MINTING
IN THIS LESSON
Multi-sig minting isn't just about convenience. Discover how it enhances security, simplifies revenue distribution, and offers a smoother experience for your buyers. Learn how multi-sig transactions combine minting, payments, and asset delivery into one seamless step, offering a safer and more efficient NFT experience.
In the early days of Cardano NFTs, following the Mary Hardfork in 2021, all mint transactions were done in two steps - the person minting the NFT would send the ADA required to mint the NFT in one transaction and the NFT would be minted and sent back to your wallet in a second transaction. While this option is still sometimes used, multi-sig minting is now the preferred option. With multi-sig mints (short for multi-signature), two transactions are no longer required because the minting script is set up in such a way that the minting costs are paid for, the NFTs are minted and the proceeds of the transaction are distributed to all relevant parties in one transaction.
Multi-sig minting has many advantages:
Enhances buyer trust: Allows buyers to see and confirm the NFT they're acquiring before signing the payment transaction.
Increased speed: At least twice as fast as two-step minting due to fewer transactions being processed.
Potentially improved revenue for creators: Eliminates the need to send the min ADA UTXO along with the minted NFT. This can influence your price calculations, as this cost is no longer needed.
Reduced blockchain traffic: Combines minting, payments and distribution into a single transaction, significantly cutting down blockchain load. This is further enhanced by the fact that multi-sig minting also eliminates the need for potential refunds, which can be needed in two-step minting.
The only downside of multi-sig minting is that it must be performed through a wallet that supports the wallet connector standard. In practice this means that minting will be impossible from the Cardano full node wallet, Daedalus, or for people that don’t want to connect to your minting website.
Pictured above is a multi-sig transaction, as displayed in the Eternl wallet. What’s important to note is the Multi-Sig Script that contains information about the public keys required to validate the transaction, and the UTxO Inputs/Outputs. The input (i1) provides the source of ADA funding the transaction - it covers the transaction fees and the cost of minting the NFT, with the remaining balance returned to the sender. This includes the address from which the ADA is sent and the amount of ADA used. Notice how the address is the same as the first address in the outputs field, receiving the minted NFT.
The outputs detail where the ADA and the newly minted token go in the transaction. In this particular transaction, there are four outputs:
o1.Newly minted NFT;
o2.Artist’s cut;
o3.Minting service cut;
o4.Change UTxO (returned to the sender’s address).
The outputs will depend on the needs of each project, typically it will include the recipient of the minted tokens, any change returned to the sender (o4 in this case), and possibly payments to other parties involved in the transaction (collaborators, minting platform fees, etc.).