Many people dream of claiming valuable rare items for free. NFTs are often traded for high prices on cryptocurrency exchanges, but is it possible to find them for free?
Free NFTs do exist — some even have the potential to make their owners rich. It’s still early days in the game and most digital assets won’t gain much value in the near future, but a few solid strategies can help you claim valuable NFTs today.
Learning how to find valuable assets for free is a good way to learn about how the market works. It’s also a great way to find assets to hold as some may turn into high-value investments.
Table of Contents
What Are NFTs?
NFTs are digital assets such as art, music, and virtual real estate, that are unique, non-fungible, and have their own blockchain address. Because every NFT is unique, it cannot be copied or cloned making forgery impossible. This process creates a committed relationship between a work of art, its owner, and the global community.
NFTs can be traded and sold on the secondary market in much the same way as a share or security, without the need for an intermediary.
By implementing a system of NFTs, blockchain removes the physical barriers to access tokens. This also allows for an intermediary-free market, making digital assets more affordable and accessible. NFTs have the power to streamline the entire digital market, making the system more transparent and ultimately fairer.
How Do NFTs Work?
Non-fungible token (NFT) is an important trend in blockchain technology. NFTs are special because each token is unique and unforgeable. They can represent anything from creative artwork to crypto kitties.
By contrast, fungible tokens like ether or bitcoin are identical and interchangeable, meaning that one unit is exactly the same as the next. Unlike fungibles, each NFT token possesses a certain utility.
NFTs take time and effort to create, but they have a huge potential of becoming lucrative investments. In order to turn your NFT into an investment that can be sold for thousands of dollars, you have to build a huge audience and gain demand for it.
Remember, anything can become an NFT – a digital painting, a selfie, or even a music track you recorded yourself.
One of the most exciting features is the royalty feature embedded in every smart contract. While digital works of art may never be as valuable as their physical counterparts, the ability to earn royalties is a unique quality they possess that physical art doesn’t.
This means that if you create or acquire artwork or NFT today, you can lock it up and profit from it tomorrow. Most NFTs include royalty terms in their smart contracts, ensuring that you’ll always get your share of the pie.
Creating NFTs
In order for your work to be verified as an NFT, it must go through the process of minting.
Minting is how NFTs become tied into a blockchain and their ownership is given an identifier. It’s a process that’s decentralized and unregulated — meaning that your tokens are more likely not to be held by anyone but you. This means that they’re only protected by your own security measures.
Transactions on the Ethereum blockchain are always subject to gas fees. If a smart contract transaction costs less on a low-fee blockchain, it’s because the cost of gas is simply folded into the transaction fee. In any case, the cost of gas needs to be factored in when buying or selling non-fungible tokens — so shoppers make sure to check the price before hitting “buy!
NFT Marketplaces
NFT marketplaces allow digital collectors to collect digital tokens that represent unique, tangible, and intangible items. By trading these collectibles on the blockchain, where they are stored in a secure and indelible fashion, customers can create their own economy — using cryptocurrency to purchase items they really want.
In an NFT marketplace, creating NFTs is usually not a costly endeavor. You can create an NFT for free by using a ‘ lazy minting ‘ system. Except for those NFTs that have not been minted yet, the marketplace is storing them off of the blockchain, which means that eventually, you will have to pay for the mint.
Although an NFT marketplace is primarily used to buy or create NFTs, it can be used for research as well. You can search NFT trends and see what a popular NFT collection is like to decide if a Free NFT is worth the decision.
Cost of NFTs
NFTs are minted on different blockchains, and most of them can be bought or sold for different prices. Most commonly, the rarest NFTs tend to fetch the highest price, but there’s no guarantee that all valuable NFTs will be exclusive or scarce. This is because a range of parameters affects an NFTs value, including project quality, data size, transaction speed, and gas fee.
An NFT can come in many forms, with a number of different value propositions. Some projects offer free tokens to those that help the network grow by contributing in meaningful ways. Other projects are more focused on gaining adoption and outright demand for their new token.
The popularity of NFTs is still growing and it’s not just the most expensive assets that hold their value. Despite the hype around high-ticket NFTs, lower-value or even free NFTs can make up a significant part of your collection.
How to Purchase an NFT
In respect to contrast, before diving into how to obtain an NFT for free it is imperative to understand the nature of purchasing your own NFT.
- Purchase Ethereum on a crypto exchange such as Coinbase.
- Transfer your crypto to a crypto wallet. Not all crypto exchanges have in-built wallets. Some offer wallet features when you open an account, but others like MetaMask offer alternatives.
- Connect your wallet to an NFT marketplace. Once connected, you can start browsing the marketplace’s NFT collection and make a purchase.
Storing NFTs
Using a secure wallet for your NFTs is essential, whether they were free or purchased. As NFTs are digital assets that hold value and could also be used as an investment or collection, your security needs to be top-notch.
There are three methods of NFT storage for you to choose from. Each one offers different levels of security, so here’s what you need to know before making a decision.
Software Wallets
A software wallet is an easy-to-use, browser-based application that crypto users can use to store their NFTs. You’ll need to create a username and password to access your wallet, which can be accessed via the internet.
Software wallets do not have the option to send, receive or trade crypto tokens. Instead, they are used as a place to securely store your NFTs while they are not in use.
InterPlanetary File System
An IPFS provides you with one of the most secure methods of storing NFTs. While they are mainly off-chain, they do have some elements on-chain— meaning that hackers aren’t able to access your assets without having your unique content identifiers (CIDs).
To make recovering lost NFTs easier, you can use a smart contract to load the CIDs onto your computer.
Cold Storage Hardware Wallet
With their complex security features and easy-to-use interfaces, hardware wallets are the best way to store your NFTs. They are portable, which means you can carry them with you wherever you go. Furthermore, each hardware wallet is encrypted with a different set of data every time it’s used, making theft extremely difficult.
Getting Free NFTs
There are many ways to get free tokens, but they’re often used as a marketing tactic employed by new projects trying to draw in users. The best way to find free tokens is by browsing the marketplaces and social media platforms that popular projects use.
Free NFTs Through Play-to-Earn Games
Play-to-earn games, which reward users with crypto for completing specific tasks or beating opponents, are a worthwhile investment. Non-fungible tokens can be costly upfront, but the ability to earn free tokens or crypto through gameplay makes it a worthwhile venture.
NFT games are decentralized and do not adhere to the rules of major game platforms. As a result, they offer a unique experience that creates a community around a game’s storyline and objectives. Users can earn in-game tokens by completing tasks or defeating opponents — the transition from fantasy sports to crypto is quickly becoming tangible. One of the best NFT games on the market is Sorare, which combines fantasy soccer with Ethereum-based rewards.
Make Your Own NFT
Although you can create your own NFT on a blockchain, it doesn’t automatically have value. The value of a non-fungible token is entirely subjective since it’s not backed by anything material but rather a series of transactions. However, some benefits are proof of ownership and community perks. If you purchase an NFT from an individual, you can be sure that it has the entire transaction history, making ownership completely transparent.
NFT Airdrops
Projects launch free NFT mints or drops to create a buzz around their projects. The strategy is often an easy way to distribute low-cost tokens while building an audience and kickstarting a token economy. The easiest way to get your hands on these free tokens is by searching for an upcoming airdrop on an NFT platform.
Finding free NFT drops often begins with a simple search. Start by searching for the NFT drop and signing up. You’ll receive an account token. Enjin is one of the most popular blockchain platforms that distribute random NFT airdrops to users. Some free mint projects will also create free tokens or “Free Mints” for project promotion purposes. These may give someone free cash to use the NFT with no fee attached.
There are plenty of ways to get access to airdrops and get free NFTs, but all airdrops come under these three types:-
Standard Airdrop:
Here, a certain amount of cryptocurrencies are sent to your wallet for an exchange of social media promotion or with a purchase of NFTs. With these airdrops, you’re most likely to know it’s an airdrop and can always choose to follow their instructions to get free limited edition NFTs. The only issue is sometimes after following through and meeting the requirements, that’s when the disappointment sets in when you realize it’s a scam airdrop and they’ve already taken the crypto from you
Exclusive Airdrop:
Exclusive airdrops are an extremely effective marketing tactic that allows users to earn free NFTs by being active community members. Exclusive airdrops are great for consumer engagement, as well.
NFT airdrop:
The Bored Ape Yacht Club has an established reputation for creating hype with airdrops. Recently, holders were airdropped variations of Mutant Serum NFTs. While this might be the first use of airdrops in the NFT ecosystem, it is sure to set a precedent for other projects.
NFT Giveaways
NFT giveaways attempt to get users to engage with influencers. Projects will announce free NFT giveaways via airdrop or Twitter, but sometimes these contests can be run via their Discord community or another forum. Users have to follow or subscribe in order to take part, and winners can be chosen through either social media or e-mail. One downside is that malicious people can use the giveaway as bait to gain following or followers without actually providing a valuable service or product.
Twitter Giveaways
To find NFT giveaways on Twitter, start by searching for relevant hashtags or terms. Many projects announce their giveaways there — although some use fake giveaways to gain engagement, so make sure the account and project are legitimate before participating.
Discord Giveaways
Discord is a very active platform where projects give away NFTs from other projects as a form of support. By doing this, the project shows its allegiance to an open value exchange and open networks that the blockchain ecosystem is built on.
Projects often reward their Discord communities by giving away NFTs from other projects as a form of support.
What To Watch Out For
There are scams in every industry. Unfortunately, some of these scams are present within the blockchain and cryptocurrency space enticing crypto enthusiasts by impersonating popular NFT projects.
Scammers often offer free NFTs, whitelist opportunities, and other giveaway avenues using direct messaging on social platforms to gain access to your private keys.
Best practice to avoid scams – DYOR, do your own research.
Ways to protect yourself from scams
- Turn off direct messages from non-contacts on social platforms (e.g. Discord, Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc).
- Never give out your wallet’s seed phrase or private key.
- Always check for the legitimacy of the crypto project and URL. Research as much information as possible about the creators and the intentions of the project.
- Don’t connect your wallet to suspicious sites.
- Set up a fresh wallet if you suspect that your existing wallet may be compromised.
Getting Free NFTs: Best Practices
As NFTs become more and more advanced, new kinds of assets and games are entering the space. In order to navigate this evolving market, you’ll need to know how to choose the right tokens. Look for projects that show an understanding of their audience and community, a clear roadmap, and a portfolio of partners along with existing customers. All of these factors point to healthy communities and sustainable growth that you can benefit from in the long term.
Finding a free NFT that isn’t already oversupplied is actually quite easy — all you have to do is research thoroughly. To do this, check out the project’s timeline and growth plan on their blog. It’s important to touch base with the people behind projects, as they’re the ones who truly understand the vision of the NFT.
