Getting Started with NFTs on Tezos

Guide to Getting Started Collecting #DarkwheelNFT NFT art pieces

Note: this was created when the Dark Wheel Demons were first starting out on Tezos in 2021..a lot has changed since then, but the instructions for collecting art on the Tezos blockchain is still pretty accurate, and I’ve updated this to focus on objkt rather than other marketplaces that I’ve long since left.

Created for: orderofthedarkwheel.com

Hello, Fellow Cultists! 

You may be looking to get in on the Order of the Dark Wheel – who doesn’t want to tame demons to their will? 

But, binding these demons requires Tezos (a cryptocurrency, often abbreviated “XTZ” or “tez”), a cryptocurrency wallet, and to sync the wallet with objkt.com, a digital NFT marketplace.

This is not an exhaustive guide to Tezos or crypto in general, but a way for you to get started collecting demons (or other art) on these platforms. Also, I’m based in the US, so this is all coming from an American lens (hey, where else is a demon-worshipping cult going to come out of?). 

BUT the general concepts should be the same even though exchanges and currency support is going to differ from country to country. 

Here’s the walkthrough in order of how I’d recommend getting set up – if you’re already all set up in one section, feel free to use the links to jump to the proper section. If you’re just starting out, I highly recommending reading everything to sort of wrap your head around the concepts before diving in. 

BUYING TEZOS, and an intro to Gas and Wallets

CREATING A KUKAI WALLET

CONNECTING YOUR WALLET TO OBJKT.COM

MOVING XTZ FROM THE EXCHANGE WALLET TO YOUR KUKAI WALLET

FINDING THE DEMONS

BUYING TEZOS, and an intro to Gas and Wallets

First off, while I definitely want you to buy my NFTs, remember that while it’s all facilitated by cryptocurrency, you are most definitely spending fiat money (aka dollars, euros, etc.) to get the crypto in the first place. Be responsible.

Okay, so you’re going to need to buy Tezos so you have the currency in order to buy NFTs. Think of this step like going to an airport to exchange cash for the local currency. You might have lots of yen or pesos or dollars, but you need XTZ to buy.

You’re going to have to create an account on an exchange. Exchanges are basically those currency transaction places gone digital and for crypto.

There are a few different options, and I’ve personally bought on Coinbase and Binance.us, but other options are eToro and Kraken.  

Who to choose? I find Coinbase to be incredibly friendly UX-wise, and that’s where I got started, and they often offer small amounts of new coins by learning about them, which is sorta free money. That said, research and figure out which one works best for you and your circumstances. 

PS – If you want to put $100 in to Coinbase, both you and I will get $10 if you sign up with this link (but not the other Coinbase links in the guide).

Whatever option you choose, you’re probably going to need to have some personal information ready to sign up, including:
Bank routing number, bank account number, SSN, and Unexpired government ID (think Driver’s License or passport). 

Why all the personal information? Because you’re basically creating a bank account of sorts, and since returns on crypto are taxed, the Man obviously cares. 

All in all, Coinbase and Binance were pretty easy to get signed up with. It might take a few days (since you need to go through identity verification processes and have your bank connected), so if anything this is the step you want to do ASAP. 

Follow the instructions of whatever exchange you use to get verified and have your bank account talking to the site, and you might need to move into your digital wallet on the exchange.

Wait, what’s this about a wallet?

So you can think of a digital wallet as a bank account. You can add money, and take out money. You can also use it to store valuables (like demon NFTs). HOWEVER, for reasons I don’t want to go into here too in-depth, you don’t want to leave most of your crypto in an exchange wallet, as it works to decentralize crypto (which is sort of what it’s all about). 

Anyway, so depending on the exchange, you might need to move fiat currency into your wallet, then use that to buy Tezos. Or, you might be able to just buy Tezos directly by finding Tezos on the list of cryptocurrencies and then clicking the “Buy” button and using your bank account to fund the transaction.

Note that if there is a specific NFT you want to buy (for example, a demon that is priced at 6.66 XTZ), you’d want to make sure you’re getting maybe 7 XTZ because you have to factor in multiple gas fees.

Wait, gas? As in gasoline? Petrol? 

Not quite, but same concept. Every blockchain requires a transaction fee to go through and it’s called “gas,” just as your car eats up gas to drive you someplace, or your bike eats up calories via you pedaling someplace. 

Gas fees for Tezos in general are super low..as in usually tenths or hundredths of a XTZ, but they are still there, so factor that in as well as any exchange fees you might be charged. You’ll get charged gas for even sending XTZ from one wallet to another, so you want to give yourself some bandwidth. 

Yay, I bought some tez!

Wahoo! You’re awesome! Congrats! 

Now, in your account on the exchange, you’re going to be able to click on the currency and you’ll find a wallet. The exchange creates a new wallet for each currency you own, so if you also happen to own ADA and ETH, you’ll find that you have a wallet address (a really long alpha-numeric string) for each different currency. 

This is why the exchanges exist – currently most crypto doesn’t translate easily into one another, as they operate on entirely different sets of code. This is sort of changing with the idea of “wrapped” tokens, but generally I can’t send ADA to your XTZ wallet. 

But remember that I mentioned how you want your own wallet? Cool, let’s get to that, and to do that, we’re going to need you to transfer money to yourself, which, as we learned earlier, unfortunately also has a gas cost. 

Remember when I talked about not leaving your tez on an exchange? Part of the reason is that most of those wallets don’t talk to the NFT marketplaces. Now you’ll make a different wallet that will connect to Hic et Nunc and Objkt.com, via Kukai.

CREATING A KUKAI WALLET

So, you want to create a kukai wallet. Make sure you go directly to wallet.kukai.app. Apparently there are a lot of scam sites that look similar, so make sure you’re double checking any links that you might click.  Also, grab a pen and piece paper that you can keep incredibly safe.

One you’re there, you’ve got two options:

  1. Easier, somewhat seen as less secure/decentralized way: Hit the “DirectAuth” button and log in with your Google, Reddit, or Twitter acct. Only as secure as your Google, Reddit, or Twitter account is. Sign in with whatever other service, and that account will be directly linked to the new Kukai wallet you get.
  1. Most crypto-esque way: Click the + icon to make a “New Wallet.”

Once you do, you’ll be prompted to write down your “Seed words.” Think of these as the command Zemo gives Bucky Barnes to reactivate the Winter Soldier in Captain America: Civil War. This 24 word nonsense phrase is your super duper password THAT YOU CANNOT LOSE.

I don’t care how you record it, but you need to keep this super secure. The thing about cryptowallets is that if you don’t link a DirectAuth account, if you get locked out of your account, if you don’t have the seed words, you literally lose access forever. No one will ever get in, there is no customer support to “lost password” for this. 

More secure, but more responsibility with this option. Lose your seed phrase, lose your wallet. 

I made a choice, now what?

At this point, you should be at a screen that just has the word “Accounts” on the top, and a long alphanumeric string. Hey, just like the one you got for your Coinbase/exchange wallet! 

That’s right, that string is your wallet’s address. Good, good. 

CONNECTING YOUR WALLET TO OBJKT.COM

Okay, now, in the same browser that you used to sign up for Kukai (but in a new tab) you want to navigate over to Objkt.com, and in the upper right hand corner, you’re gonna wanna click the letters “sync.”

Nothing might happen for a split second, but then you should see a pop-up that says something along the lines of “Waiting for confirmation in Kukai Wallet.”

Click over to the tab that you have your Kukai wallet in, and you should see a “Permission Request” pop-up listing objkt.com in the “from” field.

Accept, and the pop-up should vanish.

You can now go back to the browser tab that has Objkt open and you’ll see a confirmation that you have connected the wallet!  CONGRATS!

In the upper right corner, instead of “sync” you should see something that looks like “tz2sfsd…xxxx” – the last four characters (and the first ones as well) should match the long string in your Kukai wallet. 

MOVING XTZ FROM THE EXCHANGE WALLET TO YOUR KUKAI WALLET

Alright, now you’ve got your exchange/Coinbase wallet, you’ve got your Kukai wallet, and now you’ve got everything hooked up to hic et nunc as well. 

The next step is getting the XTZ from your exchange wallet to your Kukai wallet.

First, you want to go to your Kukai wallet tab, and click the little copy icon to copy the address of your wallet. Remember, it should be a string of characters right below your account name, starting with “tz..”)

Return to your exchange in a new tab and click “Send / Receive” at the top right of your screen (if you’re using Coinbase). 

Here you want to paste the Kukai address we just copied into the ‘To’ recipient box. 

Where the big “0.00” you enter the amount you wish to transfer, or you can hit “Send all” to just move all the XTZ you have in that wallet.

For the ‘Pay with’ field you want to make sure it’s set to ‘Tezos’ (XTZ).

Warning. Especially if this is your first time buying crypto and sending it, there may be a slight delay between sending all of your XTZ you just bought and it landing in your Kukai wallet. This is totally normal, but if you’re like me, you might stress out while waiting for the money to transfer.  As long as you enter the right (aka YOUR) Kukai address in the “To” recipient box, it’ll arrive. Don’t worry. 

FINDING THE DEMONS

Awesome, so now you’ve got your Kukai wallet loaded up and connected, and you’re itching to buy some demons! Great! 

The best way to find them out the details is by following the Twitter account @DarkwheelNFT and joining the Discord server linked in the Twitter Account. Most demon minting has been paused, but there’s tons of other Dark Wheel-related art, monsters, etc. on my objkt profile here.

So basically, go to Twitter, or check out orderofthedarkwheel.com and see if you can find the way.

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