Minting
The act of creating a new token or NFT and writing it onto a blockchain for the first time.
Minting is the moment a token comes into existence on-chain. For an NFT, a buyer calls a contract, pays a price plus gas, and receives a fresh token in their wallet. For a fungible coin, minting increases supply.
The economics matter. Many NFT projects sell out their mint to fund the team, then items trade on a secondary market. Whoever controls the mint function controls supply, so an uncapped or hidden mint is a red flag.
Minting is the opposite of burning, which permanently removes tokens from circulation.
Related terms
A blockchain token that represents ownership of a unique item, where no two units are interchangeable.
BurnPermanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an address no one can spend from, shrinking supply.
Floor PriceThe lowest price at which any item in an NFT collection is currently listed for sale.
ERC-721The Ethereum standard for non-fungible tokens, giving each one a unique identifier so no two are alike.