I was looking for a service to mint and send a NFT at a low cost. My intention was not to create a 'work of art' for sale. I wanted to create tokens commemorating the different events we organize in the noise.cash En Español channel.
For someone who considers himself an 'art genius', maybe other platforms where sending a NFT can exceed $30 will fit. I guess they see themselves able to sell their 'artworks' for much more, so I understand that it pays off for them.
In my case, I wanted to create some pieces to remember some good times and some good users who fill our channel with great and funny stuff, and send them as a gratitude.
This was not affordable if I had to pay too high amounts for each transaction. I couldn't find any option that would fit in this goal, but I read a post on noise.cash by @Elearah about her experience on https://timefoundation.net/Space-Finance/Market/BCH/.
The site is in development, so it still lacks details and minor tweaks. But it's already stable enough to mint and send NFT using smartBCH.
Great!
What should we do?
First of all, we need to connect Metamask to the smartBCH network. There are already quite a few tutorials about it, but I leave you this one by @Pantera which I think is the most complete one.
In order to pay minting and sending costs, we need to move some BCH to sBCH. In my case, I used hop.cash (there are some other options, as listed in Pantera's article).
It takes a little while (about 10 or 15 minutes) but it is a simple process with a very low fee.
Let's mint!
I already had a few sBCH in my Metamask wallet and I only had to connect my wallet with https://timefoundation.net/Space-Finance/Market/BCH/.
Easy-peasy, I was ready to start creating NTFs.
First NTF for testing
I thought I'd start with something more complicated: a 1000x1000px animated gif. If it worked well, with a jpg or png it should work even better. So I made a short animation about the 'Henry Porter' challenge that we were doing on the noise.cash channel.
Everything worked perfectly, although it took quite a while for it to show up on my timefoundation.net profile. I guess the team validates the NFTs so that no one tries to sell plagiarism or inappropriate images through their platform, which seems very reasonable.
I then tested with a jpg and with a png of smaller dimensions. All went as expected. In this cases, they appeared on my profile much quicker (almost instant).
But in order to send them, I had to view them in my wallet, but I didn't. So I contacted the platform through their Telegram. They very kindly replied to me.
Of Course! I hadn't added the token contract (shame on me)*.
Once done, I already had my 3 spaceArt**.
Why can't I see the image?
The metamask browser extension does not allow seeing each NFT, but the phone app does. To do this, I simply added the contract to the mobile wallet and then added each NFT in the NFT/collectibles section.
Although the rest of the content is recognized (title, text, authorship...) the images are not shown, but it seems to be a problem of Metamask itself because they are well referenced. In other words, the NFT are in the wallet, complete and correctly stored. I guess in future updates of Metamask it will be more compatible.
In any case, they can be correctly viewed at https://timefoundation.net/Space-Finance/Market/BCH/.
Send it as a gift
To send a NFT we just need the receiver to have the smartBCH network added to their Metamask wallet. We send it to their account, and it's done!***.
The whole process, for me less than $0.50… including sending costs!
Whether you consider yourselves great artists or just want to explore the possibilities of NFTs, I invite you to take a look at the platform. I think you'll find it fascinating.
What have I learned from all this?
1.- NFTs are not only to be sold in Marketplaces. They can be used as a gift, as a certificate of participation, as a university degree document… In these cases, transaction costs are critical. In other words: not all NFTs are 'Art' (?) that are intended to be sold for such an extraordinary price as to compensate the costs (generally there are not so many 'DaVincis').
2.- The same thing that happens with Bitcoin Cash as a currency for a real use (not for speculation), happens to the smartBCH. It is an exceptional network, really useful and with the potential to be used with multiple intentions (not only to speculate... with 'art' in the case o NFTs).
3.- That there are more and more interesting projects, such as https://timefoundation.net, that rely on smartBCH to serve real people and their needs (not big fortunes that are able to cover the huge costs of other networks).
Notes
*Contract: 0xeE0f0A4B5e3F9A7592fDb1cfbBDB39Ea5456AbBc
**Space is the token used by the platform. I think it is exciting to keep an eye on it because it offers several farming options, it is the currency used to sell/purchase NFTs, and in addition, it has just been listed in MistSwap.
***Don't forget to tell him that he has to add the token contract in order to see the NFTs. In any case, he can always see it as his property at https://timefoundation.net/Space-Finance/Market/BCH/
I'm here too, I'm just waiting for my NFT as a gift. Do not think that I will lose heart in my purpose.