How to create NFTs on the bitcoin blockchain
--
What is an* NFT?
NFT stands for Non Fungible Token. While I don´t love the name that is the accepted standard term right now. It refers to one off non-divisable tokens. Maybe you heard about Homerpepe that sold for over 30k usd in pepecash, that is a pre-NFT NFT , meaning that it was an NFT before the term even existed and before there was a hype around the term.
Why?
They can be useful for one off artwork, trading cards, or anything that is unique like a fingerprint. If you wanted to give someone a sea shell as people do on the island Malaita then it would be one of a kind and this could be represented digitaly in the form of a Non Fungible Token.
Why the bitcoin blockchain?
Typcialy there are reasons to -not- use the bitcoin blockchain like high fees, lack of ablilty to use smart contracts and #toxic bitcoin maximalists. However there are a lot of reasons in favor of using bitcoin for tokens and esspeisally for tokens that are high value and have a low frequency of transfer.
In other words if you are making a NFT that might beworth or could be worth lambos and that dont need to be used to buy coffee are very suitable to find a home on the bitcoin blockchain. On top of that you have much less forks, and the counterparty protocol that we are going to use to make the NFT has been around since 2014 with very few problems. The most stable, strongest and most censorship resitant blockchain is the bitcoin blockchain.
But what about the mega high fees?
Fees are not high anymore, of course this could change but the cost of making our NFT was 0.02 USD in bitcoin, yes we created a NFT on the bitcoin blockchain for 2 cents.
How?
The first thing you need to do is head over to counterwallet.io and create a wallet. Allthough you are using a web browser to use a wallet, the site does not have your private keys. If you have ever used Myethwallet then it is a simmilar concept.
Now that you have a wallet, you will need to send some bitcoin there. A small ammount will do fine in order to have enough to make some tokens, maybe try 50–100$ worth of bitcoin to start. You can also go low budget and send 10–20$ and use the lowest fee possible. Once your bitcoin has arrived in your wallet then you are ready for the next step.
- Click “Address Actions”
- Tick “Free numeric name”
- Enter Quanity 1
- !!! UNTICK the box Make Divisable ?
- Now you can use the slider to adjust the bitcoin network fee
Now you have created a NFT on the bitcoin blockchain for 2 cents, well it cost a little more than that since the action of locking the token is also a bitcoin transaction, but still it was very cheap.
It might seem like a lot of steps, but once you have done it once or twice it is quite simple to repeat. Don´t forget to store your passphrase somewhere safe, I cant repeat that enough.
Examples
I have made 2 examples that you can find at theos.gallery . The first is the first ever rare autograph and the second is a NIFTY FUCKING KITTE both of which were created as in the example above.
Why are the tokens called things like A19ß751ß957ß9175ß9325ß239ß ?
These are “free” tokens that do not charge 0.5 XCP to create. If you do have 0.5 XCP (Counterparty) then you can create an alphabetic token and use the same method to make it a NFT. You can buy XCP on many altcoin exchanges and then send it over to your counterwallet address. You will still need some bitcoin for transaction fees.
Have you created a token? Are you a blockchain expert now? Post about your token in the comments below or let me know on twitter/theog__
