Polygon is rapidly emerging as one of the hottest blockchains for NFTs, with some of the biggest collections porting over to Polygon to take full advantage of the speed and gas fee savings. It’s similar to Ethereum in that it’s a multi-chained and layered blockchain network using PoS as its consensus mechanism, allowing it to remain secure.
All of this goodness combines to create what is the crem de la crem of blockchains for NFTs. So, let’s see exactly what makes Polygon so good and then show you how to use it for your own NFT degen life!
Understanding Polygon
Polygon, also known as MATIC, is basically a stack of protocols that were designed to fix some of Ethereum’s scalability issues back when it was a PoW blockchain. IT manages to be more scalable and stable by handing transactions on a separate Ethereum compatible blockchain, running concurrently. This allows Polygon to cut transaction costs down to less than a cent while remaining nice and speedy. This makes it ideal for NFTs. Ethereum has been heavily criticized for its hefty gas fees, making low-cost NFTs too expensive to use or claim.
Read also: Meet the 15 TOP decentralized exchanges on Polygon
How to Create Free NFTs on Polygon
Everyone wants to be an NFT artist, but Ethereum’s gas fees have put a lot of people off. But, thanks to Polygon, everyone can become an NFT artist at last. The easiest way to create free NFTs on Polygon would be to use OpenSea. OpenSea allows you to mint your own NFTs in small batches quickly and easily. You could also spin up a whole deployer and contract, but it’s rather technical and out of scope for this article.
First up, you’ll want to head on over to OpenSea and sign in using your favorite Polygon wallet (MetaMask is great). Click on your profile icon and head to My Collections.
Next, click on Create a Collection and begin filling out all the sections, such as Logo Image, Featured Image, Name. and URL. Once you’ve done that, scroll down to where it says Blockchain. Click on the dropdown and change it to Polygon. This will change the network to Polygon and make minting virtually free. When you’re ready, hit create.
Next, go back to your icon and select create. Upload your image and fill out all the fields. Make sure that you change the collection to the one we just made. Next, change the blockchain to Polygon and you’ll be able to enjoy the free Polygon NFT mints.
Once you’re ready, hit create, complete the human check and you’re done! Congratulations. You just minted your first free Polygon NFTs!
How to Buy NFTs on Polygon
Now you’re an NFT artist, it’s time to browse other NFT collections, you know, for “ideas” for your next collection. Again, we’re going to stick with OpenSea as it’s the number 1 NFT marketplace for Polygon NFTs.
Simply head on over to OpenSea and select the type of NFTs you want to browse, or just go for “All”. Then, on the right-hand side you’ll see a list of chains. Simply click on the Polygon icon and it’ll filter your NFT views to just Polygon assets.
Then, pick the collection you want to explore, find an NFT you want to buy and click on it. You’ll be able to either “buy now” if you’re happy to pay the price listed on the NFT or you can make a bid. If you opt to buy now, you’ll pay the current price plus any fees. If you make an offer, you’ll have to wait for the seller to accept your offer, which can take some time.
That’s how you buy Polygon NFTs at OpenSea!
How To Sell NFTs on Polygon?
You can guess where this is going. We’re going to stick with OpenSea here as it’s so much easier to find NFTs on OpenSea and Sell Polygon NFTs on OpenSea compared to all other NFT marketplaces. So, when you’re ready to sell your Polygon NFTs on OpenSea, just go to your collections, and load up the piece you want to sell.
At the top right, you’ll see a big button that says “Sell”. Just hit that button. You can pick how many you want to sell (if you have multiple of the same NFT), how much you want to sell it for, and how long you want it to be on sale for. Simply complete those fields and hit Complete Listing.
Now, you’ll have to wait for someone to place an offer or to buy your NFT to have sold your first Polygon NFT. If it’s a hot collection and you posted it at a fair price, it could get snapped up rather quickly.
Polygon Rules for NFTs
And there you have it. Playing with NFTs on the Polygon network is so simple, easy, and cheap. OpenSea has done a great job in making NFTs accessible for absolutely everyone, so it’s well worth checking out if you want to get into NFTs.
See you all on the next adventure!
