Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been around for a long time, but their popularity skyrocketed in 2021. The total value of the NFT market increased by 7.200 per cent from $340 million in 2020 to $24.9 billion last year. In the year 2021, NFTs were a cultural phenomenon.
You’ve most likely heard of the most expensive NFT ever sold: Pak’s digital art “The Merge,” which sold for $91.8 million. As more celebrities get engaged, NFTs continue to make news. That’s when NFT artists appeared, and investors profited handsomely from the sale of NFTs. That’s why we’re going to go through the practical side of things, such as how much it costs to make an NFT and how you can mint an NFT on the most popular blockchains available today.
What is NFT minting?
If you’re looking to make your first NFT, you’ll need to learn about NFT minting, which is the process of establishing and registering your NFT on the blockchain. It is not difficult, despite its appearance. Individual works of art and collectables must first be created as unique NFTs by minting them on the blockchain. The art, or collectable, is encrypted using a unique code and stored on a blockchain, allowing for individual ownership.
What are the costs associated with NFTs?
When calculating the cost of creating an NFT, keep in mind that using a different blockchain to mint the NFT can result in significant cost changes.
The following are the key costs connected with NFTs:
- Gas fees: All blockchain processes necessitate at least one blockchain transaction, which incurs gas expenses.
- Account fees will vary depending on whatever NFT marketplace you use to trade your NFTs.
- Price for listing the NFT for sale: Some platforms enable you to mint your NFT for free but charge a fee for putting it for sale.
- Different blockchains use varying methods, and as a result, charge different fees. Even though they are on the same blockchain, the cost of one NFT may differ from that of another. Data volume, project quality, transaction speed, and minting time are all factors to consider.
- Transaction fees on the blockchain are determined by the network’s supply and demand. The gas fee rises in times of strong demand. Furthermore, NFT designers should take into account the variable price of cryptocurrencies, which has an impact on the costs of NFTs.
The cost of minting an NFT can range from $1 to $500, and in certain cases, much more.
On NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, Raible, or Mintable, NFTs can be easily minted. Other marketplaces exist, and each NFT creator should select the one that is most fit for the digital artwork that he or she is trying to mint and sell as NFT.
It’s also crucial to think about the day and time of day when mining your NFT. For example, because there is more on-chain activity during the week, NFT minting can be more expensive. Using this rationale, generating an NFT on the weekend may be less expensive, but this must be verified for each day and minute.
What is the cost of creating an NFT on different platforms?
Anyone can create an NFT, and accounts on all main platforms, including as OpenSea, Raible, and Mintable, are simple to set up. When minting an NFT, all of these platforms provide at least two, if not more, blockchains to choose from – the cost of minting NFTs is determined by the blockchain used.
The Ethereum network is the most popular blockchain for NFTs since it was the first programmable blockchain to facilitate the registration of digital objects. Today, though, creators have more options, including Polygon. Most developers still prefer Ethereum because it was the first blockchain to support NFTs, and as a result, it is the most popular.
NFT creation cost: Ethereum vs. Polygon
When it comes to comparing the most popular blockchains for making NFTs, the artist’s personal preferences, as well as the project’s purpose and aims, are the most important factors to consider. Each NFT maker should investigate which blockchain is best for starting a new NFT collection. Artists should take a peek at the blockchain’s environment and community.
When comparing costs, though, there isn’t much of a difference. For both the Ethereum and Polygon networks, the most popular NFT shops enable lazy minting, which means you can create your NFT for free. There will be no upfront expenses for producing an NFT on the Polygon or Ethereum blockchains on services like OpenSea or Rarible if you use the lazy minting option.
Of course, you can always pursue the traditional (and most expensive) route of minting an NFT on Ethereum, but there’s no reason to pay over $100 to market an NFT that might sell.
Minting NFTs on Ethereum
Experienced investors may recall instances when a single NFT minting cost more than $50–$100, depending on the time of day and the price of ETH. However, this is no longer true, and popular NFT marketplaces have discovered a means to avoid the costs. On the Ethereum blockchain, developers can now mint NFTs fully for free.
You can utilize any of the most popular marketplaces, such as OpenSea, Rarible, or Mintable, to mint an NFT on Ethereum. You can produce a new NFT after connecting your wallet, and you can choose between regular and lazy minting during the process. When it comes to the cost of producing your NFT on Ethereum, this is the most important option.
Minting NFTs on Polygon
Using the most popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea, digital artists can mint NFTs on the Polygon blockchain. If you don’t currently have an OpenSea account, follow these instructions to create an NFT. The good news is that if you choose the Polygon network for your NFT, you can mint and list it for free. You won’t have to pay anything to start mining NFTs on Polygon. This is feasible because when you choose to mint an NFT on Polygon, the platform employs the sluggish minting option by default.
After the NFT is first sold, the platform charges a 2.5 percent service fee, which is taken from the selling price. Another thing to keep in mind is that the selling price will be in ether (ETH), although you are using the Polygon network.
Regular minting
The cost of minting an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain varies depending on the time of day, day of the week, and current Ethereum price (ETH). When we tried to mint an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain using OpenSea, Rarible, and Mintable at the time of our tests, the gas fee ranged from 0.0468 to 0.0616 ETH ($59 to $123, putting the price of 1 ETH at $2,490), regardless of the NFT’s listed price.
If you wish to list your NFT on Ethereum, there is another alternative that does not require developers to pay any upfront minting fees.
Lazy minting
NFT artists and makers can mint their NFTs without incurring any upfront expenditures thanks to lazy minting. When lazy minting is selected, the process of actually registering your NFT on the blockchain does not begin until after the NFT has been acquired. The minting fee is covered by the selling price of the NFT in this example. The buyer, not the NFT inventor, is responsible for minting the tokens.
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