A Comprehensive Guide to Developing Your Own NFT Platform

Sergey.O

22.11.2022

NFT platform development has become a hot topic in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain, as more and more businesses and individuals seek to create their own NFT marketplaces.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have been all over the news for the past few years. They get sold for millions of dollars, provoke discussion, and push the market constantly, resulting in a total market cap of $11.3 billion.

That is why developing an NFT platform in 2023 is still a good idea – these assets are not going anywhere, and with proper preparation and guidance, you’ll be able to hop on this trend successfully.

Here at Blaize, we’ve been working with NFTs for years, developing custom solutions for world-known clients. We have successfully launched 4 NFT projects and released over 10 collections that got quickly recognized by the general public.

Blaize developers can help your business build a full-fledged NFT marketplace, a fascinating gaming platform, or even an entire ecosystem around your NFT tokens. Quickly, efficiently, and with no hassle.

But today, we won’t be deploying anything – our main goal is to share experience and guide you through the exciting NFT platform development. Hope you will find this guide useful and put some of the tricks to practice to build your own NFT platform!

Decide on The Type of Your NFT Platform

The first thing do when starting your own NFT project is to choose the type of platform that will suit your needs best.

Depending on your goals and business specifications, your final product and the NFT platform development process will differ. We’ll describe the major types of NFT platforms below so that you can assess your needs and make a well-grounded decision.

NFT Marketplace

The first option we’d like to mention is a universal trading platform for non-fungible assets. By creating your own NFT marketplace platform, you make NFTs a bit more available to a wider audience and, thus, speed up their global adoption.

Currently, there are a few popular websites for such purposes, so if you’d like to build an NFT marketplace platform, you’d better do thorough research before you kick into gear.

Here are just a few honorable mentions:

OpenSea – is the world’s first and largest web3 marketplace for NFTs and crypto collectibles. It enables creating and trading NFTs, starting auctions, and browsing digital art for inspiration.
Rarible – a multichain community-centric NFT marketplace that is known for low fees for NFT creators.
SuperRare – an NFT marketplace specifically created for trading digital art. No other types of NFTs, like in-game items or pieces of land in the metaverse, are allowed.
Mintable – a universal NFT marketplace that enables gasless minting, which means that creators won’t need to pay fees for dropping their new NFT assets.
Binance – the famous exchange also launched an NFT marketplace in 2021, joining other platforms in this race.

Most NFT marketplaces allow users to mint and trade different types of non-interchangeable tokens on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), or other blockchains. In return for their services, marketplaces get a commission, which is the foundation of their revenue.

NFT marketplace platform development is a rather complex process that requires a team of experienced blockchain developers. It involves creating an online store or even a dedicated protocol, integrating a smart contract, ensuring high security and stability of the platform, and implementing the primary standards for producing NFTs (for example, ERC-721, ERC-1155, TRC-721, etc.).By the way, hiring a professional crypto token development company can help ensure a successful launch of your NFT marketplace platform.

NFT Collection

When you start thinking about NFT platform development, one of the ideas you might come up with is releasing your own NFT collection. And it’s no wonder since digital art is still one of the most common NFT utilities.

The pros of NFT collections include the following:

Relatively simple development process as you won’t actually need to build an NFT platform – you can easily mint your NFTs on one of the existing marketplaces.
The possibility to receive quick profit if you have a strong community or market your collection well.
Plenty of choices when it comes to NFT utility – your collection can consist of digital art, music, AR/VR items, real-world objects, metaverse real estate, and much more.

Even though NFT collections don’t require separate platforms, you can still create one for your company. Yet, in this case, the whole NFT platform development would take much more time and resources.

NFT Gaming Solution

The Play to Earn (P2E) segment is another major type of NFT implementation. Blockchain games with NFT rewards and in-game objects have been on the rise regardless of the overall market decline. And we are sure this will remain so.

According to the research held at the beginning of 2022, some NFT games attracted up to 1.1 million unique users monthly, which is an incredible number for a rather niche product.

And the best part about P2E games is that you don’t need to limit your imagination. While standard NFT platforms, such as marketplaces, offer similar functions, games are definitely not meant to put you in the box.

However, you should keep in mind that NFT gaming platform development requires much more dedication and resources than many other types of NFT utility. On top of blockchain development expertise, your team must have experience working with game mechanics, creating engaging plots, and designing characters.

NFT in DeFi

Decentralized finance also provides a vast field for NFT application. However, NFT utility here is much less evident than when it comes to gaming or marketplaces, so let us guide you through it.

First, NFTs might serve as liquidity provider (LP) positions, similar to the Uniswap V3 solution. Based on the pool and the selected parameters, users will receive a unique NFT representing their position in that specific pool.

Second, there is a separate niche of NFT lending that allows for collateralizing users’ NFTs as a loan in exchange for immediate crypto payment.

Third, we have various financial instruments inherited from traditional finance and transformed into DeFi NFT-based solutions. These are NFT bonds, options, and different derivatives in the form of NFTs.

NFTs can have many other DeFi utilities, like serving as a yield farming boost, so we’ll leave the rest to your imagination and business needs.

Did you know that by using the power of enterprise blockchain, businesses can unlock new revenue streams, reduce costs, and streamline operations? So why not explore the full potential of enterprise blockchain and NFTs for your business today?

Must-have Features For Your NFT Platform

When you develop an NFT platform solution, there are certain features you should include regardless of its type. Most of them are related to blockchain, but others can be found in many software products from traditional industries.

Here’s a brief list of what you should definitely implement into your NFT platform:

Blockchain integration
Producing/creating NFT assets
Secure access to the wallet
Token standards
Metadata storage
Advanced search filters
Advertisements
Analytics
Reviews and ratings
NFT collections
Royalties for creators
Quick login

These features are also valid for NFT marketplace development. On top of the basic functionality, you will need to work on the platform-specific features, such as game mechanics for P2E projects or auctions for a marketplace. That is why we highly recommend you consider this scope of work too, when choosing the type of NFT platform for your company.

NFT Marketplace Features for Different Parties

Let’s say you decided to create an NFT platform for trading assets. What should you start with, and which functionality should you include?

If you’re wondering how to develop your own NFT marketplace, one of the most important things to consider is business logic. The underlying smart contracts must work impeccably so that none of the involved parties could get deceived or feel uncomfortable while using your product.

We’ll describe the key functionality for different categories of users, including buyers, sellers, and administrators. Make sure to develop a solution that considers all of these points, and don’t hesitate to add custom features that would be unique to your project.

Please note that we also provide blockchain development services for startups, so if you need additional advice, please contact us.

NFT Buyer

Registration and authorization.
Connecting the wallet.
Browsing NFTs, searching with keywords or tags.
Completing the purchase, whether through a fixed payment or an auction.
Completing the transaction, including gas fees and a platform commission.

NFT Seller

Registration and authorization.
A dedicated space for creating NFTs.
The possibility to transfer NFTs from other marketplaces.
Choosing a place to store NFTs before minting them.
The possibility to select a custom name, description, store images and other files when creating an NFT.
Creating collections.
Selecting the type of payment – fixed or auctioned. Creating auctions.
Putting the NFT for sale and ending the sale if their intentions have changed.
Revising the price of an NFT.
Receiving the funds for the sold NFTs.

Administrator

Viewing all NFTs created on the platform.
Viewing all users and their trading history.
The possibility to remove NFTs in case there are duplicated assets or ones that break the Terms of Use of the platform.
Editing and adding categories of assets.
Adding users to the whitelist if necessary and blocking them.
Managing fees for buyers and sellers.
Setting up the integration with IPFS for file storage.
Other necessary technical functionality peculiar to your platform.

Required Tech Stack for an NFT Platform Solution

Depending on your business priorities and goals, you can choose different blockchains and protocols for developing an NFT platform. This is an important step in order to create own NFT industry-based blockchain. The most popular chains for such purposes are Ethereum, BNB, Polygon, and NEAR, but you can also choose Solana, Starknet, Aptos, or Avalanche.

Besides, you will need to think through other technical details and make a few decisions regarding the following tech aspects:

Storage platforms – decide on the place to keep your NFTs. Some of the popular solutions include the IPFS hypermedia protocol, Filecoin storage network, Pinata, and Moralis.
NFT standards – select the technical standard of the NFTs you’ll mint, and be careful since they require different skills from your team. The regular options are ERC-721, ERC-1155, FA2, dGoods, and TRC-721.
Smart contracts – on top of the NFT itself, the platform requires a lot of service and periphery contracts: registries, auctions and bidding, funds transfers, fees system, signatures processing, etc. So you need to assemble a team with solid expertise in Solidity or Rust, depending on the platform.
Backend services – storage providers are not the only services that remain unseen but crucial for the platform. Other integral parts include a database that would aggregate information (e.g., PostgreSQL) or aggregation services (e.g., Subgraph), cashing (e.g., Redis), transaction queries handling (e.g., RabbitMQ), closed APIs for account connected information storage and ubiquitous usage of GraphQL.
Front end – choose the technology stack that will help you build a smooth and user-friendly platform. The most common front-end solutions for NFT platform developers include Vue, Angular, and React.

There are many other technical elements to be considered, including the type of smart contracts, DevOps software, databases, searching systems, frameworks, and so on. The best way to deal with such a huge scope of work is to hire a professional blockchain development team with vast experience in NFT platform software development. This way, you will be sure that the project is done according to industry best practices and that the final product is reliable and secure.

Using APIs and third-party services For building an NFT Platform

Regardless of the chosen NFT platform features and its type, you’ll need to use APIs and third-party services to extend the functionality. Most of these solutions will be connected with data storage, which is crucial for the NFT industry.

The vital part is choosing a secure service and integrating it into your platform correctly. That is why hiring NFT developers with proven expertise should be your number one priority.

Final Architecture of a Typical NFT Platform

As soon as you understand the main business logic behind your NFT platform, all the features, and user flows, it’s time to create the final architecture. Don’t get frustrated if it turns out pretty complex because your product might also be far from simple.

NFT game architecture by Blaize — *An example of NFT game architecture* *created by Blaize for LeagueDAO*

How to Create an NFT Platform in 10 Steps

Let’s sum up all of the tips and hints we mentioned above and create a complete flow of the proper NFT platform development.

Conduct market research and analysis.
Create the concept of your platform.
Gather a reliable and experienced team.
Take care of the technical development.
Select and connect all the necessary APIs, including the chosen metadata storage provider.
Work on the UI/UX design.
Complete the front-end part of the product development.
Test the final product before public release.
Deploy the platform and launch it in the market.
Provide continuous support and maintenance.

Scaling Your NFT Solution

After you build an NFT marketplace platform or other types of NFT platform and release it to a wider audience, the only thing to do is to take care of promoting it and growing the community.

But as you achieve the majority of milestones on your roadmap, you’ll need to think of the next steps for your NFT platform. And the most obvious one is scaling it not only in terms of internal features and the number of users but also to other chains.

Trust us, your NFT platform journey doesn’t stop at the moment you deploy the product – it only begins. And here at Blaize, we have witnessed many projects that have scaled fast right after the public launch. Moreover, we have helped them do it, and we’ll be happy to assist your NFT platform in reaching success in the current market.

Final Thoughts

If you have an idea to create an NFT platform for your business, it’s time to act. Even though the market might not seem perfect, you can achieve great results with the help of knowledgeable blockchain developers.

The Blaize team has over 5 years of experience in the blockchain industry, including vast expertise with NFT projects. So far, we have successfully completed 70+ projects, launched 10+ NFT collections, and deployed 400+ smart contracts.

We can help you grow your business with blockchain and NFT technologies fast and efficiently. Drop us a line or book a call to discuss a custom solution for your company.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main types of NFT platforms?

There are many different platforms for all kinds of NFT utilities. The most popular solutions on the market include NFT marketplaces, P2E gaming platforms, collections, and multiple DeFi solutions.

How can I develop an NFT platform?

To create an NFT platform, you should follow these steps:

Conduct market research and analysis.
Create the concept of your platform.
Gather a reliable and experienced team.
Take care of the technical development.
Select and connect all the necessary APIs, including the chosen metadata storage provider.
Work on the UI/UX design.
Complete the front-end part of the product development.
Test the final product before public release.
Deploy the platform and launch it in the market.
Provide continuous support and maintenance.

Learn more in our full article.

How to choose a reliable team for NFT platform development?

When looking for a reliable team of NFT developers, you should consider their experience first. Specialized blockchain teams will be happy to share their case studies and guide you briefly through the whole development process before you start working with them.

If you are searching for NFT developers with a proven track record, choose Blaize. Our team has 5+ years of experience developing different blockchain solutions, including 70+ successful projects, 10+ NFT collections, and 400+ smart contracts. Contact us for a free consultation regarding your project’s needs.