FAST N DIRTY NFT GUIDE V.1
April 2021
Everything I learnt I learnt off David Porte Beckefeld @DavidPorteBeckefeld who will clarify these points in the future.
1. What is this NFT thing?
Non-fungible tokens, I don’t know what that exactly means, you might want to google.
Basically the same tech used to authenticate Bitcoins is now used to authenticate a piece of art (extremely simplified explanation).
This is the digital equivalent to buying a painting at an art show. You own the physical painting and no one else can have it unless you decide to sell it to them or give it away.
NFTs work the same way. The person owns the authentication code of that work. You can still post it online and do whatever with it. And buying it doesn’t mean they own the rights to it much the same way if someone buys a print of your work it doesn’t mean that they have the right to print it on t shirts and mugs or whatever.
2. What are the steps to getting on?
Step 01 Buy Ethereum (the currency of NFT)
I used a site called Coinjar (Australian) to buy Ethereum.
When you’ve set up an account on Coinjar you need to transfer a balance from your bank account to Coinjar in order to buy cryptocurrency with it.
Use the “Quick Deposit” method to transfer funds as it is instant and uses PayID, if you haven’t got PayID set up with your bank account it doesn’t take long to set up and is instant.
You can use BPAY but it will take seven or so days to clear.
Each artwork can cost around $200 to mint and list on Foundation, so I would recommend transferring enough to cover that as well as any GAS Fees (explained later).
Other platforms are much cheaper.
Step 02 Link to a “Wallet”
Once you have Ethereum in your Coinjar account transfer it to your Wallet, I use a site called Metamask as my wallet.
Set up a Metamask account first so you can have your ID Address, and transfer your Ethereum to this.
Your ID for Metamask and Coinjar are different so be mindful of this.
These are NOT your Seed Phrase (a group of words that allow access to a cryptocurrency wallet).
Step 03 Link the wallet to an NFT Platform
Once you have Ethereum in your Wallet you can link your Wallet to your Foundation account and that’s literally it. This is where you will be able to pay for minting and listing fees and also receive payments from works sold.
If you want to “Cash out” You then transfer Ethereum from Your Metamask to your Coinjar and then convert the Ethereum to your bank balance.
Depending on your situation you may have to pay 30% Capital Gains Tax on this, I have no idea about this stuff so I’m mostly just leaving my Ethereum where it is in hopes it will double which is what people are saying.
Other platforms other than Foundation are:
3. A word on GAS Fees
Since it’s a decentralised network of servers, you have to cover the fees to move Ethereum around. Be very careful of these fees as they literally change depending on what time of day it is. Always always check to see what an Ethereum converts to in your own currency. It could look like something meagre like 0.3 but keep in mind that equals over $500 AUD!
Since a majority of servers are in Singapore we are at the mercy of their servers, 2am Singapore time to 8am Singapore time is the best time to move money around because they’re all on and fired up, which corresponds to Australian 5am AEDT to 11 AEDT.
When you’re moving money around, it’s probably your best bet to move a lot at a time instead of small and frequent. This is the main barrier for people trying to enter because you have to pay to play essentially.
When you are ready to post something it’ll incur a MINTING fee and a LISTING fee. These will be the same, so for instance $200 to mint, and $200 to list, a total of $400.
When it comes to listing and minting fees I’ve literally gone to post something at 3am which was going to cost $700 and then posted at 11am which cost $200, this is the crazy range we’re talking.
The worst time during the week for gas prices is observed on Thursdays at UTC noon, or 8 PM in Singapore.
This site is a good way to track the best time to post with the lowest gas fees:
https://ethereumprice.org/gas/
4. Who’s buying this stuff? Why would someone pay 2k for a gif if they wouldn’t pay for an artwork?
The Crypto market is totally different to the conventional art market. It’s also seen as collectibles like trading cards. Paintings aren’t generally seen as collectibles in the same way. A lot of these Crypto people have a lot of money in crypto and they don’t really want to cash out on it, so it makes more sense to invest it in an artwork so that hopefully the value goes up.
Say for instance they buy from an artist for 2k, the artist might blow up and become collectible and they might be able to flip it for 4k, doubling their money. Of that you get a 10% on each flip/sale (from what I’ve been told).
The Crypto market is also incredibly volatile and ‘game-ified’ that a lot of people have made money very quickly from just being smart with Crypto, so it isn’t the same as someone who worked 40 hour work week to save up to buy a painting that matches the couch in their lounge room etc. It’s all a bit whack.
5. Does the work need to be animated?
No, but in my opinion a still can be a print whereas an animated work inherently can only exist online as Crypto art. This is just my opinion. Stills have sold for a decent amount as well.
6. Can I just upload stills and forget about it and make $$ from minimal effort?
Not really. The market is so heavily saturated and gets more and more saturated every day with people thinking that it’s very much a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. Generally the people that buy the art aren’t people who know you or who have followed your work before. They might in some cases but mostly it’s a new audience.
Having said that some people collect simply based on a rudimentary preference like they collect vaporware or shit that is pink etc.
I personally think there is a gap in the market currently for illustrative or innovative photography work because a lot of it is 3D or glitch work (which is also amazing). Yes there is a lot of shit stuff out there that sells but maybe don’t aim to make shit half-ass work on the off chance it’ll sell.
The best bet is to promote the shit out of it using the hashtags #NFT #NFTartist #cryptoart. Also collectors weirdly enough aren’t actually on Instagram, they’re on Twitter.
7. How do I get the money?
You can choose to cash out by sending your ETH from your wallet to the site you used to buy the initial ETH, for instance Coinjar, and transfer it from that to your bank account. Site like Coinjar and Blockfi are now offering credit cards which allow you to use your Cryptocurrency to pay for things as you would a credit card. There are also sites like livingroomofsatoshi to use your Crypto balances to pay bills using BPAY or credit card transactions etc.
Keep in mind that gains made on Cryptocurrency are subject to Capital Gains Tax, the longer you hold onto the crypto the less the tax is, something like 50% after holding for a year I’ve been told.
8. Is this a dumb fad?
Who knows, it could be a flash in the pan or it could actually change the way we sell art. I personally am all for making 10% every time a work is resold and actually selling my work for what it’s worth instead of people scoffing over spending money on something that took me a long time to make because their budget is $100 to buy something that matches their couch.
Foundation takes 15% when you first sell it.
9. Can I get a Foundation invite?
You get Foundation invites when you sell work so they don’t just come out of thin air. All mine are spoken for until I sell more which is super uncertain. I’ve given my invites to people who I know will actually do this, not just waste my time and set it up and forget about it in a week and call the whole thing dumb.
10. Is there a resource that is LESS flippant than you that actually checks it’s facts?
Heaps, here are some: