The NFT you’re uploading to the marketplace to mint can have a low-resolution but make sure the NFT which is being bought has a high resolution for the owner in the future.
  3. Have the MetaMask wallet installed to your computer.
  4. Select the network you want to use. As an example, let’s use the Rinkeby test network (testnet) – an Ethereum test network that allows for blockchain development testing before deployment on Mainnet, the main Ethereum network.
  5. Click ‘buy’, to get some free, fake ETH, which will help us to play around with the minting process.
  6. Switch to testnet OpenSea and click ‘create’.
  7. Click on ‘create new collection’, choose your file as the logo and fill in the name. You can fill in the description but it’s optional so you don’t have to.
  8. Once your collection’s been created, click on ‘add items’. Your MetaMask wallet should pop up and ask you to sign with your private key/wallet address.
  9. To create a new item, upload a file in your chosen format (the maximum is 100MB) and fill in the boxes. You can upload the original file or even a low-resolution file for your NFT. To make it easier for people to find your NFT whilst searching, you can add properties, levels and stats.
  10. Pinata* helps with the ‘Unlockable Content’ option, so open their website. If you want to share the source, high resolution or original file with the owner, this feature can make sure the content can only be revealed by the owner of the item.
  11. Upload your file on Pinata, click on the link under ‘name’ and it’ll open a new tab.
  12. Once the tab is open, copy the URL and paste it in the box under the ‘Unlockable Content’ option.
  13. Click ‘create’ at the bottom of the page on OpenSea and you have then created your first item/asset.
  14. To sell it, click ‘visit’ and on the new page, click ‘sell’.
  15. You can sell it at a set price or to the highest bid. Let’s use the latter option as an example.
  16. As an example, select the minimum bid as 1 and the reserve price, 1.5. Then select the expiration date for 3 days.
  17. Click ‘post your listing’ and then anyone in the network will be able to buy it.
  18. This then prompts the MetaMask wallet. Wallets can be connected to a hardware wallet if you’re dealing with valuable assets, so select this option.
  19. Click ‘sign’ if you’re happy with everything. Because you’re using the testnet, you’re not paying anything but if you’re using the real network, you’ll be paying some gas fees, and that’s expensive. Look at this post for more information on NFTs and energy consumption.
  20. Click ‘browse’ to see your newly created NFT. People can now bid for it or buy it.

 

I hope these steps have helped you understand minting.

 

*Pinata is a simple way to upload and manage large NFT media files on IPFS (InterPlanetary File System).

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