For many experienced collectors and NFT traders, minting NFT from smart contracts seems like a new norm. It is a faster and more efficient way to mint NFTs, and for many people, especially beginners, it’s a new thing they’ve never heard about.
In the past few months, many NFT marketplaces have experienced at least one downtime due to traffic congestion and the influx of users. This usually puts the minting process and NFT trading on an indefinite halt.
Minting NFTs from smart contracts provides a more reliable and efficient way of buying NFTs hassle-free on the Ethereum chain. Therefore, rather than minting through project websites or launchpads that may be congested, anyone can easily mint NFT via any mint-enabled NFT smart contract.
Another reason why many people prefer minting from the smart contract is bypassing technical difficulties. Also, it is used when a new NFT project has yet to have a website.
Regardless of the reason, minting from a smart contract is easy. This article will guide you through minting your preferred NFT collection directly from the smart contract.
What Is an NFT Smart Contract?
An NFT Smart Contract works like a normal smart contract. It is a mechanism that executes itself once predefined instructions are met, thereby enacting a sales agreement between the selling and buying parties.
When an NFT or an NFT collection is minted on a blockchain, the smart contract gives sole ownership to the owner or publisher. However, when it is sold, the smart contract is updated to confer ownership to the new buyer if predefined conditions are met.
All it does is confirm if a predefined sale amount has been sent to the previous owner or seller. Since smart contracts are based on a publicly distributed ledger, the owner or buyer has immutable proof that cannot be edited.
The smart contract also handles the associated functionalities like royalty fee payment and access to real-world use cases like experiences and events.
Steps to Mint an NFT From Smart Contract
While minting from a smart contract might sound technical, it is easier than expected. In fact, it is easier than minting from a marketplace. The only difference here is that you’re minting from the backend.
Minting from the smart contract is similar to normal minting. However, it is only available for Ethereum NFTs. Before you mint any ERC-721 or ERC-1155 NFT from the smart contract, you have to fund your wallet with enough ETH to cover the purchase and gas fees.
Once you’re set, go to Etherscan blockchain explorer and look for the NFT collection with its contract address. In the NFT contract, connect your wallet, and specify the price and number of tokens you want to mint.
Finalize the transaction, and that’s it. You’ve successfully minted an NFT from the smart contract.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on minting an NFT from the smart contract:
- Fund your wallet
- Search for NFT Contract on Etherscan
- Connect Your Wallet to the NFT Contract
- Mint NFT
1. Fund your wallet
The first step to minting NFT is funding your wallet with enough ETH. However, ensure you know the price of the NFT before using a smart contract.
You can easily fund your wallet from any centralized exchange like Binance or Coinbase. If you’re using Binance, log in to your account at www.binance.com.
On the homepage, click on BUY CRYPTO and fund your spot wallet with ETH using your card. Ensure you complete 2FA verifications to finalize your transaction.
After buying ETH, navigate to your Fiat and Spot Wallet > WITHDRAWAL. Choose ETH as the coin you want to withdraw.
Ensure you copy the recipient deposit address and paste it into the Binance ETH withdrawal page. Finally, complete 2FA verifications to confirm the withdrawal.
2. Search for NFT Contract on Etherscan
A contract Address is a unique crypto address assigned to an NFT collection when its smart contract is deployed. Therefore, the only way you can identify a smart contract in Etherscan is via its contract address.
You can fund an NFT’s contract address via its website or social media channel. Once you have the Contract Address, navigate to Etherscan.io on your web browser.
In Etherscan, click the SEARCH button and paste the NFT Contract Address.
After filtering the NFT with its contract address, the main contract page of the NFT will pop up. Here, you can see the contract overview, which includes the Max Supply, number of Holders, and Transfers.
You will also see the overview of the NFT’s profile on Etherscan.
3. Connect Your Wallet to the NFT Contract
To connect your wallet and start minting, scroll down to the CONTRACT tab and click on WRITE.
Under the WRITE tab, click on CONNECT TO WEB3. Choose your preferred wallet between Metamask and Coinbase wallet.
You can also use the WALLETCONNECT option if you’re a WalletConnect-supported crypto wallet.
Approve wallet connection by confirming the prompt that pops up in your wallet.
4. Mint NFT
One of the functions of the WRITE interface is minting an NFT. Once you’ve connected to your crypto wallet, the smart contract will be able to interact directly with the wallet and execute any function you want.
In the options provided under the WRITE interface, look for the ‘MINT’ or ‘MINT NFT’ function.
Click in the mint function and input the minting price in the first field labeled “payableAmount (ether).” This can also be the floor price of the collection.
In the second field labeled uint(265), input the number of NFTs you want to mint. However, be sure that the number of tokens you want to mint corresponds with the price.
For instance, if the minting price of an NFT is 0.05ETH and you want to mint three NFTs, the total amount is 0.15ETH.
Once you’re done, click the WRITE button to finalize the transactions. Confirm token approval and approve the transaction in the prompt that pops up in your wallet. That’s all. It is as simple as that.
Conclusion
As shown above, minting from a smart contract is easy. However, smart contracts are not programmed equally. While some may have WRITE functions, some may not.
Therefore, ensure you confirm whether the smart contract you want to mint from has a MINT function in its WRITE interface.
Also, double-check all info you provide, including the minting price and number of NFTs you want to mint. Transactions are irreversible with blockchain, and excess prices will be written off automatically.
In summary, minting from a smart contract is an excellent way to get NFT quicker and faster, especially when users’ traffic has caused congestion or downtime in the main minting website.
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