🆕 Complete Beginner's Guide to NFTs
Everything you need to know to get started with NFTs — from setting up your wallet to avoiding scams.
1. What is an NFT?
NFT = Non-Fungible Token
"Non-fungible" means unique — unlike Bitcoin where every coin is the same, each NFT is one-of-a-kind. It's a digital certificate of ownership stored on a blockchain.
NFTs can represent: art, music, videos, game items, domain names, tickets, collectibles, and more.
2. Choose Your Chain
Different blockchains support NFTs. Most common:
| Chain | Pros | Cons | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | Most collections, biggest market | High gas fees | Blue chips, art |
| Solana | Fast, cheap | Fewer projects | Trading, mints |
| Polygon | Free/cheap transactions | Less liquidity | Gaming, IP |
| Bitcoin | Most secure,Ordinals trend | Expensive, new | Digital art, inscriptions |
3. Set Up a Wallet
A crypto wallet is your identity. It holds your tokens and NFTs.
- Download MetaMask (browser extension + mobile)
- Write down your seed phrase — 12 words. SAVE THEM. Don't share.
- Add funds: buy ETH/SOL from Coinbase, Binance, etc.
- Connect to a marketplace
⚠️ NEVER share your seed phrase. Anyone who asks is a scammer.
4. Where to Buy/Sell
| Marketplace | Chains | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| OpenSea | Ethereum, Polygon, Base | Largest, easiest |
| Magic Eden | Solana, Ethereum | Best for Solana |
| Blur | Ethereum | Pro trading, analytics |
| Tensor | Solana | Advanced trading |
5. Key Terms
- Floor — lowest price in a collection
- Floor sweep — buying all lowest-priced items
- Mint — when a project first releases, usually cheap
- GM — "good morning" (crypto greeting)
- WAGMI — "we're all going to make it"
- GM — "good morning"
- Serum — in BAYC: creates Mutant Apes
- Royalty — creators earn % on secondary sales
- Gas — transaction fee on Ethereum
- Gas war — when everyone bids up fees to get in fast
- Whale — big collector with lots of ETH/NFTs
- rug pull — scam where devs abandon project
6. Avoiding Scams
- Never share seed phrase — EVER
- Check URLs carefully — scam sites look real (opensea.fake.com)
- Verify contracts — don't click random links in Discord/Twitter
- Use hardware wallet for big holdings (Ledger, Trezor)
- Free mints — usually scams, especially "airdrops"
- DM scams — anyone DMing you first is usually scamming
7. Start Small
Don't rush to buy expensive NFTs. Here's a suggested path:
- Set up wallet, get small amount of ETH (~$50-100)
- Browse OpenSea/Magic Eden, see what's out there
- Follow projects on Twitter, join Discords (lurk)
- Mint a cheap new project ($10-50) to learn the flow
- Only buy "blue chips" when you understand the market
❓ Questions?
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