How to buy and sell NFTs on Polygon
While cryptocurrencies have been all the rage for the past couple of years, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have risen as an alternative asset class within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This ecosystem is revolutionizing the art and gaming worlds, among a number of other industries.
NFTs act as a digital certificate that proves a collectible’s authenticity, and also provides investors with proof of ownership and ultimate security, aspects that have contributed to their proliferation as the future of representing real objects in the virtual world.
As a result, NFTs are gaining increasing popularity among crypto investors looking to invest in metaverse platforms, with many purchasing these unique digital assets on blockchain protocols such as Polygon using cryptocurrencies. A layer-2 Ethereum protocol, Polygon has emerged as 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 a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to validate transactions on the chain.
Aside from offering the security, interoperability, and smart contract features of the Ethereum blockchain, Polygon boasts significantly lower transaction fees, or gas, and offers developers a much higher degree of flexibility and scalability than that offered by Ethereum.
In fact, Polygon has become known as a multi-chain network of Ethereum compatible blockchains. This is largely due to its ability to deploy other blockchain networks and enable communication between them, making it best suited for the development of decentralized applications (DApps).
With the Finity Design System and Polygon Bridge, developers can not only build cross-platform DApps, but also connect them to other compatible blockchain networks to transfer assets such as ERC-20 tokens and NFTs to the Polygon sidechain. Accordingly, developers prefer Polygon to create NFT projects that have a high frequency of low-value transactions. They also use it to set up NFT marketplaces that allow users to list NFTs for a small fee.
How to make free NFTs on Polygon
To make it easier for artists and content creators to jump on the NFT bandwagon, a number of platforms that use the Polygon blockchain to host non-fungible tokens are offering their users the opportunity to create NFTs for free. Polygon NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible provide the option of “lazy coining”, a functionality where non-fungible token creators can monetize their content without any upfront costs.
That’s because the NFT in question is actually minted when a user buys it. As a result, this not only reduces the number of transactions sent to Ethereum, but also ensures that the buyer pays for the gas in question instead of the NFT creator.
As for the steps to be followed, an NFT creator must first select or create a digital file to be converted into a custom non-functional 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 coining”, it is necessary for the NFT creator to have a cryptowallet with sufficient amounts of Polygons MATIC or Ether (ETH) tokens available to cover any fees that may be applicable at a later date.
Once both of these requirements are met, a non-functional token creator must choose from the various NFT marketplaces available on Polygon and connect to their crypto wallet to login. After completing this step, the digital file must be uploaded to the marketplace.
To do so, click on the “Free Coining” option and sign the coining authorizations that must be given to the marketplace. After completing this last step, the NFT will be put up for sale on the marketplace and will be available for purchase by other users.
The NFT remains listed on the respective marketplace, while all related data is stored on the InterPlanetary File System, a distributed file storage protocol that allows anyone with a computer to store and share files as part of the giant peer-to-peer network.
By connecting their crypto wallets to the marketplace and receiving minting permissions, NFT creators are assured that their NFT will be minted as soon as the money is deposited by the buyer and the same credited to their crypto wallet, without any additional hassle.
In the event that the NFT creator wishes to remove or “burn” an NFT that has been minted via this option, they must pay an applicable gas fee before removing the NFT from the marketplace.
How to buy NFTs on Polygon
For investors and NFT enthusiasts curious about how to buy NFTs on Polygon, their journey must begin with 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 work exclusively with the Polygon network, they are other examples of multi-chain marketplaces that facilitate transactions across blockchain networks, such as Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Smart Chain.
Users must link their Polygon NFT wallet to their chosen marketplace and then proceed to browse NFT collections available on Polygon. Depending on whether it is a fixed price sale or an auction, the process of buying NFTs is slightly different for platforms like OpenSea. For fixed-price NFTs, users can add one or more such NFTs to the cart and pay for them in a single purchase flow.
After clicking “Add to Cart”, the user must navigate to the cart and complete the purchase process by clicking “Complete Purchase”. When doing this, the user will be redirected to the wallet window where the signature request must be accepted after switching the wallet’s network to that of Polygon.
For fixed-price NFT sales, the type of token depends on the preference set by the seller, and therefore the buyer must comply with the price. For Polygon NFTs, the most common preference is for Polygon ETH or MATIC tokens, the former being connected to the Polygon network.
By bridging ETH tokens to the Polygon network, users can save on the high and volatile gas or transaction fees required by the Ethereum network, thereby reducing the cost of acquisition.
To place an offer on an NFT or to place a bid on an auctioned NFT, users must lock ETH in a Wrapped Ether (wETH) smart contract to place pre-authorized bids, without the need for additional input from the buyer.
The WETH smart contract mines an equivalent amount of wETH tokens when ETH funds are held in it, with the WETH tokens appearing in the user’s wallet until it is used in a bid.
How to sell NFTs on Polygon
After minting an NFT, the digital collectible will be visible in the “My Collections” tab on the OpenSea Marketplace and can then be put up for sale by the NFT’s owner. Here are the steps to sell NFTs on Polygon:
How to find polygon NFTs on OpenSea
Although 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, Polygon NFTs will have a Polygon logo in the upper left corner of the representative image used to denote the item. Alternatively, one can filter Polygon from the list of blockchains supported by the platform to see only those NFTs hosted on the Polygon network.
With more than 43 million OpenSea Polygon NFTs already listed across categories such as art, collectibles, music, photography, sports, trading cards, utility and domain names, users can also use the range of filters available on the OpenSea platform to narrow down their any Purchases.
By giving users the choice to browse popular NFT collections or even select NFTs priced within a defined budget range, the OpenSea marketplace offers an intuitive experience for those looking to purchase their first NFT or add to their existing collection.
