While cryptocurrencies have been on a rampage over the last couple of years, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have emerged as an alternative asset class in the crypto ecosystem. This ecosystem is revolutionizing the world of art and gaming, as well as many other industries.
Acting as a digital certificate that proves the authenticity of a collectible, NFTs also provide investors with proof of ownership and maximum security, aspects that have been instrumental in their proliferation as the future representation of real world objects in the virtual world.
As a result, NFTs are gaining popularity among crypto investors looking to invest in Metaverse platforms, and many of them are buying these unique digital assets on blockchain protocols like Polygon using cryptocurrencies. Polygon’s Layer 2 Ethereum protocol has become the platform of choice for many NFT marketplaces that offer investors the ability to create, buy and sell NFTs.
Understanding the Polygon Blockchain
Designed to address Ethereum’s scalability issues, the Polygon network acts as a parallel blockchain or sidechain that runs alongside the Ethereum blockchain and uses the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to validate transactions on-chain.
In addition to providing the security, interoperability, and smart contract features of the Ethereum blockchain, Polygon boasts significantly lower transaction or gas fees and offers developers a much higher degree of flexibility and scalability than Ethereum provides.
In fact, Polygon has become known as an Ethereum-compatible multi-chain blockchain network. This is largely due to its ability to deploy and communicate with other blockchain networks, making it the most suitable for developing decentralized applications (DApps).
With its Finity design system and Polygon Bridge, developers can not only create cross-platform DApps, but also connect them to other compatible blockchain networks to transfer assets such as ERC-20 and NFT tokens to the Polygon sidechain. Hence, developers prefer Polygon to create NFT projects with high transaction rates and low cost. They also use it to create NFT marketplaces that allow users to list NFTs for a small fee.
How to create free NFTs on Polygon
To ease the transition for artists and content creators to the NFT bandwagon, a number of platforms using the Polygon blockchain to stake non-fungible tokens are offering their users the ability to create NFTs for free. Polygon NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible provide “lazy minting”, a feature by which non-fungible token creators can monetize their content without any upfront cost.
This is because the NFT in question is actually minted when the user purchases it. As a result, this not only reduces the number of transactions that are transferred to Ethereum, but also ensures that the buyer pays for the applicable gas, and not the creator of the NFT.
As for the next steps, the creator of the NFT must first select or create a digital file that will be converted into an individual non-fungible token. This file can be an image, video, GIF, or even a song that will be used to create an immutable version of it on the Polygon blockchain.
Even in the case of lazy minting, the NFT creator needs to have a crypto wallet with enough MATIC or Ether (ETH) Polygon tokens available to cover any fees that may be applicable at a later stage.
After fulfilling both of these requirements, the creator of non-fungible tokens must choose one of the various NFT marketplaces available on Polygon and connect their crypto wallet to login. After completing this step, the digital file must be uploaded to the marketplace.
To do this, click on the “Free minting” option and sign the minting permits that need to be submitted to the market. After completing this last step, the NFT will be listed for sale on the marketplace and will be available for purchase by other users.
The NFT remains registered with the relevant market while all of its associated data is stored in the Interplanetary File System, a distributed file storage protocol that allows anyone with a computer to store and share files across its giant peer-to-peer network.
By linking their crypto wallets to the market and obtaining minting permits, NFT creators can be sure that their NFT is minted as soon as the buyer deposits funds and they are then credited to their crypto wallet without any additional hassle.
In the event that an NFT creator wishes to delist or “burn” an NFT created with this option, they will have to pay the appropriate gas fee before withdrawing the NFT from the market.
How to buy NFTs on Polygon
For investors and NFT enthusiasts who are wondering how to buy NFT on Polygon, their journey should start from any of the NFT aggregators or marketplaces on the blockchain network. They can choose from Polygon NFT marketplaces such as Floor, TixHive, NFTrade, Candy Shop and Hodl My Moon in addition to OpenSea and Rarible marketplaces.
While Hodl My Moon and TixHive are aggregators that operate exclusively on the Polygon network, others are examples of multi-chain marketplaces that facilitate transactions on blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Smart Chain among others.
Users will need to link their Polygon NFT wallet to their chosen marketplace and then navigate to the collections of NFTs available on Polygon. Depending on whether it is a fixed-price sale or an auction, the process for buying NFTs is slightly different for platforms like OpenSea. For Fixed Price NFTs, users can add one or more of these NFTs to their shopping cart and pay for them in a single purchase flow.
After clicking the “Add to Cart” button, the user needs to go to the cart and complete the purchase process by clicking the “Complete Purchase” button. In this case, the user will be redirected to the wallet window, where it is necessary to accept the signing request after switching the wallet network to the Polygon network.
For fixed-price NFT sales, the type of token depends on the preference set by the seller, and therefore the buyer will have to match the price. For Polygon NFTs, the most common preference is Polygon ETH or MATIC tokens, with the former connecting to the Polygon network.
By linking ETH tokens with the Polygon network, users can save on the high and volatile gas or transaction fees requested by the Ethereum network, thereby reducing acquisition costs.
In order to bid for NFT or bid on an auctioned NFT, users will need to lock ETH in a Wrapped Ether (wETH) smart contract to place pre-authorized bids without requiring any additional input from the buyer.
The wETH smart contract mines the equivalent amount of wETH tokens when it holds ETH funds, with the wETH tokens appearing in the user’s wallet until they are used in a bet.
How to sell NFTs on Polygon
Once an NFT is created, the digital collectible will be displayed in the My Collections tab on the OpenSea marketplace and can subsequently be listed for sale by the owner of the NFT. Here are the steps to sell NFTs on Polygon:
How to find Polygon NFT in OpenSea
While the OpenSea NFT marketplace runs on the Ethereum blockchain, it allows users to buy, sell, or trade NFTs from various other blockchain platforms, namely Solana, Klaytn, and Polygon.
On such multi-chain NFT platforms, the Polygon NFT will have the Polygon logo in the upper left corner of the representative image used to identify the item. Alternatively, you can filter Polygon from the list of blockchains supported by the platform to only see NFTs hosted on the Polygon network.
With over 43 million OpenSea Polygon NFTs already listed in categories such as art, collectibles, music, photography, sports, trading cards, utilities, and domain names, users can also use the range of filters available on the OpenSea platform to narrow down their possible purchase.
By giving users the ability to browse popular NFT collections or even select NFTs priced within a certain budget range, the OpenSea marketplace offers an intuitive experience for those looking to buy their first NFT or add to an existing collection.
Credit : cointelegraph.com
