If you want to flip some new NFTs, but you don’t want to risk throwing away your ETH, then it may be a good idea to dive into some free NFT mints. There are no guarantees with these kinds of projects, but there are plenty around at the moment.
What are Free NFT Mints?
When a new NFT collection launches, you usually have to pay a set price plus gas to mint. On the other hand, a free NFT mint is exactly as it sounds: you can hook up your wallet and get a new NFT from the drop at no charge (although you will still have to cover gas fees).
Rather than making a profit from launch sales, creators are rewarded through royalties on secondary sales, and may also benefit from the hype and momentum that a free mint can pull in.
Free mints are not new, but they have become a trend during this year’s bear market crash. They’re not just cheap, but fit in with the current atmosphere, as in, crypto was imploding, so let’s just strip it all down and keep the vibes simple and no nonsense.
Risks, Rewards & Burner Wallets
The good point, obviously, is that you only have to part with gas fees, so even in a bear market you can ape into some new plays. The risks are the usual–a project might collapse, come to nothing, or pull the rug–but amped up considerably as free NFT mints are deliberately threadbare, don’t reveal much in advance, and there’s more bargain-bin sketchiness around.
All that in mind, if you want to access some free NFT mints it’s a good idea to set up a burner wallet. This means an extra wallet that doesn’t contain much ETH or any valuable NFTs, so you can connect with contracts and sign transactions without being overly concerned about exploits and security risks.
Free Mints that Took Off
Image credit: Larva Labs
CryptoPunks
Yes, the ultimate, iconic NFT collection, that set the template for 10,000 item PFP drops and is just quietly cooler than BAYC, was a free mint back in 2017. Admittedly that was when no-one else was minting PFP drops because CryptoPunks was in the process of inventing them, but still, they’ll go down in history as freely distributed NFTs.
Goblintown
Likely to be remembered as the NFT big hit of BearMarket2022™, pat yourself on the back if you got one of these for free. They caused some drama, helped to embed the free NFT mint meta, and massively boosted the profile of their creators, Truth Labs.
There will be very few free mints that stick around and attempt to build what everyone is calling web3 brands, but Goblintown and Truth Labs are contenders to pull it off.
Tiny Dinos
Image credit: Tiny Dinos
As well as being a free mint, Tiny Dinos made a point of emphasizing the CC0 ownership model, leading the way when CC0 and free minting came packaged together. The developers also showed innovation by launching as a LayerZero omnichain project.
Tiny Dinos dropped before crypto had entered full-on panic mode, and quickly established an upbeat following. It has hung on through the bear market with a current floor price of just over 0.07 ETH, down a lot from highs of around 0.35 ETH, but up from a low of, well, zero.
We Are All Going to Die
This is a project that took off for a while, and it’s a good example of a trajectory free mints can take. Basically, the majority of free mints will do nothing, a very small number will take off and immediately build further, and a few–such as WAGDIE (as it’s known)–will take off and then return to earth.
That last option is still good to find but illustrates the importance of figuring out what kind of ride you’re on and taking profits, otherwise you can end up on a roundtrip to the top and back down. Having said that, We Are All Going to Die is still alive and an active project.
How to Find Free NFT Mints
Image credit: mint.fun
An extremely useful tool is the free feed on mint.fun, which shows you free NFT mints as they are happening, along with stats and social links, and there’s a Twitter alert bot. Also, you can click and mint through mint.fun itself, adding an extra layer of security.
Beyond that, Twitter and Discord are your friends. Follow a few free projects (there are some upcoming free mints in the section below) and they’ll often direct you to other, similar projects as they come up. Be aware though that free mints are at the most degen, casino-like end of the crypto space, so there’s a lot of noise to filter out.
Upcoming Free Mints
As mentioned, free mints are incredibly hit-and-miss and often very short on details, so these are just some suggestions to take a look at. Be aware that if you happen to hit on a drop that gains traction, it’s likely to be short-term and when the price falls it may never recover (although there are exceptions).
Image credit: Monsterland
Animeme Labs is a web3 animation studio that has a substantial following on YouTube and has announced a free mint. Seasons and Monsterland both have cute, simple artwork, and Mini-Heroes NFT is based around pixel art comic book characters.
Keep your expectations realistic and free mints can be a fun, minimal outlay way to roll the crypto dice while the market is quiet.
