How to Buy Your First Money-Making NFT
Let me show you how to buy your first NFT.
We’ll use a forthcoming project called Hoppers Game as an example.
Quick note:
I don’t know your preconceived notions around NFTs. A lot of people think they’re nothing but overly-priced pictures of apes etc.
That’s not entirely wrong. But it’s not the whole story either.
I’m not interested in buying and selling these big-name NFT projects you read about online.
If a project is big enough to be on the news, I’m already not interested.
I like small projects, tiny development teams, and small, dedicated communities.
So rather than buying an NFT that has no utility, expecting it to go up for ??? reason, with the idea that I’ll flip it for a profit, I prefer something different.
I only buy NFTs I can play or stake in games. I’ll make a few grand over the course of weeks or months. Sell everything off. Take my profits, and move to the next one.
This NFT has a current offer of 65 ETH on it, which is the equivalent of about $165,000. Count me out, homie.
The NFTs I like double as playable characters in play-to-earn games.
I want to buy the NFT, play the game with it, make money in the game, and sell my NFT later. If I make a profit selling my actual NFT, that’s great but not necessary. As long as I made profits playing the game, I won.
Okay, enough preamble…
How to Buy Your First NFT This Week
[What I’m about to teach you is my process. This is not financial advice. Do your own research before investing.]
Hoppers Game is having their mint sale on March 11. Don’t worry if you’re reading this after that date. What I’m about to teach you will apply to any NFT project on the Avalanche blockchain
What is a Mint Sale?
In the crypto gaming space, a mint sale refers to the moment a game’s developers first sell their playable characters.
Buying at the mint sale is the best way to get your ROI.
Before you do anything, make sure you have your wallet set up. Then add some $AVAX to it. [If you don’t know wtf I’m talking about, read this article, follow the steps, then come back here.]
What Is a Whitelist?
Now, look at that image above. Notice there are different mint times for something called a “whitelist” and the public?
Being on the whitelist means you get early access to mint an NFT and a discount. You might get “whitelisted” in exchange for promoting the project on Twitter, for example.
We’re not worried about all that right now. Too many steps for your first NFT. Let’s focus on the public mint.
For this Hoppers game, the NFT will cost 1.7 $AVAX. That’s about $130 at the moment.
Remember: in order to play this game (and make money), you need the NFT. You could just buy one and leave it at that. Or you could be like me: you find a project you like and you buy 5+ characters.
Higher risk? Sure.
Higher reward potential? absolutely.
Your call.
I only get a bunch of NFTs in one project if I believe in the game, and I have profits from other investments to funnel in.
In this case, I’m ready to mint 5 Hoppers on March 11th.
Those Pesky Transaction Fees
Now, aside from the purchase price, you also want a little extra $AVAX in your wallet to pay for transaction fees.
The greatest thing about the Avalanche blockchain is the low transaction fees (compared to the Ethereum blockchain, for example). But something important to remember:
When a highly anticipated game mints their NFTs, the network gets congested and transaction fees rise.
I fully expect to pay an extra .3 $AVAX in transaction fees (i.e., gas) when I mint my Hoppers.
What does that mean for you? If you’re buying a single NFT for 1.7 $AVAX, you should have 2 $AVAX in your wallet just in case.
The last thing you want is to set aside time to mint a project, then miss the boat because the game sold out while you were trying to transfer more $AVAX to your wallet.
What to Do on the Mint Day
Once you have enough $AVAX in your wallet, you’ll want to do a few things on Mint Day to make sure you get a Hopper (or whatever NFT you buy).
Note:
The most successful projects usually sell out in minutes (even seconds). So you have to be quick.
1. Go to https://hoppersgame.io/
2. Click the “Let’s Get Hoppin” button.
3. On Mint Day, there will be a button somewhere on this page to connect your wallet. If you want to buy an NFT, you’ll have to connect.
Please Note:
I am not affiliated with this project in any way. I trust the development team based on their track record with other projects, but anything can happen. The crypto space is the wild west. Do your own research and know that every move you make here is a risk. I’m just sharing the risks I take.
4. Chose the number of NFTs you want to mint, then hit “Mint”
5. The site will ask you to approve the new contract. Again: if you want to get your NFT, you must do this. But signing a new contract in your wallet is always a risk.
6. Verify that the transaction successfully went through by clicking on your wallet. See that the 1.7 $AVAX (+ fees) was taken from your wallet.
7. Now you’ll be excited to see your NFT. This is the most exciting part of it all. This is where investing, gaming, and gambling all intersect. You won’t be able to see your NFT in your wallet. You have to go to a marketplace…
8. Go to https://marketplace.kalao.io/. This is one of the most trusted marketplaces on the Avalanche blockchain.
9. Click the “Connect Wallet” button.
10. Sign the contract, if you choose.
11. Click “My NFTs” at the top.
12. You’ll see your new NFT in your dashboard!
This is my artist’s rendition of how it might look on day of mint :-)
Now that you have your first NFT, it’s time to play your first play-to-earn crypto game!
Once the game goes live on March 12, I’ll teach you how to play a game with your NFT, earn rewards, and swap those rewards for cold hard cash in your bank account.
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Thanks for reading!
Greg “The Crypto Kid” Larson
