As the crypto winter we’re now going through deepens, NFT creators are looking for ways to create buzz and sell their work while saving on heavy minting costs. That’s why a growing number of projects are opting to release non-fungible tokens via free-to-mint, a model that enables the creation of new NFTs with minimal commitment.
And despite the overall downturn of the NFT market, free-to-mint projects are doing surprisingly well. So, what’s attracting so many to these collections?
Let’s find out.
How Does Free-to-mint Work?
When you first create an NFT, you’re turning an asset into a digital token and you’re doing so by “minting” it with just a few clicks. In return, you might have to pay a fee to the network you’re using.
The fee will depend on the blockchain you chose and the minting options you’ve selected. The majority of the top blockchains will typically charge for either minting, buying or selling an NFT - or all of those. Then, there are also NFT marketplaces to contend with, as sellers can expect to part ways with a commission percentage.
Rarible, for example, charges both buyers and sellers a 2.5% fee per transaction while the cost of minting an NFT can range from $1 to $500, sometimes even higher.
For a long time, if you were a collector interested in a particular NFT project, you would probably have to fork out to see your tokens created and then sold to you. However, with the free-to-mint model NFTs are minted without any associated costs, except, at times, the gas fee. In other words, with free minting, it’s the NFT buyer that covers the fees instead of the creator.
If you’re interested in knowing more about how you can develop your own NFTs (including for free), check out our guide to making an NFT.
Many NFT projects are now following this route as they can make money from secondary sale royalties they can potentially reap for every time an NFT changes hands. In fact, some of the most successful NFT collections started out as free to mint - CryptoPunks, for one, was initially up for grabs for free. Given that they were worth as much as $11 million at the height of the NFT craze, it’s fair to say that early buyers probably struck gold with their Punks.
It goes without saying that by making non-fungible tokens free to mint, the entry barrier to this market is lowered, making it accessible to all types of people, from the experts to the newcomers.
This comes in handy particularly now that we’re facing a ‘crypto winter’. One of the world’s biggest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, has seen sales volume falling some 75% since May and in June, NFT sales plummeted to a 12-month low. This has led some sellers, looking to avoid losses, doubling or even tripling their initial mint prices.
What Are The Benefits of Free-to-Mint
We have touched upon some of the advantages of opting for a free-to-mint NFT model. Not only does it open the doors for more people to join the market, but it also draws a host of other benefits:
Major (potential) Upside
The truth is that there have been many free-to-mint projects that have done well. Very well, in fact. Early backers of collections like the CryptoPunks have racked in sizable returns. In 2018, someone purchased CryptoPunk #2238 for just $443 and sold in 2021 for an eye watering $4.4 million. That’s a return of almost 1,000,000% return in less than three years’ time.
Exclusivity
Buying non-fungible tokens right after they’re minted is a great strategy if you’re looking to maximize potential gains. And being on the lookout for the best yet-to-be minted emerging projects is something that you’ll likely spend a fair amount of time doing, too. For the most part, the NFT drops with the highest chances of succeeding have a lot of hype around them - and plenty of following. In that sense, they’re pretty exclusive and potential buyers are usually screened though whitelists. The more exclusive they’re perceived, the more valuable the free- to-mint NFTs become.
Democratizes Access
Free mints give an opportunity to everyone to step into the NFT game at a low cost. Many NTM projects use more blockchains like Polygon and Solana - to keep the gas fees low. That’s a major benefit for independent artists, many of whom have often struggled with covering the costs of creating their tokens without knowing if they’ll ever be sold. Free to mint lowers the barrier for entry in the non-fungible sphere, paves the way for more projects to come to market and for creativity to flourish.
Reigns In Scamming (sort of)
In theory, releasing a whole project for free is anything but profitable. Or at least, those looking to make a quick buck from taking others in the NFT space for a ride won’t see any major gains until the project gains traction later on, if ever. As such, early collections aren’t likely to see great profits right after any free-to-mint NFT release. In any case, the rule of thumb is always that you should do your own research into any NFT project and the type of smart contract philosophy they're following before making any financial commitment.
Best Free-to-Mint NFT Projects
Free minting is hardly a new idea, but it’s the hype generated by some of the most successful projects that has brought attention back to this crypto model. Let’s take a look at some of the collections making waves:
Goblintown.wtf
Launched in May of 2022 amidst much fanfare, Goblintown (@goblintownwtf) showcases 10,000 NFTs of strange-looking Goblins. Surprisingly, the project has no roadmap, no utility, no Discord channel, no collaborations and nothing but free-to-mint goblin NFTs. That hasn’t stopped these tokens from generating a lot of interest. Despite being released in the midst of a crypto market slump, the Goblins have kept gaining momentum and have, at times, even toppled the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) in trading volume and sales. Some of the rarest Goblin NFTs, sporting unique traits, have sold for as much as $121,000 on LooksRare. Unlike other collections, Goblintown benefits from the CCO (creative commons zero) policy, which means that Goblin NFTs can be used and repurposed in whatever way its owner chooses, opening up new commercialization avenues. To keep up with the hype, Goblintown has followed up its free-to-mint collection with a second iteration called the McGoblin Burger (@McGoblinBurger).
We Are All Going to Die (WAGDIE)
We Are All Going to Die is another free-to-mint NFT collection, meaning those who caught the public sale only had to pay a transaction fee. Much like Goblintown, WAGDIE is a shadowy project that managed to create a lot of buzz after posting a creepy recording to Twitter. This collection in particular consists of 6,666 NFTs, developed on the Ethereum blockchain, and all revolving around the “death as the only certainty” theme. That’s pretty evident from the art featured - pixelated solemn humanoids in medieval fantasy gear and sporting all sorts of add-ons, including death masks, robes, crossbows, plate armors and metal helms. At its height, this collection too managed to surpass Bored Ape Yacht Club to become the most popular NFT collection on OpenSea. And following in the footsteps of Goblintown, WAGDIE also offers no clues as to its creators, utility and future direction. "No Website. Twitter and Contract Only. Free Mint." the project’s description on OpenSea reads. "There is no map, only death-bed .” Nevertheless, its floor price is now 0.148 ETH, beating the majority of NFT collections during the current crypto winter.
The Octagon by Deca
Generative NFT art platform Deca dropped 10,000 free-to-mint NFTs as part of The Octagon collection back in May. As part of its art-focused metaverse, the project is ready for minting at no extra cost besides gas fees. The project’s manifesto says that it's aimed at creating an infrastructure to “experiencing” digital objects, leveraging a trend that emerged among NFT collectors to display their pieces in dedicated online galleries.
Tokens are available through six levels that are progressively unlocked, enabling additional utilities. The Octagon starts at level 1 and then users can follow a few steps to keep going up the ladder. Some of the steps are as simple as following Deca on Twitter.
Banking on free NFTs, Deca hopes to create a 1,000,000,000- member community of a global network of artists, art, and art traders. Given how unusual it is, The Octagon has attracted high-profile NFT collectors, including Cozomo de’ Medici and VincentVanDough, as well as financial backing from investors like Betaworks and Collab+Currency.
Bottom Line - Is Free-to-Mint For Everyone?
The long and short of it is that free-to-mint might not be a suitable strategy for every NFT creator. Putting free tokens out there and hoping that a collection will do well is a risky way of operating in this side of the crypto world. And while it’s true that a decent amount of free-to-mint NFT collections have done well, they’re usually larger in scale and they’re typically very apt at finding ways (no matter how unusual) of building hype ahead of their launch.
It goes without saying that releasing a free NFT isn’t also a guarantee of future profits, no matter that free-to-mint tokens seem to be all the rage at the moment.
On the other hand, this model could provide added incentives for creators to develop projects that are well thought through and designed to have long-term draws, so that collectors can be shown the future potential of NFTs instead of blindly investing on tokens that could easily flop after launching or that never reach the goals stipulated in complex roadmaps.
All things considered, free-to-mint could be a sustainable option for the NFT industry.
