Cryptocurrencies have been the talk of the town for a while now, and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have emerged as an alternate investment option within the cryptocurrency space. This technology is transforming art, gaming, and several other sectors.
NFTs, which act as digital certificates confirming the validity of a collectible, have been essential in propelling them forward as the new way to represent real-world items in the virtual realm. This is due to the proof of ownership and safety they offer investors.
The popularity of NFTs is rising among crypto investors who are interested in investing in metaverse platforms. These investors are making use of blockchain protocols such as Polygon to acquire these special digital assets with cryptocurrencies. Polygon, a layer-2 Ethereum protocol, has become the top choice for a lot of NFT marketplaces that provide people the chance to develop, purchase, and sell NFTs.
Gaining insight into the Polygon blockchain
Polygon is a parallel blockchain or sidechain that operates alongside the Ethereum blockchain to address its scalability problems. This network has a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to verify transactions on the chain.
Polygon offers developers greater flexibility, scalability, and lower transaction costs (gas) than Ethereum while still providing the same security, interoperability and smart contract features.
Polygon has earned the reputation of being a multi-chain platform consisting of Ethereum-compatible blockchains. This is mainly due to its capability to deploy other blockchain networks as well as facilitate communication between them, which makes it an ideal tool for developing decentralized applications (DApps).
Developers favor Polygon to create NFT projects that have a high rate of low-value transactions and establish NFT marketplaces that permit users to list their NFTs for a meager cost due to its Finity Design System and Polygon Bridge. This allows them to not only create cross-platform DApps but also link them with other compatible blockchain networks so as to transfer resources such as ERC-20 tokens and NFTs over to the Polygon sidechain.
Creating NFTs on Polygon for Free
To make it easier for artists and creators to get into the NFT trend, many platforms that rely on the Polygon blockchain are offering users a way to generate NFTs at no cost. OpenSea and Rarible, two Polygon NFT marketplaces, have a feature called “lazy minting” which lets nonfungible token makers make money from their work without any initial expenditure.
The NFT is specially minted when a user purchases it, thus reducing the number of transactions that need to be sent through Ethereum and ensuring that the buyer pays for the related gas rather than the maker of the NFT.
First, an NFT creator must pick or generate a digital file that will be transformed into a unique nonfungible token. This file could be an image, video, GIF or even music which will be used to make an unchangeable version of it on the Polygon blockchain.
Even with “lazy minting,” the NFT creator must possess a crypto wallet that contains enough MATIC or ETH to pay any potential fees that could arise in the future.
Once the two prerequisites have been satisfied, a NFT maker should pick from the different NFT marketplaces available on Polygon and connect their cryptocurrency wallet in order to log in. After this step is finished, the virtual file has to be uploaded onto the platform.
To accomplish this task, select the “Free Minting” option and sign the required authorization documents for the marketplace. Once you have completed this last step, your NFT will be put up for sale on the market and purchasable by other users.
The NFT is still visible on its marketplace, with all the related information being held on InterPlanetary File System, a distributed file storage system that enables anyone with a computer to store and share files as part of a huge peer-to-peer network.
Connecting their crypto wallets to the marketplace and obtaining authorization to mint tokens, NFT makers can be certain that when a buyer makes a payment, their NFT is instantly produced and the money is transferred directly into their crypto wallet without any further trouble.
If the originator of an NFT desires to remove or “destroy” a NFT that has been produced using this approach, they will need to pay the relevant gas fee before taking down the NFT from the store.
How to Buy NFTs on Polygon
Those who are curious about purchasing NFTs on Polygon must first turn to one of the NFT marketplaces or aggregators available on the blockchain network. Popular options include Floor, TixHive, NFTrade, Candy Shop, Hodl My Moon as well as OpenSea and Rarible.
Hodl My Moon and TixHive are exclusive to the Polygon network; however, other marketplaces enable cross-blockchain transactions between networks like Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Smart Chain.
Users must connect their Polygon NFT wallet to the selected marketplace and then explore the various NFT collections on offer via Polygon. The procedure for buying NFTs varies slightly between platforms like OpenSea, depending on whether it is a fixed-price sale or an auction. For fixed-price items, shoppers can add one or more of these items to their cart and pay for them in a single transaction process.
Once the user selects “Add to Cart,” they must go to the cart and click “Complete Purchase” to finalize the purchase. This will take them to their wallet, where they have to switch their network to Polygon and accept the signature request.
For fixed-price NFT sales, the token of choice is determined by the seller and must be accepted by the buyer. Polygon NFTs usually require Polygon ETH or MATIC tokens as payment, with ETH being linked to the Polygon network.
By connecting ETH tokens to the Polygon network, users can cut down on the expensive and unstable gas or transaction fees charged by Ethereum, thereby reducing the cost of acquisition.
To submit an offer for a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) or bid on one in an auction, users must first lock ETH in a Wrapped Ether (wETH) smart contract to pre-authorize bids, with no extra effort from the buyer.
The wETH smart contract creates a corresponding amount of wETH tokens when ETH funds are deposited in it, which then appear in the user’s wallet until they are used in an offer.
Selling NFTs on Polygon
Once an NFT is created, it can be seen in the “My Collections” area on OpenSea and its owner can then choose to offer it for sale. Here are the steps that need to be taken in order to sell NFTs on Polygon:
How to find Polygon NFTs on OpenSea
OpenSea, an NFT marketplace built on the Ethereum blockchain, facilitates trading of NFTs from other blockchains like Solana, Klaytn and Polygon.
For NFTs on multichain platforms, the Polygon logo will be present in the upper-left corner of the associated image. Alternatively, users can filter for Polygon blockchains to display only those NFTs hosted on the network.
OpenSea Polygon has an immense selection of 43 million non-fungible tokens (NFTs) listed within its categories, such as art, collectibles, music, photography, sports, trading cards, utility and domain names. To help users hone in on their desired item more effectively and efficiently, OpenSea provides a variety of filters to narrow down their choice before making a purchase.
OpenSea marketplace provides an easy-to-use experience for those wishing to buy their first NFT or increase their current collection, by permitting them to view popular NFT collections and even choose NFTs within a specified price range.
