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Ethereum Basics

Learning About the Ethereum Blockchain

Ethereum (ETH) is the most prominent cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin and the majority of NFT projects are built on the Ethereum blockchain—meaning that you will need to pay in Ethereum to purchase most NFTs.

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Minting

When an NFT project first releases, the initial sale of the NFTs is called a Mint—similar to how when a U.S. dollar is distributed into the economy it is first ‘minted’ at the federal reserve. After an NFT is minted, all future sales of that NFT are considered ‘Secondary Sales’. These secondary sales typically occur on NFT marketplaces, with the most popular marketplace being

OpenSea⁠

Gas Fees

A key aspect of making transactions on the Ethereum Blockchain are gas fees. Gas fees are the fees all users must pay to transact on the Ethereum Blockchain. Think of the blockchain as a highway, these gas fees are like paying a toll to get onto said highway.

Gas fees are dynamic and fluctuate based on the amount of activity occurring on the Ethereum Blockchain, during periods of low activity your gas fee could be as low as .01 ETH or during periods of high activity it could spike up to .05-.1 ETH

*Note: Technically there is no limit to how expensive the gas price can be if activity on the blockchain is high enough, but .05-.1 ETH is a moderate estimate for a high activity gas price

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Now that we have learned about minting and gas fees, it is important to note that the NFT projects typically have a ‘mint’ price between .02-.15 ETH. On occasion, projects are released for a mint price higher than .15 ETH, but those projects should be scrutinized thoroughly to determine if they are worth the upfront investment. The mint price does not include the gas fee you will also need to pay, so to be on the safe side it would be best to have an additional .05 ETH in your Metamask wallet for every NFT you wish to mint.

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Next Page

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Purchasing Ethereum A Step-By-Step Guide To Acquiring Cryptocurrencies⁠

Minting

Gas Fees

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