Whether you are looking to purchase an NFT or mint (create) an NFT, it’s crucial to know if it’s already been digitized and committed to a blockchain. 

This article will highlight the different ways in which you can identify if a piece of art, a meme, a video, or even a gif has been converted into an NFT. This way, you can hopefully confirm you’re not creating something that’s already been made or buying a counterfeit.

I located three techniques and websites that will help you determine if an NFT is legit or counterfeit. Keep reading to learn what I’m talking about.

NFTs: A New Market

NFTs are essentially a newer form of cryptocurrency, but unlike cryptocurrency tokens, each NFT is unique and not interchangeable. NFTs can be bought and sold on exchanges like OpenSea and Rarible.

Most NFTs are artwork or collections like Crypto Punks or Bored Ape Yacht Club, but other kinds of tokenized assets are also being made into NFTs. 

The advent of NFTs has given artists a way to make a more decentralized living off of their creations without the need for galleries.

Minting is an essential function in the NFT marketplace. Minting an NFT is when an NFT gets published and officially can be bought and sold on a blockchain. Currently, the Ethereum blockchain is the most popular regarding NFTs; however, numerous others are compatible, like Solona or Tezos

Each blockchain has its own set of pros and cons. For instance, Ethereum has the biggest market, but it can cost a lot of money (ETH) to mint an NFT on it, based on gas fees which change with the markets. Check out the average costs to mint an NFT here.

Solana, for example, allows for more cost-effective minting and uses less energy, but the market is smaller. Stakeholders are also looking into the use of other blockchains like Bitcoin SV for the same kinds of transactions. 

Want to see how easy it is to mint an NFT? Check this minting link out.

NFT uses
NFT displays by TokenFrame (affiliate link)

Why It Is Important to Know if an NFT is Already Minted

With every version of currency, scams will run rampant, and NFTs are no exception to this rule. When buying an NFT, you will want to know if the work is original or not because duplicates are not worth the investment. 

In fact, fake NFTs are really ruining the game and many have lost millions of dollars in scams.

Creating and minting NFTs is, in some ways, an easy practice, and there are so many duplicates and pirated art pieces on the blockchain. All the pirates have to do is basically screenshot an NFT and mint it on an NFT platform. 

Next, they must convince a gullible collector or art fan that it’s legit. Once the crypto is sent to the pirate, there is really no way of getting that money back.

So how do you perform a check to tell if an NFT is minted or not? Where do you find the important Metadata? Here are three ways that may help!

NFTSearch.site

One great way to check NFT originality is to look for a CID. This identifier goes along with the InterPlanetary File System or IPFS, which is a peer-to-peer protocol that provides for different kinds of NFT file handling. This system uses content-addressing to identify an NFT in an important way by using metadata to validate. 

NFT Search offers a way to check NFTs by CID or an alternative “similar image search” function. Basically, drop in a copy of the image, and the search engine will pull up the history, creator wallet address, tokens associated with the NFT, and current owner address.

Fingible

This is a website built by NFTPort, which is attempting to become the Google Search tool for all NFTs. It is currently compatible with Ethereum and Polygon NFTs, but they plan on expanding to others in the near future. I took it for a spin, and it’s straightforward to use.

  1. Text and Description Search. When you use this search feature, it pulls the NFTs metadata.
  2. Reverse Image Search. Like Google, the reverse image search crawls the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains with their AI.
  3. Counterfeit Detection. This nifty feature is another AI-driven tech that allows users to check and see if an NFT has been copied across different blockchains (Polygon and Ethereum). You essentially enter the Contract Address, Token ID, or an Image and let the program do its thing.

Google Reverse Image Search

This is the OG of image search. It essentially uses Google’s search engine to see where the image is coming from. 

Here is how you can use Google’s reverse-check tool to determine if an image is a legit NFT or not.

  1. Use Google Chrome on your device of choice and go to the website on which you found the image.
  2. If you are on a mobile device, tap and hold the image until the images’ options show up, then click search with google lens.
  3. If you are on a PC or Mac, open a new tab and put it into the split-screen mode, with one tab on the right side of the screen and the other on the left. For example, on the blank tab, go to images.google.com, click the camera icon, and drag the image from the additional tab to the google image search tab.
  4. Browse through the results; if duplicates exist, find the oldest and see if the image has any connection to the NFT blockchain.

Google is a great resource when it comes to finding duplicate NFTs. Combine your google reverse search results with research on the seller, and hopefully, you will avoid being scammed. 

NFT Marketplace

NFTs: Art and Crypto Combined

One huge benefit that has come along in the NFT marketplace is that many digital artists are gaining more income from their craft. 

Purchasing NFTS is a great way to support smaller artists, and many digital artists are now participating in the NFT marketplace. Artists will still need to market their work before dropping an NFT collection to ensure they make the most of it.

The trouble in the art industry related to NFTs is that people may steal an artist’s work, mint it as an NFT, and sell it on the blockchain. That is why verifying the NFTs you are interested in is crucial to ensure the NFTs are original artwork.

Do You Own the Work When You Buy an NFT?

Technically, even though you buy the NFT, you do not own the copyright to the work that you purchased. However, when you buy an NFT, you own the metadata attached to the work that distinguishes it as a unique copy.

Because NFTs are usually associated with artwork, many people assume that they own the work of art when they buy an NFT, which is incorrect.

The exception is when the creator of the NFT (who owns the art) specifies that they give the buyer over IP rights. You can’t start making physical prints of the NFT and sell them unless that’s in the contract.

It’s important to realize that an NFT sale is, in a sense, a broad type of transaction with various ways of presenting the asset to a buyer. 

Anyone can convert digital art to an NFT. Therefore, many digital artists have found success on the NFT blockchain. By attaching specific metadata to their artwork, they can sell the original copy of their art, which many art collectors both online and in real life find to be highly valuable. 

Final Thoughts on Finding Out if an NFT is Minted

Any NFT published on the NFT blockchain is a minted NFT; however, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t copied or stolen.

Unfortunately, cryptocurrency scams are rising because many people are new to buying and selling, and they don’t know better. Try using the abovementioned methods to pinpoint the creator and confirm the metadata matches up.

Keeping yourself aware of duplicates will help you protect your work and protect yourself from buying an NFT for more than its value. Like anything in life, education is vital, and I strongly recommend to keep learning. The cool thing is that we have added some viral articles to this blog. Check out:

  1. Is It Hard To Sell An NFT? Everything You Need to Know
  2. How to Know if an NFT is Rare: The Ultimate Guide
  3. 9 Reasons Why NFTs Are Bad For Artists