NFTs aka Non Fungible Tokens exploded like a bomb in 2021. Billions of dollars of capital were traded on these JPEGs.
According to NonFungible.com, trading in NFTs hit $17.6 billion in 2021, a humungous 21,000% increase from 2020.
And currently, the two popular blockchains for buying and trading NFTs are Ethereum and Solana.
In this article, we are gonna discuss how you can buy Solana NFTs. From buying funds ($SOL) and installing wallets (Phantom) to bidding and purchasing, this will be your go-to guide to buying Solana NFTs.
My goal with this article is to help you fill your wallet with NFTs (something like this):
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and nothing I write here will ever be financial advice. Always DYOR.
Also Read: NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) Explained Like You Are 5!
Solana is a Blockchain like Ethereum and Bitcoin (as a network), but has a different mechanism to verify and execute transactions.
It runs on a combination of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and Proof-of-History (PoH) consensus mechanisms.
As a result of these two mechanisms, Solana was able to process more transactions per second (TPS) and also gained traction because of low gas fee making it easy and affordable for daily users.
Solana NFTs are NFTs that exist on the Solana Blockchain. And SOL is the cryptocurrency that powers the blockchain and acts as a medium for users to exchange value (or NFTs).
As per CryptoSlam, the unique NFT Solana buyers increased from 14,987 in August 2021 to 161,904 in May 2022.
That’s a 980% increase in a span of 9 months. And NFTs aren’t haven’t even gone mainstream yet. Now think about that.
The big question is “Why Solana, when Ethereum is already rocking it?”
While Ethereum is still the No.1 blockchain when it comes to NFTs (and it probably will hold its place forever), Solana is also a good option too if you want to try NFTs.
Why?
First of all, different blockchains make different tradeoffs and some people are willing to build their projects on particular blockchains.
As of writing this article, the 7-day volume for SOL NFTs is $59,184,502 according to hyperspace.
And that means there are already enough NFT projects on this environmental friendly blockchain and the people behind these projects are building on Solana by choice.
And moreover, what if your favorite artist or creator releasing NFTs on Solana?
Finally, the gas fee on Solana is so cheap, that the trading becomes easy.
Whether it’s buying or selling or making custom offers to purchase NFTs, all this can be done at a very low cost (I am talking about just spending a few cents on the gas fee).
You can buy a Solana NFT in 4 steps:
Let’s get deep into each of these steps!
I guess you might already heard of this common rule of NFTs/Crypto investment: “Don’t invest more than what you can afford to lose”.
In other words, If your goal is to invest 100$ in an NFT project, assume that you already lost that 100$ and then hope for the best.
Now that I’ve trained you mentally (I hope so), let’s move on.
If you are already active on Crypto Twitter and Discord Chats, you might have already come across an NFT project and are probably clear on what to buy. But in case you don’t have a project in your mind, ask yourself:
If Interested: Where Do NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) Get their Value
Make sure you have a clear idea of what you are looking for. And you can also use a tool like Solscan to find out about the upcoming NFT projects or the already dropped projects.
If you are active on Twitter (and you should be if you are into crypto and NFTs), you get to see a lot of NFT projects (both upcoming and already released).
I found about a Solana NFT project on Youtube and got to know about a couple of NFT projects via Discord chat. And I evantually bought a few from all of these collections and even sold a few (some for a loss too).
So, the problem isn’t with finding. The real challenge is with anaylsing NFT projects and focusing on signal over noise.
Once you find a project, you can check the website, their roadmap, and even discord and ask questions to know more about that project.
In the end, if you see value in it and you like the art or their mission or community, then go for it.
Caution: NFTs are more volatile than cryptocurrencies and so probably riskier.
So, you have decided on an NFT project.
Now, you need to know two things:
So, let’s say you want to buy a DeGods NFT. It’s already minted and available on an NFT marketplace (more about that in step 4) called Magic Eden.
On Magic Eden, the floor price (minimum price) is 354 SOL. And the next two are available at 358 SOL.
So if you want to buy 3 DeGod NFTs that are available based on a minimum price, it’ll cost you 1070 SOL (354+358+358).
You can always check the price of Solana on Coinmarketcap just to get an idea of how much USD you need.
If it’s 50$, you’ll need $53,500 (50$ * 1070 SOL) in your exchange account.
Note: This is just an estimation. NFT floor prices move too fast so make sure you keep extra SOL in your wallet along with an extra 0.1 SOL for gas.
Binance and Coinbase are some of the most popular crypto exchanges out there. You can use any of the exchanges that you like to buy Solana. If you don’t have one, create one. And that should be a pretty straightforward process.
Once you have the account ready, just load up some cash (based on the amount of $SOL you want to buy – $53,500 in our case) via credit/debit card.
Ok, you purchased Solana. But the only thing is, it is sitting in a centralised exchange using which you can’t buy NFTs.
You need a non custodial wallet (a wallet that only you can control).
Phantom is one of the most popular Solana wallets out there. SolFlare and Sollet are some other popular alternatives.
If you are looking for a guide to setting up your Phantom wallet, I’d recommend reading this guide.
Important: Keep your seed phrase safe and never ever share it with anyone, especially with any websites that ask you for it.
Now, all you have to do is transfer your funds from the crypto exchange to your wallet. Look for the ‘Withdrawl’ option on the exchange and enter your Solana wallet address and the amount you’d like to withdraw to your wallet.
If you can’t find a withdrawal option on the exchange, a simple google search should help. And also try withdrawing a little amount of SOL if you are not so sure about it.
Some helpful articles:
To find your Solana wallet address:
Finally, you have $SOL in your wallet. Yes, I have 50$, so I am not buying DeGods. And don’t judge me.
Here are some of the most popular Solana NFT marketplaces:
An NFT project might be available in different marketplaces and so you need to make sure you check the floor price on all of the marketplaces where the NFT project is available, before buying them.
For example, look at the floor price of Dronies in different marketplaces:
Now, the question is how do I know that Dronies NFT project is listed on all of these different marketplaces?
Well, you can get into the discord of that particular project and find out.
Go to the marketplace with the least floor price of a collection and buy from there. All you have to do is connect your wallet (the option will be on the top right, most probably) to the website and start buying them.
Another option you can try is to bid on the NFTs. Instead of paying the amount that an NFT is already listed for, you can bid it for a bit lower price. If the seller accepts it, you might end up saving some $SOL.
That’s it!!!
On a low level, NFTs are groundbreaking technology, but on a high level, they are meant to be fun. So keep it fun and also make sure you invest only the amount that you can afford to lose. And also watch out for scams.
I hope I’ve helped you fill your Solana wallet with some NFTs.
WAGMI!