SPL20 SOLANA NFT

I’m sure you’ve seen SPL20s everywhere. Yes, those NFT pulling in millions of dollars in volume. Want to know what they are and why they’ve blown up so fast? No worries. I’ll walk you through everything you need to know in this post.

If you prefer the video version:

WHAT IS AN SPL20 SOLANA?

SPL20 is the name used for inscriptions on Solana. It is the same concept as NFT Inscriptions on Bitcoin, applied to the Solana Blockchain. The only difference is that inscriptions on Solana are tied to a NFT.

In other words, SPL20s store their image directly on the Solana Blockchain, instead of using an external service like the NFT we already know on Solana. This gives each image a unique address.

This concept was developed by LibrePlex, a group of independent contributors in the Solana ecosystem. Their argument is that SPL20 NFT deliver a more interactive experience, and they also use a zero-fee minting policy.

We can use their website to create our own SPL20s. We will cover how to do it later in this post.

You should also keep in mind that you can sell your own inscription “Slot” cheaply if your NFT is mutable and you can transfer its authority.

HOW TO BUY SPL20 SOLANA

The key thing to understand is that each inscription is tied to a NFT. That means they can be bought and sold like any other NFT on Solana. You can do it directly on Tensor or Magic Eden.

Of course, they are also minted like regular NFTs. Once minted, the collection authority can inscribe them and turn them into SPL20s.

It is worth stressing that what gives SPL20s value in many cases is how early they were inscribed. In other words, the lower the inscription number, the better. That is what has driven the FOMO since launch.

A few collections have built serious hype and stood out from the rest: Sols, FU, Lamp, and Blockrons (the first SPL20 NFT collection).

Now that you know how to buy them, let’s walk through How to Create SPL20 NFT on Solana.

CREATE SPL20 NFT ON SOLANA

Now that we have covered the core concepts behind SPL20s, let’s go through how you can create your own SPL20 NFTs.

Keep in mind that you can only inscribe NFTs you have authority over, meaning NFTs you created yourself.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO CREATE AN SPL20 NFT

The costs of creating SPL20 NFTs vary. They depend on how much space you plan to use on the Blockchain.

A reasonable estimate is 0.07 SOL per kb.

HOW TO CREATE AN SPL20 NFT ON SOLANA

Let’s get straight into the step-by-step process for creating an SPL20 NFT on Solana.

1. CREATE A NFT ON SOLANA

If you want to create a full collection, you can use LaunchmyNFT or hire Developers like SolKing.tech. For this tutorial, we’ll create a single NFT using this tool (https://sol-tools.tonyboyle.io/nft-tools/create-nft).

To use this tool, connect your wallet and fill in the required fields.

Enter all the details and sign the required transactions to receive your NFT in your wallet.

2. INSCRIBE NFT AS SPL20

Once your NFT is ready, you can move straight to the on-chain inscription. For this, we’ll use Libreplex.io. Other options, like solscribe.io, are available too.

Once you’re on Libreplex, click inscriptions and connect your wallet. Scroll down and you’ll see 3 buttons. Click “view your wallet” and you’ll see your NFT list.

On the right side of each NFT, you’ll see whether you have authority or not. For the ones where you do have authority, you can create your SPL20 inscription.

Click “Create Inscription” to start the process. A pop-up will appear, so click “Initialise“.

Next, select the image you want to inscribe on-chain. Click “Resize” and confirm the transaction.

Finish the process by clicking “Inscribe now” and confirming the transaction.

You will see the link to your inscription in the LibrePlex scanner: https://www.libreplex.io/scanner?mintId=6oQjAmXdwmSAsMpCKAJHBCAow6ZSXiaM6QNzcafyrThk&env=mainnet-beta

We can choose whether to make our inscription immutable. By default, it will be created as mutable.

SPL20 CONCLUSION

SPL20s are here to stay. Decentralization is the base of blockchain, and inscriptions give us the best way to keep our NFT fully on-chain.

We will see what challenges SPL20s need to solve to become as efficient as “traditional” NFT on Solana.

What do you think? Do you believe SPL20s are the future of Solana?