Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are taking the digital world by surprise – it’s changing the way we buy and sell digital art, brand products, and experience the internet. If you are already sold on the idea of the NFT craze and want to surf in this wave, we’ve listed seven ways to create your own NFT and how you can do it.
How to Create NFT & NFT Ideas to Create Your Own NFT
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, which means that each token represents a unique item. Think of it in this way – fungible is a synonym for non-replaceable – some things are unique, and even if there’s a copy, the original is only one, like the Mona Lisa. Or a Picasso’s painting. For instance, Bitcoin is fungible, you can trade one coin for another, and that will be the exact same coin. An NFT is a one-of-a-kind digital file, which means non-fungible. Things like art, collectibles, photos, songs and even real estate can be turned into tokens.
These NFTs can only have one official owner at a time and most of them are secured by the Ethereum blockchain – no one can modify the record of ownership or copy and paste a new NFT into existence.
How Do NFTs Work?
NFTs are individual and unique items with blockchain records that store information about the digital file. The NFT’s market value is set by the market demands and the transfer among owners is noted on the blockchain as well. The market fluctuates dramatically, so you may see it up or down any given month. In 2022, there has already been more than $37 million invested in NFT marketplaces, according to Chainalysis.
How to Create an NFT
Now that you understand what a Non-Fungible Token is, maybe it’s time to consider creating your own NFT and selling it. If you aren’t convinced about its worthiness, think of the NFTs that have gone viral such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club which cost $190 at launch last April and now they go for over $400,000 (more about it later on).
Let’s say you come up with a really cool digital sticker idea and you believe in its potential to become the next Bored Ape or a Nyan Cat, it is time to get your hands dirty. We’ve listed the seven steps to creating an NFT.
Step 1: Choose the NFT Content
Digital art, similar to real-world art is open to all kinds of creative forms. If you decide to create an NFT, you need to choose its format and generate an NFT from any multimedia file. An NFT can be a digital painting, a GIF, a photo, a text, audio, a 3D image, or a video from some notable event. But it doesn’t stop here – NFTs can also be virtual items like a virtual sneaker, avatars, and even virtual lands in the metaverse.
Step 2: Pick Your Format
The second step is to choose the format. Keep in mind that after deciding what content and in which format you wish, you will need to convert it to a suitable file type, especially if it is not already digital. Most items tend to be stored as portable network graphics (PNG) or graphics interchange format (GIF) files. Texts would typically be available in portable document format (PDF), while music would likely be stored as MP3 and video kept as MP4.
Step 3: Mint your creation
The process of turning a digital item into an asset on the blockchain is called minting – similar to minting a coin – and that’s what you will do next. This step is what makes your Non-Fungible Token unique, tamper-proof, and impossible to be deleted – once it’s recorded in a distributed ledger or decentralized database. Minting an NFT can be daunting, so you can follow this step-by-step guide here.
Step 4: Choose the NFT Marketplace
Now that you have pre-minted your NFT, it is time to pick the marketplace you want to sell it. There are a few websites out there, but the most popular is OpenSea – often called the Amazon of NFTs.
However, choosing the right marketplace is an essential part of minting NFTs, as this depends on many things, including certain blockchain types, supported standards and formats, accessibility, and a price to mint an NFT (in most platforms, this process is paid).
These marketplaces differ in various aspects, such as different focus, niches, pricing, and user interface, so do proper research to narrow down your preferences and choose one that suits your needs.
Most NFTs are commercialized under Ethereum, although Ethereum does not have a monopoly on NFTs. When looking to mint a token on the blockchain, users will be required to pay a gas fee – that refers to the contribution the user will make to compensate for the computing energy used to process and validate transactions on the blockchain.
Step 5: Get a Wallet
According to the basic blockchain principle, anything related to cryptocurrency transactions is done through a crypto wallet – that eliminates the need to store user account data. Like a physical wallet, a crypto wallet lets you store and buy your cryptocurrencies. There are many wallets to choose from, and they can be both downloaded on a smartphone or accessed in an internet browser.
Step 6: Buy Crypto
As mentioned, most of the NFT marketplace transact NFTs with Ethereum. If you don’t own any ETH, you can purchase some from a reputable broker or cryptocurrency exchange and store it in your wallet.
Step 7: Follow the Instructions
Each NFT marketplace has specific instructions creators will need to follow in order to create a Non-Fungible Token. Following the instructions are important because this will determine the chances of selling your creation.
Generally speaking, you will need to upload the file and fill it in with an attractive description and title. Then, you might be asked to choose whether to mint a single token or a whole collection. Next, you will need to decide the way you want to sell your NFT: fixed price or auction. Depending on the marketplace, you’ll be able to choose a royalty percentage, that is the amount you will get when future collectors sell your NFT.
Best NFT Wallets
An NFT wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet that supports the blockchain protocol that NFTs are built on. Crypto wallets help users exchange and store NFTs by providing them with a private key to the address where the NFT is stored.
However, not all crypto wallets can hold NFTs, so it’s important to check which crypto wallets include NFT wallets that manage assets on the consumer’s behalf. The most popular NFT wallets are Coinbase Wallet, Meta Mask, and Math Wallet.
4 NFT Ideas to Try
An NFT could represent many things, such as:
Digital Art:
- GIFs
- Collectibles
- Music
- Videos
Real-World Items:
- Deeds to a car
- Tickets to a real-world event
- Tokenized invoices
- Legal documents
- Signatures
Some examples of NFTs that exist today, so you can get the idea:
Artwork collection
One of the most popular NFT collections is the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The collection of thousands of bored apes started at less than $200, and the cheapest now costs $420,000 (145 ether).
Another example includes the renowned digital artist Beeple, who managed to auction one of his collections for $69 million dollars at Christie’s and broke the NFT record pricing.
Gaming items
NFTs take the in-gaming experience to the next level. Gamers can generally buy items and upgrade their avatars, but with an NFT, they can recoup their money by selling the items once they’re finished with them. But it’s not limited to it – games founded on the blockchain can develop their NFT, such as The Sandbox and Decentraland, which both sell virtual properties for as high as a few million dollars.
Memes
As far as creativity goes, you can also profit from making memes. NFTs of memes can make millions with viral content. Recently, a common meme called Bad Luck Brian was sold for $36,000.
Tweets
The first tweet ever tweeted in the history of Twitter was in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, and was purchased for $2,915,835. The trade was supported by the Valuable by Cent platform, a special type of platform which deals with signed tweets from original creators, creating a world where people can earn from viral tweets.
How to Flip NFT for Profit
In the blockchain vocabulary, flipping is a loose term for buying an NFT for a low price and selling it when the price is high. To spot potential in an NFT, there are a few key factors you should bare in mind:
- Benefits: Does the NFT offer any perks? Or is it simply a digital asset with no value? Some companies are using NFTs to access exclusive membership clubs and real-world events such as gigs and live concerts.
- Community: Follow the online interest on a given NFT – how much are people talking about it on social media, forums, or YouTube videos? Look at the engagement around it, do you think many people believe in it?
- Credibility: Like everything that’s new and unregulated, is more likely to be prone to scams and frauds. Make sure you know the team behind the NFT project and whether they’re trustworthy and credible – which is essential for your success and investment.
- Uniqueness: While the quality of the art project isn’t a determining factor, you should be able to spot the chances of the NFT becoming an icon. Similar to a real art painting, think of the aesthetic of the project, the uniqueness, the creativity, and features. Read more on how to flip NFTs here.
How to Buy an NFT
Now that you have identified which NFTs are worth investing in, it’s time to buy some. There are two ways to do it: minting an NFT when the price drops and buying an NFT on a secondary marketplace.
Most NFT collections are released at low prices and sometimes even for free. But since high quality and trending NFTs are hard to mint, most of these projects release whitelists for those who want to guarantee access when the collection goes live.
To get whitelisted, join the project’s Discord group to learn its criteria for eligibility, and the date and time the NFT collection will go live. You can also opt for buying NFTs on a secondary market by making an offer to the NFT seller.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for How to Create an NFT
Here are some frequently asked questions about how to create your own NFT and some NFT ideas.
Bottom Line on How to Create an NFT
Similar to artwork, the sky’s the limit for creating NFTs. The success of an NFT depends on many factors, but mostly on creativity, selling skills, and luck. A high-quality, unique, and captivating NFT, with a well-written description, may turn into a viral digital asset.
Buying and selling Non-Fungible Tokens requires a few things: an NFT crypto wallet, owning some Ethereum (for most NFTs), and an account in an NFT marketplace. Once up and running, the NFT data is recorded into the blockchain and it can only have one official owner at a time – of course, copies can be done, but there’s only one original like there’s only one Mona Lisa.