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Create a non-fungible token

Get started with Marmalade demonstrated how to use the mint-basic-NFT function and a local metadata file to mint a token for an image on the local file system. To see a more realistic example, you need to perform some additional preliminary steps. The topic provides a walk-though to illustrate the entire process from artwork to marketplace.

Prepare a digital item and metadata

  1. Generate the artwork in a digital format.

    For this walk-through, the artwork is a portable network graphic image. The file name for the digital image is guitar1.png.

  2. Create the initial metadata to describe the asset using the Marmalade metadata schema.

    For this walk-through, the initial metadata file—guitar1.json—contains the following information for the guitar1.png image.

    { "name": "Cathedral of the Acoustic Guitar", "description": "The power of music is amplified in the sacred Cathedral of the Acoustic Guitar.", "image": "guitar1.png", "external_url": "", "authors": [     {         "name": "Lola Pistola"     } ], "properties": {     "type": "acoustic",     "cathedral": "red",    }}
    { "name": "Cathedral of the Acoustic Guitar", "description": "The power of music is amplified in the sacred Cathedral of the Acoustic Guitar.", "image": "guitar1.png", "external_url": "", "authors": [     {         "name": "Lola Pistola"     } ], "properties": {     "type": "acoustic",     "cathedral": "red",    }}

    Note that the image field is just a placeholder that will need to be replaced with the actual location for the file after you upload it to a publicly accessible network.

  3. Upload the image to a storage location that provides permanent internet access to the digital asset.

    As noted in Store digital assets, there are many ways you can store digital assets, including hosting images yourself, using a cloud service provider like Google or AWS, or uploading content to a distributed file storage service like the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).

    There are also many tools available for uploading digital files for permanent storage. For example, you can use NFT.Storage with NFTUp, IPFS Desktop, Pinata, or any other tool to upload files and generate the content identifier (CID) for your work.

    For this walk-through, uploading the guitar1.png image to IPFS generated the following content identifier and links:

    For the image fileUploaded example result
    Content identifierbafybeied7rg4uiviidrzd33wnvmrkmys3wuh5omnrmeateydo5oe25kawu
    IPFS URLipfs://bafybeied7rg4uiviidrzd33wnvmrkmys3wuh5omnrmeateydo5oe25kawu/guitar1.png
    Gateway URLhttps://nftstorage.link/ipfs/bafybeied7rg4uiviidrzd33wnvmrkmys3wuh5omnrmeateydo5oe25kawu
  4. Update the metadata file so that the image field is the path to the content identifier. You should review the metadata carefully to ensure it has all of the descriptive information you want to include.

    For example:

    { "name": "Cathedral of the Acoustic Guitar", "description": "The power of music is amplified in the sacred Cathedral of the Acoustic Guitar.", "image": "ipfs://bafybeied7rg4uiviidrzd33wnvmrkmys3wuh5omnrmeateydo5oe25kawu/guitar1.png", "external_url": "https://bafybeied7rg4uiviidrzd33wnvmrkmys3wuh5omnrmeateydo5oe25kawu.ipfs.nftstorage.link/", "authors": [     {         "name": "Lola Pistola"     } ], "properties": {     "type": "acoustic",     "cathedral": "red",    }}
    { "name": "Cathedral of the Acoustic Guitar", "description": "The power of music is amplified in the sacred Cathedral of the Acoustic Guitar.", "image": "ipfs://bafybeied7rg4uiviidrzd33wnvmrkmys3wuh5omnrmeateydo5oe25kawu/guitar1.png", "external_url": "https://bafybeied7rg4uiviidrzd33wnvmrkmys3wuh5omnrmeateydo5oe25kawu.ipfs.nftstorage.link/", "authors": [     {         "name": "Lola Pistola"     } ], "properties": {     "type": "acoustic",     "cathedral": "red",    }}
  5. Upload the updated metadata file to IPFS.

    For this walk-through, uploading the guitar1.json metadata to IPFS generated the following content identifier and links:

    For the JSON fileUploaded example result
    Content identifierbafkreibtpwfidowlbmxblew2lyghgy2tctvcazsfcjxk3ozgnm5a33uc4m
    IPFS URLipfs://bafkreibtpwfidowlbmxblew2lyghgy2tctvcazsfcjxk3ozgnm5a33uc4m/guitar1.json
    Gateway URLhttps://nftstorage.link/ipfs/bafkreibtpwfidowlbmxblew2lyghgy2tctvcazsfcjxk3ozgnm5a33uc4m
  6. Copy the content identifier for the metadata file.

    With this step, you are ready to select policies and create the non-fungible token identifier.

Create a token identifier

Every token must have a unique identifier that links the token metadata to the location of the asset. You can create token identifiers using the create-token-id function in the marmalade-v2.ledger contract. As before, you can use the Chainweaver desktop or web application to navigate to contract functions and Testnet as the network to connect to.

To create a token identifier:

  1. In Chainweaver, click Contracts, then click Module Explorer.

  2. Under Deployed Contracts, select the marmalade-v2.ledger contract, then click View.

  3. Under Functions, select create-token-id, then click Call.

  4. On the Parameters tab, you need to specify the token-details and a creation-guard.

    In this example, the token-details for the metadata file that describes the first token in the collection looks like this:

    {   "uri": "ipfs://bafkreibtpwfidowlbmxblew2lyghgy2tctvcazsfcjxk3ozgnm5a33uc4m/guitar1.json",   "precision": 0,   "policies": [marmalade-v2.non-fungible-policy-v1,marmalade-v2.guard-policy-v1]}
    {   "uri": "ipfs://bafkreibtpwfidowlbmxblew2lyghgy2tctvcazsfcjxk3ozgnm5a33uc4m/guitar1.json",   "precision": 0,   "policies": [marmalade-v2.non-fungible-policy-v1,marmalade-v2.guard-policy-v1]}

    As this example illustrates, the most common concrete policies to use are the non-fungible-token and guard policies. If you want to enforce royalty payments, you should add the royalty policy to the list. The guard policy is particularly important because it protects the token from unauthorized activity. To configure the guard policy, you'll register the accounts that can perform the activities you want to restrict access to when you create the token.

    You can use (read-keyset "my-keyset") for the creation-guard to read the keyset from information you configure in the transaction details.

    After configuring the parameters for the create-token-identifier function, click Next.

  5. On the Configuration tab, select the Transaction Sender and, under Advanced, configure my-keyset by selecting a keyset predicate and a key, then click Next.

  6. On the Sign tab, select an unrestricted signing key from the available Unrestricted Signing Keys, then click Next.

    Note that you aren't required to select a transaction sender or a signing key to create a token identifier. However, this information is required to submit a transaction that records the token identifier in the blockchain.

  7. On the Preview tab, scroll to see the Raw Response is a token identifier.

    In this example, the token identifier generated for the new token is: "t:LgMWE4ZKH4H2i6Ri4ZyuWIpHCE5cJDS4HjFEzN7PnQ0"

Create the token

Now that you have a unique identifier for the token, you can create the reference to the token on the Kadena blockchain.

To create the token:

  1. In Module Explorer, check that you are still viewing the marmalade-v2.ledger contract, then select the create-token function and click Call.

  2. On the Parameters tab, specify the token identifier for the id, the token precision, the uri for the token metadata, the token policies you want to apply, and a creation-guard keyset, then click Next.

    In this example, the id is "t:LgMWE4ZKH4H2i6Ri4ZyuWIpHCE5cJDS4HjFEzN7PnQ0", the precision is 0, the uri is "ipfs://bafkreibtpwfidowlbmxblew2lyghgy2tctvcazsfcjxk3ozgnm5a33uc4m/guitar1.json", the policies are [marmalade-v2.non-fungible-policy-v1,marmalade-v2.guard-policy-v1], and the creation-guard is specified using (read-keyset "my-keyset").

  3. On the Configuration tab, select the Transaction Sender, then click Advanced to select a key and a predicate function for the creation guard, then click Next.

  4. Click the Raw tab to configure any policy settings required for the policies applied to the token—for example, to add guards if you are using the guard policy or royalty information if you using the royalty policy—then click Next.

    For this example, you can use the Raw data to register guards for the mint, burn, and URI update operations:

    {    "mint-guard": {      "keys": ["k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e"],       "pred": "keys-all"},    "burn-guard": {      "keys": ["k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e"],       "pred": "keys-all"},    "uri-guard": {      "keys": ["k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e"],       "pred": "keys-all"}}
    {    "mint-guard": {      "keys": ["k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e"],       "pred": "keys-all"},    "burn-guard": {      "keys": ["k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e"],       "pred": "keys-all"},    "uri-guard": {      "keys": ["k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e"],       "pred": "keys-all"}}

    In this example, the same account is authorized to perform all three operations. You don't need to specify a guard for any token activity that you don't want to restrict access to. You can also use different guards for any token action if you want to authorize different accounts to perform specific actions.

  5. On the Sign tab, select an unrestricted signing key from the available Unrestricted Signing Keys, then click Next.

    Note that you can explicitly add the CREATE-TOKEN capability and select individual signing keys for the GAS and CREATE-TOKEN capabilities instead of using an unrestricted signing key. By selecting an unrestricted signing key, you implicitly grant permission to pay the transaction fee (GAS) and create the token (CREATE-TOKEN) to the owner of the selected key.

    You must explicitly or implicitly select a signing key for the transaction to succeed.

  6. On the Preview tab, scroll to see the Raw Response is true, then click Submit.

    After you submit the transaction, it is queued for processing in the memory pool until validated and added to a block. After the transaction is included in a block, your NFT is part of the permanent blockchain record.

Mint the non-fungible token

The mint function defined in the marmalade-v2.ledger contract is similar to the mint-basic-NFT function used in Get started with Marmalade. Like the other functions, you can access the mint function using the Chainweaver desktop or web application.

To mint the non-fungible token uploaded to IPFS:

  1. In Module Explorer, check that you are still viewing the marmalade-v2.ledger contract, then select the mint function and click Call.

  2. On the Parameters tab, specify the token identifier for the id, the account for the token owner, the guard for the account that is authorized to mint the token, and the amount to mint, then click Next.

    In this example, the id is "t:LgMWE4ZKH4H2i6Ri4ZyuWIpHCE5cJDS4HjFEzN7PnQ0", the account is "k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e", the guard is specified using (read-keyset "my-keyset"), and the amount is 1.0.

  3. On the Configuration tab, select the Transaction Sender and review the General transaction settings, then click Advanced to verify the keyset you're using.

    After you select a key and a predicate function to use, click Next.

  4. On the Sign tab, click the Grant Capabilities plus (+) to add the MINT capability to the transaction and specify the token identifier, minting account, and amount as arguments.

    In this example, the MINT capabilities look like this:

    (marmalade-v2.ledger.MINT "t:LgMWE4ZKH4H2i6Ri4ZyuWIpHCE5cJDS4HjFEzN7PnQ0" "k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e" 1.0)
    (marmalade-v2.ledger.MINT "t:LgMWE4ZKH4H2i6Ri4ZyuWIpHCE5cJDS4HjFEzN7PnQ0" "k:bbccc99ec9eeed17d60159fbb88b09e30ec5e63226c34544e64e750ba424d35e" 1.0)

    After you add the capability and arguments, select an account to sign for the coin.GAS and marmalade-v2.ledger.MINT capabilities, then click Next.

  5. On the Preview tab, scroll to see the Raw Response is true, then click Submit.

    After you submit the transaction, it is queued for processing in the memory pool until validated and added to a block. After the transaction is included in a block, your NFT is part of the permanent blockchain record and added to the Marmalade ledger.

    Successful mint transaction
    Successful mint transaction

Review the mint transaction

The mint transaction emits several events to report the operations performed. You can view these events in the Kadena block explorer.

To review your transaction results:

  1. Copy the Request Key displayed in Chainweaver, then click Done.

  2. Select Request Key, then paste the key you copied from Chainweaver into the Search field.

  3. Review the transaction results and the events recorded for the mint transaction.

    For example, you should also see a set of events similar to the following:

    Events related to minting a non-fungible token
    Events related to minting a non-fungible token

Start a sale with an offer

Now that your token is recorded in the Marmalade ledger, you can transfer it to another account or offer it for sale. In this simple example, there's no royalty policy associated with the token because it isn't intended to generate an ongoing revenue stream. However, the token owner can still offer the token for sale.

The offer can include a specific fixed quoted price or be configured with a variable quoted price that is adjusted according to the rules in a reference sale-specific contract. If an offer doesn't have a fixed quoted price, you can be configure to use either a conventional auction or a dutch auction contract to attract buyers to bid on the work. You can find an introduction to sales-specific contracts like these auction contracts in Contract architecture. Regardless of the sales model you choose, you enter the token marketplace by submitting the offer transaction.

Next steps

This walk-through demonstrated the workflow for creating a non-fungible token (NFT) using the Marmalade standard with permanent storage on IPFS. To learn more about configuring sale contracts, see Sales options. To learn more about creating and using your own sale contract, see Create a sale contract. For technical reference information about any Marmalade smart contract, see NFT marketplace reference.