SmartMint vs. Other NFT Tools

SmartMint — The Leading NFT Minting Platform

There are variety of tools on the market promising ease-of-use, no-code minting, and safe and secure storage. In this article, we share how SmartMint is truly differentiated from other competitors in the market such as NiftyKit and Manifold Studio.

SmartMint empowers creators without needing to know or understand much about NFTs, smart contracts, or blockchain to mint their works.

This is essential because there are various so-called no-code NFT minting platforms that include features that many creators new to the space won’t fully understand. Our objective is to make onboarding to Web3 as painless and seamless as possible. Creators should do what they do best — create — and not worry about ASCII marks, how to create un-lockable NFTs, or understand the underlying coding for NFT properties or collections.

How can we guarantee that? Well, SmartMint was developed by creators for creators and is the world’s first truly no-code NFT minting platform that provides NFT security and truly permanent decentralized storage.

So, what is SmartMint?

SmartMint is an NFT minting platform where users can easily create, manage, and mint NFTs on their own custom smart contracts. The tool also provides creators with additional peace of mind as it leverages Pastel’s infrastructure for near-duplicate NFT detection (Sense) and permanent NFT data storage (Cascade).

SmartMint enables creators to mint NFTs directly on Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Pastel, and more with a simple click of a button. Creators can launch drops on SmartMint as their backend management platform and list NFTs for sale on their own site or marketplaces like OpenSea.

SmartMint makes minting NFT drops and collections easy and more powerful than ever.

Users can seamlessly create custom NFT Drops and Collections via smart contracts deployed on a particular network like Ethereum with the automated no-code tools provided by SmartMint.

Once a creator signs up for the SmartMint membership — which is free — and connects their digital asset wallet, they will have access to tools to create and manage custom NFT drops and collections.

The platform was developed to make minting NFTs and creating drops/collections as seamless and simple as possible. The process is broken down into three straightforward steps:

1. Create a drop or collection
2. Create the Custom Smart Contract
3. Generate NFTs

From there, creators can manage existing drops, add new NFTs to existing collections, and list for sale on marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible or airdrop to fans.

Why is SmartMint the best option for creators?

Easy.

1) Ease of Use

SmartMint is extremely simple to use. It was made for new and established creators alike. Its purpose is to allow creators to mint NFTs and deploy custom smart contracts that YOU OWN.

When we say no code we mean it — no coding is required to mint your creations. Many existing “no-code” platforms — before you even can begin minting — force you to create or upload ASCII marks. While ASCII marks are cool because they are basically your digital signature for your artwork, it requires serious know-how and technical knowledge to create. Many artists have them but the only reason they do is because they either paid someone or some separate platform / website to do it.

Let’s say you figure that out or pay someone to do it, and you finally get to create your NFTs and mint. The minting process can be complicated — using a variety of jargon without explaining it or requiring a series of steps that are truly intimidating.

SmartMint was designed to be intuitive and user-friendly. All you need to do is upload your file, select a network (like Ethereum, Polygon, or Solana), type your contract name and symbol (aka your personal stock market ticker), add your NFT details, enter your collection description, and you are DONE.

2) Multi-Chain Access

The future of Web3 is multi-chain. For this ecosystem to thrive, interoperability, consolidated access, and easy-to-use platforms working across different blockchains are key. Each blockchain provides variety of different features, attributes, and strengths, so isolating them and forcing you to manually access each one is not sustainable. Moreover, it could even lead to a stagnant, idling ecosystem where networks are cannibalizing each another for share. Interoperability and comprehensive interfaces is truly the only way for Web3 to succeed.

Pastel is a firm believer in this multi-chain future, and has built its network around interoperability and seamless bridging through the development of Pastel’s own Web3 Open APIs.

So, it was only logical to incorporate that vision and technological innovation into SmartMint.

SmartMint allows you to mint NFTs on a variety of networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and more, very easily. With one click, you can mint on different chains — offering you versatility and optionality.

In this multi-chain future, having the ability to create custom smart contracts and mint NFTs on any chain AND on one simple platform will be extremely invaluable.

3) Permanent Storage, Data Security, and CopyMint Protection

Never worry about losing or someone copying your NFTs again.

You may ask, how?

Well, SmartMint was built by the developers behind Pastel Network — an app-specific, purpose-built native blockchain who brought the ecosystem Sense & Cascade. These two services are mission-critical for the ecosystem, and the team at Pastel decided to integrate them into the platform on the back end.

Pastel’s Cascade is a decentralized storage layer that brings you true NFT permanence on chain. You should never have to be concerned about pinning to IPFS, navigating the complexities of Arweave, or paying monthly hosting fees for centralized services.

Sense combats fraud and copymint issues through a revolutionary near-duplicate detection system that assesses the relative rareness of NFTs using ML algorithms. What does that mean? Your work is certified as authentic and rare.

So, not only is SmartMint easy to use and super straightforward, but it also provides the highest tier of NFT security, copymint protection, and permanent storage. And, this is all done without any coding or Web3 complexities.

The reason SmartMint has all these amazing features and guarantees ownership and security of your smart contracts and NFTs is because it is built on a native layer-1 blockchain. As mentioned above, the team behind Pastel Network built SmartMint on top of this powerful and robust network. So, all the functionality and capabilities of the network that have led to partnerships with major players in the ecosystem, including Avalanche and Polkadot, are running on SmartMint and supporting creators on every step of your NFT creation journey.

4) Creator Ownership: You created it — it should be yours.

Alright, so once you navigate the complexities of the other “no-code” platforms, you may actually find yourself in a position to mint your NFTs, which is exciting!

However, without ruining the mood too much, there is one question you should really ask yourself: when you create the smart contract for your NFTs do you own it?

With marketplaces, you do not retain ownership of the smart contracts and in the case of these tools you will more often than not have to deal with third-party smart contracts created out of your contract.

What does that mean? You do not actually own the smart contracts and thus the NFTs. It is a little crazy to think that you put all of this effort, time, and passion into creating amazing works and because you are not a developer or technical guru, you lose your right to them.

SmartMint is different. You own the smart contract. Period. AND you will always own it. Even in the very unlikely event that one day you decide to delete your SmartMint account, the smart contracts will always be yours.

5) Oh, and it’s FREE.

SmartMint membership is free. The only fee you pay is network gas to mint your NFTs.

SmartMint is a game-changer for the NFT ecosystem because of its simplicity and versatility. Start creating on SmartMint today!

Link to sign up: https://smartmint.pastel.network/signup

About Pastel Network

Pastel Network is a fully decentralized, developer-friendly layer-1 blockchain serving as the preeminent protocol standard for non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) and Web3 technology.

Pastel allows for the development of third-party decentralized-applications (“DApps”) to sit on top of its Network, enabling developers to enjoy the scalable registration features, storage processes, and security of the broader ecosystem. Lightweight protocols such as Sense — which was built to assess the relative rareness of a given NFT against near-duplicate metadata — and Cascade — which conducts permanent, distributed storage of underlying NFT data — can be integrated cross-chain across various layer-1 blockchains, layer-2 protocols, or other third-party apps.

Pastel is managed by world-class developers, cryptographers, and technologists, supported alongside an experienced and extensive network of marketers, influencers, and third-party agencies. Pastel is backed by key stakeholders including Innovating Capital, a prominent venture fund.

For more information on Pastel Network, visit https://pastel.network/.

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