✅ You Can Create & Mint NFTs

Master ERC721, IPFS metadata, and launch your own NFT collection

🎯 Key Takeaways

Congratulations! You now understand how NFTs work, from smart contracts to storage to minting.

📚 Summary

🎨

NFT Basics

  • Each NFT has a unique token ID
  • ERC721 is the standard for NFTs
  • Cannot be divided (unlike ERC20)
  • Perfect for art, collectibles, gaming
📜

Smart Contract

  • Stores ownership mapping (ID → address)
  • Implements transfer/approval functions
  • Links to off-chain metadata
  • Deploys once, mints many times
☁️

Storage

  • IPFS: Most popular (needs pinning)
  • Arweave: Permanent (one-time cost)
  • On-chain: Expensive but permanent
  • Centralized: Cheap but risky

Minting

  • 4 steps: Art → Storage → Deploy → Mint
  • ~$100-300 to deploy contract
  • ~$10-50 per NFT minted
  • Use L2 for 100x cheaper costs

🧠 Interactive: Knowledge Quiz

Test your understanding of NFT minting:

1. What makes NFTs different from regular tokens (ERC20)?

2. Why is most NFT data stored off-chain (IPFS) instead of on-chain?

3. What does the tokenURI() function return?

4. Which storage solution offers permanent, guaranteed storage for 200+ years?

5. Approximately how much gas does it cost to mint 1 NFT on Ethereum mainnet?

📖 Quick Reference

FunctionPurposeGas Cost
mint()Create new NFT~100k
transferFrom()Transfer NFT ownership~50k
approve()Allow transfer by another address~25k
ownerOf()Get NFT ownerFree (read)
tokenURI()Get metadata URLFree (read)
balanceOf()Count NFTs ownedFree (read)
💡

Next Steps

  • Try minting on testnets (Goerli, Sepolia) for free practice
  • Use OpenZeppelin's ERC721 template for production contracts
  • Consider L2 solutions (Polygon, Arbitrum) for lower costs