How-to: Minting a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) on the Ergo Blockchain

What is an NFT?

When you have a unit of currency, such as the U.S. dollar, it is interchangeable with any other U.S. dollar. One Euro is the same as any other Euro. Fungible is just another word for interchangeable.

Non-fungible means unique. One house is not the same as another, even if their prices are the same. In crypto, non-fungible tokens are singular and cannot be recreated or substituted using any other token. Once a token has been minted, it cannot be recreated - even if it is the same artist or someone attempting to use the same work of art.

We are still in the early stages of understanding and fulfilling the full potential of NFTs. They can be used to represent identity, property, artwork, assets, legal documents and much more. Therefore, NFTs are like digital deeds. When they are on a blockchain, NFTs can be a store of value because they are limited in supply, durable and a community of buyers and sellers decides their value. With these conditions, NFTs become digital assets which can be traded. As with any kind of trading, traders need a marketplace. On the Ergo blockchain, the main marketplace for NFTs is The Ergo Auction House.

How to Mint an NFT?

If you want to participate as a creator in the NFT marketplace, you will need to learn how to mint NFTs. To start, there are a few requirements.

Requirements

• Create an Ergo Wallet in Ergo Wallet (mobile) or use a browser extension wallet like Yoroi or Nautilus.  
• Buy ERG, the native cryptocurrency, and transfer it to your wallet from an exchange. (For information on acquiring ERG, please see the ERG buying guide).
• Save a digital file (such as a photograph, piece of music, drawing, etc.) to your computer of the item that is to be made into an NFT. This digital file should be something you created.

Visual Reference

Minting an NFT

For this example, let’s assume we are using Nautilus on Google Chrome. There is 1 ERG in our wallet, and we are making an NFT of a photograph saved as a PNG file on our computer.

1. In your browser, click on the Nautilus wallet, either by clicking on the Nautilus icon (pinned) or by clicking the Puzzle Piece icon (both in the upper right corner of your browser) and selecting Nautilus wallet from the list.

2. In the Nautilus wallet, click on Receive, the middle icon at the top. Then, copy the default address of your Ergo Wallet.

3. Go the The Ergo Auction House website, https://ergoauctions.org/
4. In the upper right hand corner, click on the wallet icon.

5. Click on Any Wallet 
6. Paste your wallet address into the box - this will be the receiving address you copied from your Nautilus wallet. It should be a string of 51 characters that are a mix of numbers and upper and lower case letters. For example:
   9g1p6UU8XoAeU4yGPLpbTHYiG8aBHwfCFzQqJZrfzuLnmF3zb7P 
7. Then, click the Save button.
8. You will be returned to the main Ergo Auction web page.
9. Click the Add button, which is the first icon in the top right corner. Then, select Create Artwork from the pull-down menu.

10. In the “Creating new item” dialog box, drag & drop your photograph in PNG format to the artwork section. Then select a quantity (you have the choice to create one NFT from the image or as many copies as you like). Then, give it a name, a description and select a royalty percentage.
11. Click Issue. 
12. Next, you will be prompted to complete a transaction for the minting of your NFT(s). A screen will appear, providing you with an address and the necessary fees to complete this process:

13. Send the amount of ERG required and your wallet will add the transaction fee of 0.0011, sending a total of 0.0041 ERG. In return, you will receive 0.001 ERG and the newly minted NFT. The total cost for minting this NFT is 0.0031 ERG. 
14. Wait a few minutes for the transaction to be confirmed. Then, go to The Ergo Auction House website and click on Owned Artworks to see your new NFT.