Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs and the onchain frontier
Dear Bankless Nation,
The best way to release an NFT right now?
In my opinion, it’s through Farcaster Frames.
In combo with apps like Warpcast and Zora, a Frame lets you drop an NFT that people can collect for free, with no wallet transactions, in just one click.
Making it so easy to collect makes it so easy to reach more collectors. If you’re interested in taking this flow for a spin yourself, I’ve prepped a walkthrough to show you how to get started 👇
-WMP
🏴 Thanks to Mantle 🏴
👉 Visit mantle.xyz to learn more ✨
How to Release a Free NFT with Farcaster Frames
Start with Zora
A variety of apps already support Farcaster Frames, and Zora, a popular NFT creator suite, is one of them. Zora makes it easy to release an NFT and distribute it via a Frames mint, so I’ll use it for this post’s walkthrough demonstration to show you the gist of what’s possible.
Another reason why I like using Zora as an example here is that it gives you lots of options. It supports a range of chains (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Blast, Optimism, and Zora Network currently), free NFT creation (on Base and Zora Network currently), and login via email so you don’t even need a wallet to get started.
If you’re ready to dive in, head over to zora.co and login or create and verify an account if you haven’t already.
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Prep your collection
Once you’re signed in on Zora, press the + sign in the upper right side of the page next to your profile button. Doing this will bring you to Zora’s Create interface.
If you haven’t created your own NFT on Zora before, you will first need to create a collection to drop an NFT (and, if you’re making a series, possibly future NFTs) into.
You can do this straight from the Create UI by pressing the “Create Collection” option under the “Collection” tab. This will bring up a page where you can input your main collection details and select which network you want to mint on, like so:
Of course, if you already have an existing collection you want to mint into, just select it from the “Collection” dropdown menu here. For my demo today, I’ll be creating a new NFT for my collection of AI sketches, Stable Peasters, so I’ll click that to proceed.
Upload your NFT media
With your collection ready to go, you’ll now be able to prep your media and NFT details.
You can click the “Try Canvas” button in the “Upload imagination” UI to make and remix a new piece straight from scratch, or just click on “Upload imagination” to upload your desired media file. Note, there is a 2GB size limit, though a variety of files—from audio to PDFs—are supported.
Once you’ve got your media in, press the “View advanced options” button underneath the “Create” tab to further customize your NFT’s details, like its description, mint start time, edition size, and more.
Once everything’s set up how you like, press the “Create” button at the bottom of the page, after which you’ll be prompted to sign a transaction to finish up the creation process.
Set up a boosted mint for Farcaster
Now that you have an NFT set up, you can prep it for free, one-click mints through a Farcaster Frames drop where you front the ETH to cover your collectors’ mints. To get started here, click on the “Dashboard” button in your profile dropdown menu on Zora, or simply head to zora.co/manage if you’re already signed in.
At this point, select your target collection (“Stable Peasters” in my case), and then select your newly created NFT. In your NFT’s manager dashboard, click on the “Boost” tab so that the “Deploy Booster” option comes up. Click on this button, which will prompt you to sign a small transaction with your wallet.
With that transaction out of the way, you’ll be offered a “Grant Permission” option to set up your boosted mint system. Complete the ensuing transaction to proceed.
Finally, you’ll be ready to add some ETH to your booster.
For example, as you can see below, depositing 0.021 ETH right now will cover the first ~50 mints, meaning when I share my NFT via Farcaster Frame the first ~50 minters will be able to collect completely for free. This is a great avenue to consider if you want to get your NFT into the hands of many collectors as frictionlessly as possible.
That said, input the amount of ETH you want to cover gas for here, then press “Send” and complete the deposit transaction with your wallet. Later, if it turns out that not all of your ETH gets used, you can use the “Withdraw” button to sweep back the remaining balance to your wallet.
Making your Farcaster Frame
Once your mint booster is primed, you’ll see a “Cast your frame” button under the “Boost” tab of your NFT’s manager dashboard.
Now, assuming that you already have a Warpcast account (the most popular Farcaster app), clicking on the “Cast your frame” option will instantly link you to the Warpcast cast UI where your NFT mint will automatically be prepped as a Frame. Just complete your post with any context you want to add, tag your desired channel (I picked my /metaversal channel) then press “Cast” to publish your Frame like so:
Here, note that this particular Frame functionality turns your NFT link into an interactive mint app, through which collectors can simply tap your cast’s “Mint” button to collect for free and without having to sign a wallet transaction.
In contrast, if I posted this NFT link on, say, Twitter, it would just be a standard link that people would have to click on to leave Twitter, go to Zora, sign in, then pay for gas by signing a wallet transaction. The NFT drop via boosted Frame method lets you cut out all these extra steps and offer a frictionless collection experience right within people’s Warpcast feeds, which is powerful!
The big picture
Whether you want to release your own art or create a new token-gated community, an NFT dropped via Farcaster Frames is one of the most compelling distribution avenues available to you right now.
Not only are Farcaster apps like Warpcast teeming with the most hardcore crypto-natives, i.e. the people most inclined to be your early supporters, but flattening down the collecting process to literally just one click is a UX game changer for collectors. The more steps you remove from the process, the more likely people will be to collect. No one wants to jump through a bunch of hoops for anything!
Also, mind you that a boosted NFT mint isn’t the only Frames use case, and Zora isn’t the only minting platform that’s integrated with Frames. The Zora + Warpcast combo is just a great early example of how slick Frames can be for NFT creatives, so don’t sleep on it!
Action steps:
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📱 See the demo mint: 103 on Warpcast
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🔍 Play catch up: An Intro to Farcaster Frames
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🤖 Read my previous write-up: Parallel Colony Updates
Author bio
William M. Peaster, Senior Writer, has been with Bankless since January 2021. Immersed in Ethereum since 2017, he writes the Metaversal newsletter on the onchain frontier, covering everything from AI projects to crypto games, as the team’s lead NFT analyst. With a background in creative writing, he writes fiction and publishes art on Ethereum in his free time. He lives in Washington.
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Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.