Minting an NFT is something that requires knowledge and also money. It is not free to mint an NFT as there are some costs involved for those that want to create their own NFTs.
In this guide, we will share with you how the NFT marketplace work, how much does it cost to mint NFTs, and the final sale price of an NFT piece.
What are NFTS?
The cryptocurrency market evolved from being a market for investors to buy and sell digital currencies (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Vertcoin, Namecoin), to a place where it is now possible to find NFT marketplaces and trade different non fungible tokens.
NFTs are known for being a blockchain representation of a virtual or physical object such as a contract, piece of art, or collectables.
Some of the most popular NFTs included the so-called “crypto-kitties.” These were popular NFTs that were sold in 2017 and early 2018.
With the growth of the secondary market of NFTs, popular NFT marketplaces appeared and allowed investors to buy and sell new and creative NFTs. Some of these collections included the Bored Ape Yacht Club or CryptoPunks.
How are NFTs created?
Now that you know what NFTs are, let’s move to how to mint NFT pieces.
This is a process that involves creating the NFT (the idea of what is going to be tokenized), the blockchain network that is going to be used (i.e. the Ethereum blockchain or the Polygon blockchain), and minting costs (gas fee).
NFT Artists usually create NFTs that would attract users in the market and that would be willing to purchase these tokens.
Digital assets can be sold in different popular NFT marketplaces and get a reward (sometimes very large) for creating an art collection.
Therefore, to create an NFT, it is necessary for NFT creators to think about minting fees and how they could affect their digital file.
What is NFT Minting?
As explained above, NFT minting is the cost of creating a new NFT. A single NFT could cost a lot of money if the whole process is done in the wrong way. It is key for NFT creators to find a good NFT market where to sell their art. Minting NFTs requires a clear understanding of the costs.
NFT minting costs as then variable. Everything depends on a wide range of factors that would have an impact on the actual price of the NFT art created. It will also be more expensive to mine a whole NFT collection, which involves a larger number of blockchain transactions to be processed.
NFT platforms are now allowing users to use blockchain technology and mine their own NFTs. You will only need a crypto wallet, an idea of what you want to sell, and a search for a popular NFT marketplace.
What are Gas Fees?
Gass fees are the fees that users have to pay for miners that share their computational power to process transactions. Minting an NFT involves paying a service fee for each NFT item minted.
Each blockchain network would have different fees. The gas bill of a blockchain network that does not have miners (it works through a different consensus algorithm), would be lower than the cost of minting an NFT with the Ethereum blockchain, for example.
It is also important to know that free minting does not exist. As an NFT creator, you should make sure to understand that someone needs to pay for the processing power used by miners to process a transaction.
Eventually, buyer pays the fee when they purchase your NFT. Additionally, gas fees fluctuate greatly depending on the blockchain network usage. NFT minting involves paying a fas fee that would let you start minting NFT collections.
NFT Minting Cost (Minting Fee)
So, how much does it cost to mint an NFT? The answer is quite simple: minting an NFT could cost between $1 and $1,000 depending on the platform, the network congestion, the listing fee paid by the artist and other possible transaction fees or transaction costs.
Therefore, the minting process is not free and it includes a gas fee as well (which is variable and depends on the blockchain network used).
How Much does it cost to mint an NFT on the Ethereum Blockchain?
To mint an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain you will have to pay ETH Gas fee. It can cost as much as $1,000 if you are really desperate to build and mint a large NFT collection.
How Much does it cost to mint an NFT on Solana?
Solana (SOL) is a much cheaper blockchain network to use. Minting an NFT could cost as low as $0.015. The gas fees paid on Solana are much lower. Hence, if you want to mint NFTS, a transaction fee on this network is going to reduce your minting cost a lot compared to Ethereum.
The main reason behind the minting fee being higher on Ethereum is related to how this blockchain network works. Minting NFTs on this network requires the investor to pay higher gas fees.
Blockchain Networks
Over the last years, new blockchain networks were created. While Ethereum was the most popular one, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Solana (SOL), and Polygon (MATIC) became the most popular NFT marketplaces in the world.
One of the things that we should take into consideration is that there were gas wars. These gas wars had a large influence on the minting process. Therefore, minting NFTs became a competition between blockchains to offer a lower gas price.
Creating NFTs is something that requires investors to understand which are the advantages of blockchain networks. Some of them have lower transaction fees but their computational power would not be so large. Eventually, the selling price of an NFT would include the costs of minting the NFT.
Types of NFTs
There are different types of NFTs in the market that are worth taking into consideration. NFTs can be art pieces, but they can also be property documents, collectables, and even music.
There is a large number of use cases linked to NFTs thanks to how the market expanded over the last few years. Gas prices fluctuate a lot, but the minting cost ends up being fully paid by investors that want to have access to these assets.
Depending on the type of NFTs, there will be different gas fees to be paid by the creator. As a digital asset, NFTs have a size that has to be processed by the network.
Hence, the gas fee changes according to the type of the NFT created. Remember, network participants (miners or stakers) verify transactions, increasing the cost of minting NFTs and the fees paid by the creator.
What Affects Gas Prices?
There are a large number of factors that could affect gas prices, and therefore the selling price of NFTs. Fees can be influenced by the usage of a specific blockchain network, the block space available, and the digital asset used on the underlying network.
The most popular nft marketplaces rely on blockchain networks that are fast and easy to use. However, some large platforms are also running on top of Ethereum, despite the large costs which users incur when minting an NFT.
Popular NFT Wallets
There is a large number of NFT wallets in the market. These wallets offer support to NFTs and. other digital assets. You will also get access to Web3 apps and DeFi solutions.
No matter which wallet you use, you will have to pay fees. Gas fees are unavoidable. Even if you don’t care about the NFT minting cost, you have to understand that gas fees have to be paid if you conduct an NFT transaction.
Minting NFTs might not be done through a traditional smartphone app. However, you can hold different NFTs and transact them if you want to do so. You can easily sell them on different marketplaces and get paid for it.
Metamask
This is perhaps one of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets in the market. It started as an Ethereum-focused wallet and it expanded to other blockchain networks. The goal was to make it easier for users to engage on different Web3 applications.
Web3 applications involve NFTs and Decentralized Finance (DeFi). You can use Metamask to hold your favourite NFTs and engage in different marketplaces. The secondary market value of different NFTs would also be highly dependent on your ability to offer users what they want before others.
If you are thinking about Minting NFT art, then you should definitely conduct market research and use Metamask to engage with the community through different marketplaces.
Math Wallet
If you thought that Metamask was the only wallet that supports NFTs you were wrong. Math Wallet is also one of the options that users have in order to trade NFTs. Minting NFTs would be easier if you have a wallet that offers an easy-to-use experience to users.
You will not have to pay two fees for minting your NFTs. The first fee is usually similar to all the other fees you pay, but you should make sure that the platforms with which you engage don’t add some additional fees.
Minting your NFTs would become easier with Math Wallet. This is definitely a very good alternative to Metamask. Therefore, if you want to try a new experience to engage with Web3 apps and NFTs, this could be one of the best options.
This wallet is also very versatile as it supports different blockchain networks. If you want to use this wallet to engage with the Web3 market, then this is going to be one of the best solutions.
AlphaWallet
Another alternative to the above-mentioned wallets is AlphaWallet. This option is an open-source solution that has a focus on Ethereum. This is one of the limitations that we currently find for this wallet.
Why? Because nowadays there are many other blockchain networks offering lower fees to transact NFTs and other digital assets. How much does NFT minting cost using Alpha Wallet? The cost of handling NFTs using this wallet will follow the fees paid on top of the Ethereum network.
Despite that, AlphaWallet has been one of the main wallets to support blockchain-based games that are now among the most popular options for users that want to engage in different activities on-chain.
If you really care about NFTs and other types of game tokens, AlphaWallet is definitely one of the best options. This wallet has a direct connection with different platforms, including OpenSea or CryptoKitties.
Additionally, if you want to interact with other blockchain protocols you can do so with ease.
Trust Wallet
Trust Wallet is a great option for those users that are closely related to the Binance platform. That’s because Trust Wallet is owned by Binance. Therefore, you might find a large number of projects that run on top of the Binance Smart Chain blockchain ecosystem.
Some of these projects include NFTs and Decentralized Finance protocols. Hence, you might find strong support for BEP-20 tokens that let you engage with the whole Binance Smart Chain ecosystem.
At the same time, developers of this blockchain wallet have also thought about usability. That’s why you can find different NFT markets, which makes it easier for individuals to buy NFTs using this wallet.
Finally, you can get access to a unique exchange feature. You can swap coins and get access to a wide range of other services. If you want to use other tokens to buy NFTs, you can also swap them and get unique access to them.
What’s the Most Popular NFT Marketplace?
There is a large number of marketplaces where you can buy and sell NFTs. Each of them would offer investors different solutions and services to engage with these non-fungible tokens in the market.
OpenSea is the leader when it comes to NFT sales. It became popular thanks to its sales of art linked to some of the most recognized NFT projects in the market such as the Ape Yacht Club or Cryptopunks, among others.
Axie Marketplace, instead, is one of the best options for those users that play Axie Infinity. This is one of the best play-to-earn games in the world. It has allowed people in different countries to earn while playing one of the best crypto-card games.
There are other marketplaces online that you can use in order to get access to some of the most popular NFTs. Some of these markets include NBA Top Shot marketplace, SuperRare, Rarible, and Nifty Gateway, among others.
Larva Labs is also among the best options in the market for NFTs. If you like CyberPunks, then you will be able to get some of the most demanded punks that you can find online. If that’s your goal, then you can search for also rare and unique NFTs that you might not find elsewhere.
