How Much Does it Cost to Mint a Cardano NFT?

The history of Cardano is quite unusual. Its founder Charles Hoskinson is an interesting person. He is a co-founder of Ethereum, and he also founded Cardano. We should mention that Cardano is a blockchain platform designed to process transactions using a dedicated cryptocurrency called ADA.

Its cryptocurrency is named after Ada Lovelace, a 19th-century mathematician known as the first computer programmer. As one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, people can buy ADA for the Cardano network from top cryptocurrency exchanges.

Cardano’s founder Charles Hoskinson had a falling out with Ethereum’s team due to a dispute with co-founder Vitalik Cardano in 2014 regarding whether the Ethereum project should be commercial or not. He moved on to launch Cardano as a more scalable, interoperable as well as sustainable blockchain, intending to improve upon Bitcoin and Ethereum.

One of the major criticisms of many cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, is that their blockchain networks, based on proof of work consensus mechanisms, require a lot of energy. However, Cardano uses a proof of stake consensus mechanism, offering a more sustainable and scalable blockchain. Its ongoing development is supported by the Cardano Foundation and the IOHK research institute.

Non-fungible tokens and new opportunities 

It is hard not to notice the fact that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are quite popular. In 2021, people bought $25 billion worth of non-fungible tokens. For example, that’s roughly the same amount of money the whole world spends on digital books each year.

Unsurprisingly, many people are willing to invest in NFTs. Besides, some of them have one question in mind: How much does it cost to mint a Cardano NFT? Let’s find out!

The vast majority of NFTs are created on the Ethereum blockchain because it is the second most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. Many people hear about Bitcoin’s market cap regularly as it is the largest cryptocurrency in terms of the market cap.

Moreover, OpenSea is the largest as well as most popular NFT marketplace, and it runs on the Ethereum network too. That means the NFTs listed on the most popular NFT marketplace are tracked on the Ethereum blockchain. Moreover, you need to use Ethereum (ETH) to buy them. However, every time a person makes a transaction on the Ethereum network, they have to pay something called a gas fee.

They are basically transaction fees you pay in ETH when you transact on the network, and they are costly. So, if you want to mint an NFT on OpenSea, you have to pay a hefty price. Hopefully, there are several alternatives to the OpenSea, many of which are well-known and only cost a few crypto bucks to get started. It is not an issue to use a lesser-known alternative such as a Cardano-based marketplace called CNFT.IO.

Cardano NFT and inexperienced crypto holders

As a top 10 cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap, many newbie crypto holders likely already hold some Cardano in their digital wallets.

For those who don’t, Cardano’s cryptocurrency is pretty easy to buy on almost every cryptocurrency exchange platform. The price is low, at about $0.5636 at the time of writing, making it easily accessible for millions of people.

To mint as well as list an NFT on CNFT.IO, people are going to need some Cardano. Minting fees are currently 6.5 ADA, which is roughly $4.57 as of May 18.

When you sell your non-fungible token, 2.5% of the sale price goes to the marketplace, and you will need some ADA set aside in your Nami wallet as collateral for the smart contract. Moreover, it is a good idea to buy a little more than you need to cover all the associated costs.

ADA is available on many top cryptocurrency exchanges. As a result, you don’t have to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum first, then swap for ADA. However, not all exchanges let you transfer your ADA, or any crypto for that matter, off the platform to a private digital wallet.

No matter which exchange platform you choose, always check that you can transfer your ADA off the platform you buy it.

Cardano NFT and digital wallet and its capabilities

Users have to use either a Cardano wallet like Nami or another CNFT.IO-supported wallet. Let’s have a look at Nami. Notably, it is a browser-extension digital wallet that integrates with any chrome-based browser.

Hence, you can connect your Nami wallet in no time at all to any website as well as interact seamlessly with decentralized applications (dApps) like the CNFT.IO Cardano NFT marketplace.

Importantly, once it is installed, make sure you pin it to the top of your browser. In the case of Google Chrome, there should be an icon that looks like a puzzle piece next to your chrome profile icon. Click on that icon, scroll down the list of extensions to Nami, then click on the blue icon to the right.

To set up your Nami account, you will need an email address as well as a strong password. Moreover, don’t forget to write down your seed phrase. It is a series of 24 random words that act like the one and only code to a safe. Never save your seed phrase on your computer or share it with anyone.

As in the case of all private digital wallets, there is no IT department to reset your seed phrase in case of an emergency. However, you still need to set up a password for quick lessons to your Nami wallet. If you ever forget the password, you will need your seed phrase to regain access. But, if something goes wrong with that seed phrase, you are straight out of luck.

Exciting details about the Nami wallet

The next step is to open the Nami wallet and click on the green button “Receive.” Interestingly, a QR code will appear with a very long string of alphanumeric code. That’s the public wallet you need in order to receive ADA into your Nami wallet from external sources, like exchange platforms. You must copy it to your clipboard and go to the cryptocurrency exchange where you bought your Cardano.

To send your Cardano off the exchange platform, select the “Send” or another option, “Withdraw.” You must paste your wallet address into the “Recipient” or “Destination” field, and you need to follow the prompts to send your Cardano to your wallet. A Cardano network can be a little slow depending on network congestion, but that’s alright.

Not that your wallet is funded, it is time to create your seller account CNFT.IO. It is quite easy to create an account. Notably, on the top right corner of the homepage, all you need to do is click on the yellow button “Sign In.”

Let’s continue; at the bottom of the sign-in box, you have to click on the yellow button “Create New Account.” Follow the prompts to create your seller account.

CNFT.IO will send you a verification email. Once you open the email and verify, you will be able to sign in to your new CNFT.IO account.

Nevertheless, you won’t actually be able to mint non-fungible tokens from this platform. Keep in mind that you will have to mint your NFT on a different platform. Once you do that, you can list your NFT on the marketplace from your CNFT.IO account.

The next step is to link your Nami wallet to your CNFT.IO account. If you are not already in your profile, you need to go to the right corner of the screen and click on the round profile icon. There is a menu on the left, and you need to select “Wallets.” To the left, under the QR square,   click on the “Connect Nami.”

A Nami webpage will appear in front of you; at the bottom, click on the green button “access.” You will notice a Data Sign Request pop-up; at the bottom of the pop-up window, click on the yellow button “Sign.” You will have to enter your Nami wallet password to allow CNFT.IO to connect with your Nami wallet.

How to pay the minting fee (essential details) 

Let’s skip several parts of the process, as it would take a lot of time to discuss everything in detail.

Good job, your project with an individual NFT is ready for minting! However, here is where it gets a little tricky for newbies. You need to move ADA from your private digital wallet to the built-in wallet within the NFT-Maker platform. Don’t forget that you can’t send ADA directly from an exchange platform into the NFT-Maker built-in platform wallet.

What you have to do is fund your private Nami wallet with Cardano’s cryptocurrency first, then move the minting fee from there to the built-in wallet within the NFT-Maker platform. In order to do this, click on the circle icon at the very top right of your NFT-Maker screen. The next step is to select “Fill Up Internal Wallet” and copy the address to your clipboard; you are going to send funds to your wallet to that address.

On your web browser, click on the wallet icon to open your private wallet. Click on the “Send” button and paste in the address.

You need to enter the minting fee, which is 6.5 ADA, as stated above. Click on the “Send” button, enter your wallet password to confirm the transaction, and click on the “Confirm” button. As a reminder, it may take a while for the funds to reach the NFT-Maker’s wallet. You have the opportunity to see the balance of your wallet by clicking the icon in the very top right corner of your dashboard.