How to mint your first NFT on Solsea from Solana? Walkthrough

Irreplaceable tokens (NFTs) have become especially popular in 2021, and this trend will continue, albeit slightly more slowly, in 2022. Users tend to create, sell and collect various NFTs for many reasons. Some like art, others try to speculate on its value, others are used as part of a blockchain-based game, and so on.

Whatever the reason, it looks like NFTs aren't going anywhere. Naturally, Ethereum has become the dominant network for their creation, and the ERC-721 token standard continues to lead the market. However, this has also led to network congestion, huge fees and slow transaction processing, and other blockchains have proven to be a reasonable alternative as users look for cheaper and faster solutions.

One of them is Solana. In fact, Solana is thriving in the non-fungible token space as more creators look to Ethereum alternatives to launch their NFT projects. In this guide, we'll explain step by step how to mint NFT on Solana - specifically on Solsea, the largest NFT marketplace on the web.

Quick navigation

What is NFT mining?

How to create your first NFT on Solsea?

Connecting a phantom wallet

Creating an NFT Collection

Minting your NFTs on Solsea

What is Minting?

Minting is the process of tokenizing a digital file using cryptography, while tokenization is the process of turning an asset into a digital token that can be moved, stored, and recorded on a blockchain. You can turn almost any digital file into a token - mp3, mp4, jpeg, WAV, PNG, GIF, etc.

Don't worry about the technical process now - you'll understand it as we go through this guide.

How to mint NFTs on the Solsea Marketplace by Solana

There are several NFT marketplaces on Solana such as Solanart, Magic Eden or Solport, but for now we will be minting on Solsea, the first and most popular NFT marketplace on Solana. We're also going to be using Phantom, a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet and browser extension commonly referred to as MetaMask of Solana.

Let's go step by step. First, set up your wallet.

1 - Installing the Phantom

If you don't already have Phantom installed, go to Phantom.app and download it as an extension for your browser. In this case, we are using Brave.

Once added to the browser, you will see the Phantom icon on the extension button in the top right corner. Click the icon and continue with the installation.

You will be redirected to a new page. Click "Create a new wallet".

You will receive a recovery passphrase that you will use to recover your account if you need to reinstall it on another device later. This is the most important step in creating your wallet - if you lose this phrase or spell it incorrectly - you will not be able to recover your wallet and may lose your funds. So be sure to write it down and keep it in a safe place and remember:

Never save your private key on your PC! Never share your passphrase with anyone, this will give them full control over the funds!

Also, Phantom doesn't currently have an Android version, so be careful of phishing and fake apps.

After that, Phantom will be added to your browser. You can easily access it by clicking the Phantom icon in the menu bar.

2 - Replenish your wallet

To start mining, we need SOL, Solana's native cryptocurrency. If you have SOL on a crypto exchange like Coinbase, you will have to send funds to your Phantom wallet. To do this, simply click on the $ icon.

Select SOL and click "Deposit".

You can either fund your wallet by scanning the QR code, or you can copy and paste the address below the QR code.

Once your wallet is funded, you are ready to start minting NFTs on Solana.

Creating a new Solsea account

The next step is to create an account on Solsea. You can do this by connecting your wallet to the platform. Just click the Connect Wallet button in the top right corner and select Phantom.

Phantom will appear on your screen and ask for permission to link your wallet. Solsea will be able to view your funds and activity in your wallet, and request confirmation of the transaction.

Once connected, you will be redirected to the Solsea login page. Enter your email account and password.

Agree to the terms and click "Register". Solsea will send you an email to verify your Solsea account. After that, your wallet will be automatically connected to the Solsea platform.

Now you can go! The next few steps will show you the actual minting process.

Create an NFT collection

First, you need to create an NFT collection where you will store your NFTs. Go to the "Create" tab and click "Collection".

2. Choose a title and add a description for your collection.

3. Upload title and icon image.

4. You can add your social media accounts and website if you want more people to be interested in you and your future work.

5. When you're ready, click "Create Collection" and sign the transactions to create the collection. Note that you may see a pop-up message saying that the mint transaction failed - this is probably a bug on the Solsea side and you may have to wait a bit for the transaction to complete.

If you are not sure if a transaction was approved or not, go to your wallet, select SOL and view your transaction history or use any Solana block explorer.

After confirming the transaction, go to Wallet and click on My Collection. It should look something like this:

Minting your first NFT on Solsea

Now that we have our NFT collection set, let's add some NFTs to it. Return to the "Create" tab and this time select "NFT".

2. Download the file. Accepted formats are JPEG, PNG or GIF (image) and MOV or MP4 (video). Make sure you read the supported file formats first. For the sake of this guide, we will upload an image of our awesome laser eye potato.

3. Then choose a name and add a description for your NFT.

4. Now we have the option to set the royalties. This is the percentage that you, as the creator, will earn each time your NFT is resold on the secondary market.

The percentage ranges from 0% to 50% and you can set it based on your own business model.

The following fields are optional but highly recommended, such as an external link to your artwork page if you have one, so people can see more of your work.

When it comes to tags - in our case it's a regular image - choose the right tag for your file type (if it's mp4, then choose video). Once created and listed, your NFT becomes searchable based on its tag.

Solsea is also the first NFT marketplace to embed licenses in NFTs. These licenses allow you to specify what you are selling and buyers will know exactly what they are buying. If you are still not sure, read here.

If you have created an NFT collection before, you can add a new NFT to it by selecting it from the Collection drop-down list.

Finally, you must add traits, but be careful because you can't change them after minting.

Click Mint NFT. Again, you will have to sign transactions in order to create an NFT.

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How Cryptocurrency Games Raise the Stakes for Modern Gamers

Gaming and the blockchain are seemingly made for each other.

Gamers have long been willing to spend a great deal of time and money on a well-crafted virtual world, and blockchain technology, with its ability to support the robust global trade of digital currencies and items, provides the perfect path for expansion. Cryptocurrency games are bringing these two worlds together, and although it’s still early days, the signs of what’s to come are promising.

This article explores the world of cryptocurrency games, explaining what they are, uncovering why they’re important, and highlighting some of the most prominent players in the space. 

• Play-to-earn games
• Crypto-educational games

Why are cryptocurrency games important?

Important cryptocurrency games and video game cryptocurrencies

• Axie Infinity
• Decentraland
• Enjin Coin
• Forest Knight
• CryptoZombies

What are cryptocurrency games?

Cryptocurrency games are video games that use cryptocurrency as the foundation of an in-game economy. Cryptocurrency games use blockchain technology to support digital tokens traded in the game by its players and outside the game via exchanges. Because blockchain technology allows for a decentralized store of information, the tokens used in cryptocurrency games can be less susceptible to the risks involved with other in-game currencies, such as the closure of a game developer. The term “cryptocurrency games” can also describe games that teach what cryptocurrency is, how it works, and more.

Cryptocurrency games are under the umbrella of blockchain games , but they are not entirely equivalent terms. Blockchain games also include games that leverage blockchain technology only as a means of supporting the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs are not designed to be treated as equivalent in the same way all currencies — including cryptocurrencies — are. Instead, NFTs assign individual ownership to unique digital assets.

Major cryptocurrency game types

Cryptocurrency games can generally be grouped into one of two categories: play-to-earn games and educational games. Let’s take a look at each in turn.

Play-to-earn games

Play-to-earn games  can function in several different ways. Their defining characteristic is that the game’s mechanics financially reward players for their time. Cryptocurrency games that employ play-to-earn mechanics award players cryptocurrency in exchange for completing tasks or goals. Some play-to-earn games require players to invest their own money as a start-up cost, and these are called “pay-to-earn” games. Not all play-to-earn models rely on cryptocurrencies to incentivize players: Others use NFTs that players can earn and treat as investments. Finally, some play-to-earn games utilize both cryptocurrencies and NFTs to power their in-game economies.

Crypto-educational games

Crypto-educational games explore and explain cryptocurrencies via interactive lessons delivered in video game format. These games can help players understand the basics of cryptography, blockchain technology, and cryptocurrencies. They also can help players gain blockchain development skills and launch their own decentralized applications — also known as dapp.

Why are cryptocurrency games important?

Many of the gaming industry’s most influential and powerful players are embracing cryptocurrency games. The CEO of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, has called blockchain games “revolutionary,” and EA’s chief executive has dolled out similar praise, declaring that some of the types of games leveraging the technology are the “future of our industry.” While not all publishers are convinced — most notability Valve — many are working to incorporate this approach into their developmental roadmap.

But the trend is bigger than just gaming, as blockchain games have established themselves as a powerful force within the dapp ecosystem. Blockchain games now account for the bulk of the user activity in the space, with 55% of unique active wallets connecting to these titles in October of 2021. 

The rise of cryptocurrency games also complements another massive tech trend: the metaverse. As the recent rebrand of Facebook attests, the metaverse is a vision of the future of the internet that has attracted the full backing of some of the world’s most influential organizations. With their ability to provide digital ownership, employment, and robust marketplaces, cryptocurrency games could serve as both an entry point to a metaverse and an engine of its continued growth. 

In short, cryptocurrency games have gained the gaming industry’s attention, are gobbling up the dapp ecosystem, and seem to be a match made in heaven for the metaverse.

Important cryptocurrency games and video game cryptocurrencies

While there are already scores of cryptocurrency games and video game cryptocurrencies, only a few have proven their merit. To give you a lay of the land, we’ve broken down some of the most important here.

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is a pay-to-earn game that has become the poster child of the cryptocurrency gaming space. Like Pokémon, the game is built around the collection and combat of cartoon monsters, known as Axies. Each Axie is an NFT, and players must purchase several to start playing. The game rewards players for completing tasks with its native cryptocurrency, AXS, whose market capitalization as of the time of this writing is well north of $9 billion. Axie Infinity has such a thriving economy that it affords many players a living wage — with some claiming to make over six figures a month for their efforts.

Decentraland

Much like Roblox, Decentraland offers a vast, open-ended, open-world platform designed to empower a player’s inner explorer and creator. The game allows players to customize their character, buy and develop land, and explore an enormous virtual landscape. The platform runs its economy and governance via MANA — a cryptocurrency built using the Ethereum blockchain. The project has taken off, and MANA’s market capitalization sits second among all gaming cryptocurrencies — just under $5 billion.

Enjin Coin

Unlike AXS and MANA, Enjin Coin was not designed to suit the needs of any particular game. Now the third-highest video game cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, Enjin Coin enables developers to create their own cryptocurrency and blockchain games — or add these features to an existing game. One of the most notable early adopters of Enjin Coin is Minecraft, which uses it to support NFTs for their players.

Forest Knight

Built around the KNIGHT token, Forest Knight is a mobile, turned-based fantasy game that uses the play-to-earn framework and storytelling to drive player engagement. The game ensures the rarity and uniqueness of player items using NFTs, with some of the world’s items having fewer than a dozen extant versions. While there are relatively few item types currently, the game’s developers are in the process of building out a wide assortment of other NFT categories to drive player interest and growth.

CryptoZombies

CryptoZombies is a crypto-educational game that teaches players about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, particularly development. The game currently features two courses that guide players from fundamentals to app deployment via interactive lessons. The game rewards its players’ progress by giving them “crypto-collectibles” along the way, which they can use to battle against other players.

Need a crypto-collaborator?

The future of cryptocurrency gaming is bright. The space has only begun to take shape, and there are already four cryptocurrencies with market capitalizations over a billion dollars — one of which is listed in the top thirty among all cryptocurrencies. For many publishers, this represents the next frontier of the gaming industry.

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