With new projects emerging daily, Solana has emerged as the second-hottest NFT ecosystem behind Ethereum. Minting NFTs on Solana is a fashionable and cost-effective alternative to Ethereum because Ethereum gas prices are still exorbitant. In this post, we’ll go over every step of the process, from selecting a project to seeing NFTs in the Phantom wallet. We’ll also examine the developing NFT ecosystems on the Kusama, Polygon, and Fantom blockchains.
What makes Solana NFTs so well-liked?
Solana is a Proof-of-Stake blockchain that supports smart contracts and decentralised apps and is incredibly quick. Because Solana can handle up to 65,000 transactions per second for a fee of just $0.00025, many people view it as the ultimate “Ethereum killer.” As a point of contrast, Ethereum can only handle 20 transactions per second. While the transaction cost was about $30 as of mid-October 2021. You can see that Solana is 3,250 times faster and 120,000 times less expensive by using some simple maths.
The distinction intensifies when it comes to handling NFTs. Because you must work with a unique smart contract, minting or transmitting a non-fungible token on Ethereum consumes more processing power than transferring ETH. As a result, your gas costs will increase, sometimes exceeding $100, making them more costly than the NFT itself. In contrast, as of October 2021, the average cost to mint an NFT on Solana is just 0.00001 SOL, or $0.015.
Solana-based NFTs also have the benefit of minting taking only a few seconds and practically never failing. On Ethereum, your minting process may drag on for several minutes and fail. But the buyer is still required to pay the gas charge due to the overloaded mempool (transaction queue).
Gasless minting is available on Ethereum-based marketplaces like OpenSea, however, there are a lot of other fees to pay, including those for creating an account, listing NFTs, cancelling bids, etc. All things considered, Solana is a better choice if you’re new to NFTs and want to buy one without spending a lot of money.
Minting as opposed to online shopping
NFTs can be purchased on the primary market or the secondary market.
Initially: mint sites
In this case, you are making a purchase straight from an NFT collection’s creators. In other words, you will be the first person to purchase a certain asset. Through minting, which involves paying a predetermined sum and receiving an NFT in return. Collections are most frequently released; however, you cannot predict which NFT you will receive.
Minting has a certain aspect of surprise and awe to it, similar to when you open a Christmas present. If you’re lucky, the resulting NFT will have some unusual characteristics, like crimson eyes, a holographic background, a crown on its head, etc. These NFTs are extremely valuable to collectors and serious NFT investors because most collections contain between 5,000 and 10,000 of them, and among those thousands, there may only be 10 or 20 with a certain feature. A brain in its mouth, a halo, and a golden tooth, for instance, were three extremely unique characteristics that this Degen Ape (released on Solana) possessed at once. It also had a golden tooth.
The date and time of a mint are often advertised well in advance, and projects typically have a specific minting site. Popular collections can quickly run out of stock. The best course of action if you are running late but still want to get an NFT from a specific collection is to search for competitive prices on online marketplaces.
Secondary sales: online markets
Many folks merely produce NFTs to market at a profit as soon as possible. When a mint is finished, dozens of assets will start to appear on online markets. However, if everyone pays the same minting charge, secondary listings will be valued according to their scarcity, perceived beauty, or “coolness.”
The term “price floor” refers to the current price. It can occasionally go below the initial mint price, for instance, if the cryptocurrency market crashes or if the owner of an NFT suddenly requires liquidity. So it’s important to frequently check new listings.
Since it’s easier for novices, we’ll concentrate on minting in this essay rather than markets. When making a purchase on the secondary market, you must make a decision from among hundreds of assets that have a similar appearance. To identify possible gems, you must thoroughly understand the attribute and rarity systems. But when it comes to minting, all you can do is hope that you’ll obtain a good one by being in the right location at the right time.
Solanart, Digital Eyes, SolSea, and Magic Eden are some of the Solana NFT marketplaces. The collections they offer are basically the same, and many individual NFTs are featured on several platforms, sometimes with varying pricing.
Recently, the FTX exchange also debuted an NFT marketplace that supports Solana (technically, for the moment, it just supports Solana, but Ethereum-based NFTs are on the way). The majority of the listings currently focus on FTX, but it’s still worthwhile to periodically check back.
3 steps for NFT minting
Although all NFT mints adhere to the same pattern, we will use The Degens as an example in this article.
Step 1: Arrive on time
Keep in mind that a mint might end very soon. To ensure that you receive an NFT:
- Check the launch time in Discord (often given as UTC time) and convert it to your local time
- Ensure that your Phantom is prepared and loaded with sufficient SOL
- A few minutes before the mint begins, visit the mint website. Keep waiting patiently and remain motionless. Keep in mind that the mint page occasionally appears blank or with the statement “Project X will be live soon”. Refresh the page frequently.
Step 2: Connect The Wallet
When the mint is operational, you can connect Phantom. Select Phantom after clicking Connect Wallet. You will get a prompt to enter the password when the wallet extension appears. Accept to connect to the page after logging into the wallet.
Step 3: Mint
If the connection is successful, a button marked “Mint” or a comparable icon will appear. Decide how many NFTs you wish to get (some projects allow you to mint up to 20 in one transaction, while others limit it to just one). The wallet confirmation window will open when you click on it. Finally, to begin minting, click Approve Transaction.
Step 4: See what you got
Typically, the minting procedure takes only a few seconds. In conclusion, you might not receive any success notification. Don’t worry; if you click on Phantom’s Collectibles icon (the one with the four small squares), the NFT should appear.
What does the appearance of your new non-fungible asset look like?
Step 5: Continue to monitor the updates
Returning to Discord at this time will allow you to view what other people have created. It will help you determine the relative value and rarity of your NFT. Remember that teams frequently hold giveaways and airdrops for individuals who already possess NFTs. So don’t abandon the Discord group just yet. Additionally, a system of royalties may entitle you to a small portion of all secondary sales.
The Last Wise Words
A true boom of NFT initiatives on several smart contract platforms, including Kusama, Cardano, Fantom, Terra, and others, may occur in the near future. To know more about NFTs and an NFT Minting Website, you must connect with a suitable NFT Minting Website Development Company.
Author Bio: Suzanne Dieze is a technical content writer and preferably writing technology-based blogs and articles. I have a few published pieces under Mobile Based Applications, and Data science consists of proven techniques, future costs, and benefits.
