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Pros and cons of Mintbase
Pros
Cheap minting. Minting with NEAR blockchain on Mintbase is significantly cheaper than minting on Ethereum. But you can still choose to mint on ETH.
NFT store creation. Mintbase serves as your "base" for your own NFT store, and you can list your digital assets on the platform itself or other NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea.
Adaptable platform. Mintbase was originally on Ethereum, but switched to NEAR so its users could save money when minting, if they choose.
Educational materials galore. The platform has many resources to help you get acquainted with the platform, with comprehensive docs on royalties, smart contracts, creating a store and more.
Cons
More for creators. Mintbase is more suited for creators looking to sell their creations on the platform or outside markets.
Not the spot for rare NFT drops. If you're on the hunt for rare NFT drops, look elsewhere. Most NFTs for sale on Mintbase are smaller creators looking for help deploying smart contracts and setting up collections.
Mintbase says that it's not "just another NFT marketplace" — and there's some truth in that. Mintbase can serve as your base for your own custom NFT e-commerce platform, known as its Store Factory.
Our take on Mintbase
Mintbase aims to provide anyone with the ability to create and sell NFTs even if they don't have the technical skill to do so.
Mintbase is a blockchain-based platform that allows anyone to create their own NFT store. Once you create a store, you can mint, then sell or auction your creations on the platform itself or on third-party marketplaces.
Image source: Mintbase
Each store is a smart contract that you can deploy with a few clicks, and Mintbase offers many customization options for your NFTs.
For example, you can choose your own royalty percentages. Additionally, all metadata may be attached to the NFT, such as a website, date or location. If none of this kind of metadata suits your needs for your NFT, you have the ability to create custom metadata as "key value pairs."
If you're a brand-new NFT artist, then Mintbase may be a great fit for you. Mintbase has loads of educational content to help get you acclimated with NFTs and smart contracts, minting is cheap with NEAR, and you can sell your NFTs on outside marketplaces.
If you're a blue-chip collector or rare NFT chaser, visiting marketplaces such as Nifty Gateway or Foundation might be closer to what you're looking for.
About Mintbase
Mintbase was first launched on Ethereum, but rising gas fees made minting and purchasing expensive for the average user. The launch and integration of NEAR allows the process of creating a store and populating it with your NFTs much more accessible to creators.
After minting NFTs, they can be listed for sale on third-party NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, or within their own store on Mintbase. It calls itself the "Shopify of NFTs" due to the ease of creating and selling items.
Image source: Mintbase
Nate Geier and Caroline Wend are the cofounders of Mintbase. Geier is the current CEO, and Wend is the current chief of staff. Both have impressive backgrounds, largely focused on research and development, technology, online platforms and content creation.
The platform was founded in 2019, and is based out of Berlin, Germany.
Mintbase blockchain and currency
Mintbase runs on both the Ethereum blockchain and the NEAR protocol. The NEAR token serves as a unit of value on the NEAR network, and the same goes for ETH on Ethereum.
Mintbase is compatible with both blockchains, but not simultaneously. So if you choose to use eth.Mintbase.io, then you'll pay fees in ETH. If you choose to use mintbase.io, then you'll pay fees in NEAR.
If you choose the NEAR Mainnet, you'll need a NEAR Wallet or a NEAR-compatible wallet, which you can create on Mintbase.
At this time, there's no interoperability between NEAR and ETH on the platform.
Priorities security with a $750 million insurance fund
User-friendly user interface
Long list of features such as lending, borrowing, staking and crypto debit cards
Poorly rated customer service
Certain cryptocurrency support is geographically restricted
High withdrawal fees
Crypto.com supports a wide range of cryptocurrencies and features. Its user-friendly interface makes it a good choice for both inexperienced and experienced users.
Fees for trading are competitive, though can be high when withdrawing to an external wallet from the exchange.
There is a detailed knowledge base available on how features work, as well as Crypto.com university that teaches about various assets.
The company prioritizes security, marketing and design, but reviews suggest that customer service is lacking.
Deposit Methods
Bank transfer Credit card Cryptocurrency Debit card PayPal Wire transfer Apple Pay Google Pay SWIFT
Deposit Fees
None
Withdrawal Fees
Cryptocurrency: Fees vary
Trading Fees
Maker - 0-0.075% Taker - 0.05-0.075%
What types of NFTs are available on Mintbase?
Mint a vast range of assets, including: files, music, event tickets, art, pictures and much more.
When shopping on the Mintbase marketplace, sort listings by Latest Listings, Latest Stores, or Active Auctions. We appreciate the Latest Stores options, since it can give brand new creators quick and easy exposure on the platform.
Or, search for individual NFTs, for specific storefronts or by username.
In terms of token standards, NEP-171 is the token standard for NEAR. It's essentially the equivalent of ERC-721 on Ethereum. The ERC-721 token is one of the most common tokens you'll find when collecting or creating NFTs, since it allows creators to add things like smart contracts for royalty purposes, transfers and ownership verification.
How to buy NFTs on Mintbase
To buy NFTs on Mintbase, select Marketplace on the homepage. You change the blockchain you want to shop from using the dropdown menu on the top-right corner — right next to the Connect Wallet button.
Image source: Mintbase
Many of the NFTs for sale on Mintbase are listed for NEAR, which you can purchase on many cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, FTX, OKX, Huobi Global and Crypto.com.
To connect your wallet to Mintbase for purchases, select the Connect Wallet button to either create a NEAR Wallet, or import an existing account. Or, secure your account with a Ledger Hardware Wallet.
Once you're all connected, begin shopping on the network of your choosing. Sales are pretty straightforward: shop on live auctions or buy "simple sale" NFTs, which is Mintbase's wording for a fixed-price sale.
Gas fees apply on the platform, and the currency you need for fees and purchases depends on the network you're shopping on.
Image source: Mintbase
How to sell NFTs on Mintbase
In Mintbase, a store is a smart contract that is like your own company. A store allows you to mint NFTs, sell or auction them, or even burn them should you choose to do so.
To create a store, follow these steps:
Login or sign up. You must create an account and connect your crypto wallet. You can use NEAR Wallet, MetaMask, Trust Wallet plus a few others. Or, create a NEAR Wallet on the platform.
Create a store. Select the option Create Store, and then name your store. Then, hit Create Contract. Create several stores if you want.
Transaction time. There's a gas fee for creating a store, so you'll need the native currency of the network you want your store on (ETH or NEAR).
With a store, you can mint your own NFTs to list for sale. Choose to sell with a fixed price — called a simple sale — or set up an auction. Within the auction, you have the ability to accept or reject the bids the NFT gets.
List your minted NFTs on third-party marketplaces, as long as it accepts the token standard you chose. You can even send out a link of the posting to social media platforms.
When an NFT is sold, Mintbase charges a fee of 2.5% when you sell an NFT from your store. All other royalties you may have set up are distributed automatically to their respective accounts.
Mintbase fees
Marketplace fee
Mintbase takes 2.5% on every sale
Creator royalties
Varies
Minting on Ethereum is much more expensive than NEAR for a number of reasons. The predominant reason is that Ethereum has more users interacting with the platform, driving up demand for block space, and thus the fee to have your transaction included in a block.
A single transaction on Ethereum can cost up to $100 or more. By contrast, minting up to 10 NFTs on NEAR can cost only $0.01. Mintbase developers have advised users against minting on Ethereum for that reason.
Mintbase unique features
If you make a store on Mintbase, you're automatically given your own virtual metaverse gallery, in collaboration with 3XR.
A 3XR space is automatically generated and filled with your store's NFTs. Select a template for your gallery, customize the information and even mint the space as an NFT with the help of the CreateThing feature, according to a Mintbase blog post.
With the CreateThing feature, you can also "create gated spaces and limit access to specific custom spaces" — basically requiring guests to have a token (like a ticket) to enter the gated space.
And you can use CreateThing to generate galleries with NFTs that you don't own. This is largely allowed because the 3XR team sees the model like Spotify, allowing users to create galleries out of NFTs they don't own still generates attention for a project. It's more about exposure than profit at this point in time.
Image source: Medium, Mintbase
Is Mintbase legit?
Mintbase is a legit NFT marketplace, but it's more like a platform for artists to list their NFTs for sale than a traditional "market." Sure, there are NFTs for sale, but it's largely targeting creators instead of collectors.
In terms of security, there's no evidence that Mintbase has experienced a hack or sitewide security breach. Mintbase's Privacy Policy even states "Remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security."
As safe as Mintbase appears, keep your wallet secure: Your digital assets' safety largely falls on you.
NFT scams are rampant in the space, and there are many types — and some scams aren't even considered illegal, just unethical. Most NFT marketplaces don't have any sort of refund policy, so if you get burned, there's often nothing a third-party marketplace can do.
To learn more about NFTs and keeping your digital items safe, read our NFT scams guide.
Other marketplaces to buy NFTs
Bottom line
Originally, the technical barrier to creating NFTs was quite high, as you needed to know about launching smart contracts. This is exactly what Mintbase and other modern NFT marketplaces want to help with to usher NFTs into the mainstream.
Overall, the customizability of Mintbase is really up to you and what you want to get out of your store. However, Mintbase is more for creators than it is for collectors — you can still shop on the platform, but it's geared toward helping creators build their own NFT stores.
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Bethany Hickey is a personal finance writer at Finder, specializing in banking, lending, insurance, and crypto.
Bethany’s expertise in personal finance has garnered recognition from esteemed media outlets, such as Nasdaq, MSN, Yahoo Finance, AOL and Newsweek. Her articles offer practical financial strategies to Americans, empowering them to make decisions that meet their financial goals. Her past work includes articles on generational spending and saving habits, lending, budgeting and managing debt.
Before joining Finder, she was a content manager where she wrote hundreds of articles and news pieces on auto financing and credit repair for CarsDirect, Auto Credit Express and The Car Connection, among others.
Bethany holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan-Flint, and was poetry editor for the university’s Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
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Image source: Mintbase
Image source: Mintbase
Image source: Mintbase
Image source: Mintbase
Image source: Medium, Mintbase
