Blog
March 24, 2022

How To Create An NFT On Solana

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have become wildly popular in the last few years for investing, trading, and selling. However, the cost of creating NFTs and crypto transactions has also gone up. This means people are looking for new ways to get into the crypto market without the high network fees.

Enter Solana, an up-and-coming blockchain for NFTs that seeks to charge a lower fee for creation with faster block times. If you’re interested in learning more about this new blockchain, read our guide to Solana and how to create NFTs on it!

How To Create NFTs On Various Sites

Browse through these articles to learn more about how to create and sell NFTs on the biggest NFT marketplaces online:

What Is Solana?

Solana is a public, open-source blockchain created in 2017 to support smart contracts like non-fungible tokens (NFTs). SOL is the official coin of Solana for staking and transferring value.

Unlike other blockchains, Solana introduces a unique way to maintain accurate information and monitor transactions. Known as “proof of history” or PoH, this method assigns nodes to be slot leaders ahead of time.

In PoH, leaders stream transactions to other nodes on the network in real time, so no one has to wait to fill in a whole block with validated transactions. This results in speeding up the entire process and reducing the cost of transactions.

Learning about Solana and how to run script on it can be tricky without programming knowledge. If you need help turning your digital art into a Solana NFT, check out Tokenfy. Visit our site to find out more about how we can help you start and list your NFT collection on crypto markets.

Setting Up A Solana Wallet

You’ll need to set up a Solana wallet to store the token you’re creating, as well as the NFT. There are several ways to make a wallet. This method will help you make one using the Solana CLI Tools Suite.

Install the Solana CLI Tools Suite.
Create a wallet by opening Command Prompt on Windows, or your terminal if you’re using a Mac or Linux.
Go to your Desktop in the terminal. Make a folder where you’ll store your data, and create a wallet from there. The lines should look like this:

“cd Desktop
mkdir SolanaWallet
solana-keygen new –outfile SolanaWallet/my-keypair.json”
This will trigger a request for a password. No need to set one just yet as this is a test run for your wallet.
Presto, your new wallet has been created using Solana CLI tools. Note the new keypair written to “SolanaWallet/my-keypair.json”. The long line of numbers and letters written after “pubkey” AdrV3″ look random, but put together, these compose your public address.

Note the seed phrase generated afterwards as this will help you recover your wallet keypair path if necessary.

You can now start adding SOL to your wallet. SOL is Solana’s currency, just like ETH to Ethereum.

If you want to skip using these tools to make your new crypto wallet, fret not. An alternative method for Chrome users is to use the Phantom Wallet extension to access the Solana blockchain. This extension provides a secure interface where you can review, approve, and reject blockchain transactions.

Getting A Solana Node

A Solana node is a computer used to connect to the Solana network. The node supports the network through validation and tracking transactions on the blockchain.

Making a Solana node will need great hardware, solid processing power, and a lot of SOL (the coin running on the Solana network). These are the minimum hardware recommendations provided by the developers on their documentation site:

CPU Requirements

12 cores / 24 threads or more
2.8GHz or faster
AVX2 instruction support (to use official release binaries, self-compile otherwise)
Ideally has support for AVX512f and/or SHA-NI instructions

RAM

128GB, or more
Motherboard with 256GB capacity suggested

Disk

PCIe Gen3 x4 NVME SSD, or better
Accounts: 500GB, or larger. High TBW (Total Bytes Written)
Ledger: 1TB or larger. High TBW suggested
OS: (Optional) 500GB, or larger. SATA OK
The OS may be installed on the ledger disk, but developers recommend having the ledger on its own disk for improved performance.

Connecting To Solana

Solana has three networks that you can connect to: the devnet, the mainnet, and the testnet. Here’s a quick rundown of each network:

Devnet

Think of the devnet as a testing ground for anyone who wants to try Solana out, whether for holding additional tokens, making a devnet wallet for a test drive, or as an app developer.

To connect to the devnet, you’ll need to create a new project directory, an “index.js:” file, and to install these two JavaScript libraries: “@solana/spl-token” and @solana/web3.js”. Once you’ve created those files and installed the libraries, you can start writing JavaScript to connect via the devnet.

Please note that as it’s basically a low-risk playground for the Solana network, devnet tokens are not real. Learn more about the necessary command line configurations on the official Solana Foundation documentation site!

Mainnet

The mainnet is the real Solana network and blockchain, where coins bought, sold, or exchanged have actual monetary value. Note that coins can’t be sent from here to other networks. If a mainnet coin is sent to the testnet, it is destroyed.

Testnet

This is a cluster on the Solana network that the developers use to test features for recent releases. The aim of maintaining this network is to provide a live environment for checking stable chain activity and improving network performance.

Fair warning: testnet tokens aren’t real, and it will typically run an updated software release compared to Mainnet and Devnet. This network may also be subjected to ledger resets by the developers.

Creating The NFT On Solana

Creating and minting your Solana NFT is a straightforward process. Follow these steps to make an NFT on Solana.

In this instance, we’re showing you how to mint a Solana NFT and list it on Solsea, the biggest NFT marketplace for Solana. We’ll also show you how to do this using Phantom for your wallet set-up so you don’t have to code:

1. Set up your wallet.

First, set up your wallet and make sure it has SOL, Solana’s cryptocurrency. Install Phantom Wallet on your browser and list your secret recovery phrase. Deposit SOL to your Phantom Wallet by buying it, or transferring existing funds from another cryptowallet.

2. Create a Solsea account.

Connect your Phantom Wallet to the Solsea platform. This will give Solsea permission to link to your Phantom Wallet, view your funds, and request approval for transactions.

You’ll be redirected to the sign-in page. Enter your email account and a password to register your account. Solsea will send an account confirmation email. Once you’ve confirmed it, your Phantom Wallet will be connected to Solsea.

3. Create an NFT collection.

Go to the “Create” tab and click on “Collection”.
Put a title and short description for your collection.
Upload an icon and header image.
It’s optional, but you can add your main website and social media accounts to get more buzz for your NFTs.
Click on “Create Collection” and sign the transactions. This will mint your collection. Once the minting transaction is confirmed, you can head to your wallet and click on “My Collection”. This will hold your first collection set for minted NFTs.

4. Create NFTs to add to your collection.

Go to the “Create” tab and choose “NFT”.
Upload your image file. This can be JPEG, PNF, or GIF for images. For video NFTs, the supported file formats are MOV and MP4.
Add a title and description for the NFT.
Set royalty payments. This is the percentage that creators get every time their NFTs are resold on secondary markets. This percentage can be anywhere from 0% to 50% – choose depending on your business plans!

Create NFTs with Tokenfy No Coding Required.

Create NFTs Now

Creating An NFT On Solana FAQs

What is generative art?

Generative art is art that is programmed using a computer algorithm to generate pieces with variations distributed by “controlled randomness”. While the parts and variations themselves are artist-created, their distribution throughout the entire piece is determined by the AI.

How much does it cost to create an NFT?

The cost of creating NFTs depends on your project, its complexity, and the number of people involved. Making the chain assets and writing the code by yourself can lower costs. However, you’ll still have to pay a cost known as “gas fees” for the minting process.

To avoid paying these upfront transaction fees, some creators will choose to go with the lazy minting option. This is when you defer the cost of minting digital creations until the moment of sale to the first buyer.

Gas fees for minting will be rolled into the same transaction assigning the NFT to that buyer. This uses a portion of the purchase price to cover gas fees and saves the creator the cost of minting.

Closing Thoughts

Solana is positioning itself as a comparable contender to established cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin. Because it claims to have lower fees for blockchain transactions and faster block times, it’s worth learning how to create NFTs on it.

If you’re looking to make a new NFT project, Tokenfy can help you out. Visit our site and learn how we’ll use our expertise to get your NFT collection rolling.

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