Non-fungible tokens are not merely a string of numbers. They are backed by smart contracts, which are essentially a sort of digital self-executing contract.
If you have a non-fungible token that has no market value or is otherwise useless to you, you can delete it.
If you are a beginner with limited knowledge and just learning the ropes of NFTs in the digital world or maybe you’re looking to shape up and delete some of your unused non-fungible tokens, or you possibly got stuck with a flopped project and want to start fresh then you have the option to delete your NFT.
In this article, we will discuss deleting NFTs, why it’s necessary, and essentially what it consists of.
Table of Contents
What Gives An NFT Value?
NFTs can be quite valuable, depending on a few key factors. The first is supply and demand – without demand, it’s fairly difficult to find someone to purchase an NFT – how many units are available, and how much the community wants or needs them.
The second is novelty – if something is new and exciting, people will want to get their hands on it.
And finally, provenance is important. It’s easy to tell a fake painting when experts can track the history of the original across multiple owners.
With blockchain technology, physical items can have the same kind of history, making it easier to track ownership and price.
Purchasing an NFT
NFTs are becoming more and more popular, with more people buying them than minting them. To purchase an NFT, you need to find an exchange platform that supports the cryptocurrency you want to use, and then find the NFT you want to buy.
Once you’ve found both of those, you can pay for the NFT and it will be transferred to you. These transactions usually take place on the Ethereum blockchain, but other cryptocurrencies can also be used. Once you have your NFT, it is stored on the blockchain in a way that makes it secure and easy to verify that you are its owner. From there, you can sell it to someone else if you want.
Minting an NFT
Minting an NFT and purchasing an NFT are two different things. When you mint an NFT, you’re taking a digital file and turning it into a digital asset.
This is done by putting it on the Ethereum blockchain. Once it’s been minted, the newly created NFT is stored on a decentralized network or distributed ledger. From there, it can be modified or erased.
Why Would You Delete an NFT?
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have been gaining popularity in recent years as a way to represent unique digital assets. However, there are several reasons why someone might want to delete an NFT.
First and foremost, NFTs are often stored on a blockchain. As such, any transaction history associated with the NFT can be viewed by anyone — this may not be suitable for sensitive or personal information.
Furthermore, NFTs are usually irrevocable – once they are created, they cannot be modified or deleted. This means that if you make a mistake when creating an NFT, or if the asset it represents changes over time, you will not be able to change the NFT to reflect this.
Finally, NFTs can be expensive to create and maintain.
What is Burning an NFT?
The blockchain is an immutable public ledger for every transaction that has ever occurred but can be amended by the consensus of the community. In addition to recording cryptocurrency transactions, it can also store information about files and identities.
If you don’t like what’s on the blockchain, you can burn your NFT to a burn address —, a trash can on the blockchain — effectively deleting it forever.
The “trash” does not actually get deleted, but the NFTs are essentially removed from circulation. In this situation, collectors can only check the burn address to discover if an NFT exists there.
Ethereum Burn Address
When you acquire an NFT, you’re just borrowing it from the contract until you decide to send it to the burn address. A transaction sending an NFT to the burn address works the same as a transaction sending them to another address, except that the contract’s address gets burned into the transaction data.
NFTs can be permanently erased from your system by sending them to an Ethereum burn address. Once you’ve decided to send an NFT to the burn address, double-check the address to make sure you’re sending it to the correct place. Then just sit back and watch your NFT disappear into the black hole.
Can you Delete NFTs From Blockchain?
While it is true that blockchain transactions are irreversible and unchangeable, it is possible to remove or “burn” NFTs. The act of burning an NFT often involves sending the token to a dead address (or even multiple dead addresses) in the cryptocurrency’s blockchain — essentially making the token virtually unusable. It also functions as a universal trash can and is generally seen as the equivalent of the removal of an NFT.
How Do I Burn An NFT?
It is not possible to delete an NFT once it is minted on the blockchain they are a permanent part of it, etched into the ethereal ledger. However, if you store your NFT in an inaccessible address, they will not show up on marketplaces and will be unavailable for trading.
To burn an NFT, input its wallet address into a black hole wallet address (e.g. 0x000…). This wallet is a smart contract that does not permit any transactions to take place. When the NFT reaches the black hole wallet, it will be removed from the Ethereum blockchain permanently.
Steps to burning your NFT:
-Log in to the marketplace where you originally minted your NFT.
-Once you’re logged in, locate the NFT you want to burn and select the settings option.
-From there, choose the option to burn NFT.
-In some cases, you may need to navigate to your contract first and click on “write contract.”
-Once you’re there, look for the burn function and enter your tokenId.
-After that, click write and you’re all set!
How To Delete An NFT On OpenSea
If you created a non-fungible token on OpenSea, it can be deleted for free by going to its edit page and deleting it there. If the NFT was minted elsewhere, the only way to delete it via OpenSea is to burn it.
Use OpenSea’s Delete Feature
If you’re looking to delete an NFT that you created on OpenSea, the process is quite simple. The only caveat is that you must still be the owner of the NFT to delete it. If that’s the case, simply follow these simple steps to delete your NFT.
-Identify the NFT inside your OpenSea profile.
-Click the 3 little dots next to it and select “Edit”.
-Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Delete item” button.
-Confirm that you want to delete NFT and it should be successfully deleted.
There are many benefits to this method, but the most notable is that it’s free of charge. You won’t have to pay any OpenSea gas fees when using this method.
Delete an NFT Collection on OpenSea
Creating a new collection on OpenSea can be a thrilling experience! However, there might be times when you want to delete the NFT collection for one reason or another.
You can delete an entire NFT collection as long as you are still the owner of all of the NFTs inside the collection.
-Go to your NFT collections in your Opensea account
-Edit the collection you wish to delete.
-Click on “delete collection.”
-Collection deleted!
Why can’t I delete an NFT collection on OpenSea?
If you are having trouble deleting an NFT collection from OpenSea, it may be for one of two reasons. Reason 1 – You may not have any of the NFTs in the collection. This would prevent you from being able to remove the collection from OpenSea. You must own an NFT and be the primary creator to burn it; once a creator has sold their digital asset, they can no longer burn the creation.
Reason 2 – The assets in the collection may no longer be valid and require restoration or maintenance. If this is the case, you will need to try again at a later time. Site conditions can be checked on the OpenSea website.
The Cost To Burn An NFT
NFTs can be burned by sending them to the Ethereum address 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 but, there is a cost associated with doing so. This cost is called a gas fee, and it is paid to cover the amount of energy needed to process the transaction.
The gas fee will depend on factors such as the time of day and the number of NFTs being burned. On average, burning an NFT could cost anywhere from $3 to $80. Keep in mind that if you don’t have enough funds to cover the gas fee, your transaction will not be approved.
Can You Recover a Destroyed NFT?
NFTs can be unintentionally burned, as there have been reports of people who accidentally sent their NFT to a black hole address. While it is possible that the founders of a blockchain could access these black hole addresses, there is no confirmed retrieval of any burnt NFTs or tokens. This would not only damage the integrity of the blockchain but also release a large number of tokens into an uncertain market. As such, a burnt NFT is likely permanent.
To Conclude
You cannot “delete” an NFT from the blockchain — it would still exist. However, you can effectively remove it from circulation by “burning” it. While the NFT will still exist on the blockchain, there will be no way of accessing it and therefore it is considered “burned” or removed from circulation.
There are a variety of reasons someone would need to delete NFTs with the most common reason being to manage the value of the asset. By reducing the supply of an NFT, the price is driven up, enticing traders and investors to participate with urgency. Others may burn NFTs because there is an error or flaw with the token, or because too many were minted.
Whatever the reason you find yourself needing to delete your NFT or NFT collection, rest assured it is possible through the process of burning however, the NFT can never be created again.
People often wonder if they can ever get their tokens back after burning them. The good news is that it is technically possible to burn the tokens, but you won’t be getting them back in usable form because any minted NFT can always be burned and destroyed but, there is no way for users to ever get them back if everything goes according to plan.
