A Beginners Guide to NFT Terminology

By Krystle Rose

Welcome to my incomplete list of NFT terms which I will continue to expand upon. Let me know what else you’d like to learn about.

NFT Terms

What is an NFT?
NFT stands for “Non-fungible token” and is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos.

“Non-fungible” means that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible — trade one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have exactly the same thing. A one-of-a-kind trading card, however, is non-fungible. If you traded it for a different card, you’d have something completely different.

What is a blockchain?
Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain.

What is SOL?
Each blockchain has its own cryptocurrency, or coins. The Solana blockchain uses “SOL” and the Ethereum blockchain uses “ETH.” There are many more!

What does it mean to mint an NFT?
To “mint” an NFT means to uniquely publish your token (artwork) on a blockchain to make it purchasable. The benefit of the blockchain is that it is a decentralized database that verifies originality, origin and ownership.

What does it mean to list an NFT?
It means to list your NFT for sale.

What’s a wallet?
A “hot wallet” is place to store crypto on the internet using a secure key, usually a 12 word phrase. Hot wallets help you to access sites on Web 3.0, but can be susceptible to hacking.

A “cold wallet” is a place to store crypto away from the internet, in a paper wallet or a hardware wallet that is only connected to the internet for brief moments when making a transaction.

What is a gas fee?
The Solana network offers an incredibly low transaction fee—or gas fee—of just $0.00025 per transaction. This price makes Solana one of the blockchains with the cheapest transaction fees compared to others like the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain which can be 20X higher than most other popular blockchains.

What is SolSea?
SolSea.io is an NFT marketplace that is on the Solana blockchain and uses SOL. It’s one of my preferred blockchains because it’s carbon neutral.

What is a smart contract?
NFTs are minted through smart contracts that assign ownership and manage the transferability of the NFT's. When someone creates or mints an NFT, they execute code stored in smart contracts that conform to different standards. This information is added to the blockchain where the NFT is being managed.

Troubleshooting

What should I do if my Phantom wallet won’t connect on SolSea?
If the Phantom browser extension is being weird, close your browser completely and then try connecting the wallet again on SolSea.

If you have questions about these terms or other NFT 101 Guides feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @KrystleRoses or through my contact form.