The Elrond protocol introduces native NFT support by adding metadata and attributes on top of the already existing ESDT. This way, one can issue a semi-fungible token or a non-fungible token which is quite similar to an ESDT, but has a few more attributes, as well as an assignable URI. Once owning a quantity of a NFT/SFT, users will have their data store directly under their account, inside the trie.

One has to perform an issuance transaction in order to register a non-fungible token. Non-Fungible Tokens are issued via a request to the Metachain, which is a transaction submitted by the Account which will manage the tokens. When issuing a token, one must provide a token name, a ticker and optionally additional properties.

IssuanceTransaction {
    Sender: <account address of the token manager>
    Receiver: erd1qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqpqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqzllls8a5w6u
    Value: 50000000000000000 # (0.05 EGLD)
    GasLimit: 60000000
    Data: "issueNonFungible" +
          "@" + <token name in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <token ticker in hexadecimal encoding>
}

Optionally, the properties can be set when issuing a token. Example:

IssuanceTransaction {
    Sender: <account address of the token manager>
    Receiver: erd1qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqpqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqzllls8a5w6u
    Value: 50000000000000000 # (0.05 EGLD)
    GasLimit: 60000000
    Data: "issueNonFungible" +
          "@" + <token name in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <token ticker in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <"canFreeze" hexadecimal encoded> + "@" + <"true" or "false" hexadecimal encoded> +
          "@" + <"canWipe" hexadecimal encoded> + "@" + <"true" or "false" hexadecimal encoded> +
          "@" + <"canPause" hexadecimal encoded> + "@" + <"true" or "false" hexadecimal encoded> +
          "@" + <"canTransferNFTCreateRole" hexadecimal encoded> + "@" + <"true" or "false" hexadecimal encoded> +
          "@" + <"canChangeOwner" hexadecimal encoded> + "@" + <"true" or "false" hexadecimal encoded> +
          "@" + <"canUpgrade" hexadecimal encoded> + "@" + <"true" or "false" hexadecimal encoded> +
          "@" + <"canAddSpecialRoles" hexadecimal encoded> + "@" + <"true" or "false" hexadecimal encoded> +
          ...
}

The receiver address erd1qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqpqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqzllls8a5w6u is a built-in system smart contract (not a VM-executable contract), which only handles token issuance and other token management operations, and does not handle any transfers. The contract will add a random string to the ticker thus creating the token identifier. The random string starts with “-” and has 6 more random characters. For example, a token identifier could look like ALC-6258d2.

One has to perform an issuance transaction in order to register a semi-fungible token. Semi-Fungible Tokens are issued via a request to the Metachain, which is a transaction submitted by the Account which will manage the tokens. When issuing a semi-fungible token, one must provide a token name, a ticker and optionally additional properties.

IssuanceTransaction {
    Sender: <account address of the token manager>
    Receiver: erd1qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqpqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqzllls8a5w6u
    Value: 50000000000000000 # (0.05 EGLD)
    GasLimit: 60000000
    Data: "issueSemiFungible" +
          "@" + <token name in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <token ticker in hexadecimal encoding>
}

Issue your own SFT or NFT.

In order to be able to perform actions over a token, one needs to have roles assigned. The existing roles are:

For NFT:

• ESDTRoleNFTCreate : this role allows one to create a new NFT
• ESDTRoleNFTBurn : this role allows one to burn quantity of a specific NFT
• ESDTRoleNFTUpdateAttributes : this role allows one to change the attributes of a specific NFT
• ESDTRoleNFTAddURI : this role allows one add URIs for a specific NFT
• ESDTTransferRole : this role enables transfer only to specified addresses. The owner of the NFT and the address with the ESDTTransferRole should be located on the same shard. The addresses with the transfer role can transfer anywhere.

For SFT:

• ESDTRoleNFTCreate : this role allows one to create a new SFT
• ESDTRoleNFTBurn : this role allows one to burn quantity of a specific SFT
• ESDTRoleNFTAddQuantity : this role allows one to add quantity of a specific SFT
• ESDTTransferRole : this role enables transfer only to specified addresses. The owner of the SFT and the address with the ESDTTransferRole should be located on the same shard. The addresses with the transfer role can transfer anywhere.

Roles can be assigned by sending a transaction to the Metachain from the ESDT manager. Within a transaction of this kind, any number of roles can be assigned (minimum 1).

RolesAssigningTransaction {
    Sender: <address of the ESDT manager>
    Receiver: erd1qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqpqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqzllls8a5w6u
    Value: 0
    GasLimit: 60000000
    Data: "setSpecialRole" +
          "@" + <token identifier in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <address to assign the role(s) in a hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <role in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <role in hexadecimal encoding> +
          ...
}

Fields of an NFT/SFT:

• Name
• Quantity (for NFT must be 1)
• Royalties (allows creator to receive royalties for any transaction involving their NFT)
• Hash (of NFT metadata)
• Attributes (additional
• URIs (mandatory, png, jpeg, mp3, gif, etc.)

NFTCreationTransaction {
    Sender: <address with ESDTRoleNFTCreate role>
    Receiver: <same as sender>
    Value: 0
    GasLimit: 3000000 + Additional gas (see below)
    Data: "ESDTNFTCreate" +
          "@" + <token identifier in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <initial quantity in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <NFT name in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <Royalties in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <Hash in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <Attributes in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <URI in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <URI in hexadecimal encoding> +
          ...
}

Create your own NFT.

Example of NFT Creation:

{
    Sender: <address with ESDTRoleNFTCreate role>
    Receiver: <same as sender>
    Value: 0
    GasLimit: 3000000
    Data: "ESDTNFTCreate" +
          "@414c432d317132773365" +  # previously fetched token identifier
          "@01" + # quantity: 1
          "@42656175746966756c20736f6e67" + # NFT name: 'Beautiful song' in hexadecimal encoding
          "@1d4c" + # Royalties: 7500 =75%c in hexadecimal encoding
          "@00" + # Hash: 00 in hexadecimal encoding
          "@6d657461646174613a697066734349442f736f6e672e6a736f6e3b746167733a736f6e672c62656175746966756c2c6d75736963" + # Attributes: metadata:ipfsCID/song.json;tags:song,beautiful,music   in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@55524c5f746f5f646563656e7472616c697a65645f73746f726167652f736f6e672e6d7033" + # URI: URL_to_decentralized_storage/song.mp3 in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <additional optional URI in hexadecimal encoding> +
}

Transfer NFT Creation Role, Stop NFT creation, Change NFT Attributes, Add URIs to NFT, Wiping a single NFT, etc..

TransferTransaction {
    Sender: <account address of the sender>
    Receiver: <same as sender>
    Value: 0
    GasLimit: 1000000 + length of Data field in bytes * 1500
    Data: "ESDTNFTTransfer" +
          "@" + <collection identifier in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <the NFT nonce in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <quantity to transfer in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <destination address in hexadecimal encoding>
}

Transfer your NFT to erd1xex9ptczwwce4w9zejpjranj6mt8q5sqseenfj7ym55gfcpgq7cq5e9amz.

TransferTransaction {
    Sender: <account address of the sender>
    Receiver: <same as sender>
    Value: 0
    GasLimit: 1000000 + extra for smart contract call
    Data: "ESDTNFTTransfer" +
          "@" + <collection identifier in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <the nonce after the NFT creation in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <quantity to transfer in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <destination address in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <name of method to call in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <first argument of the method in hexadecimal encoding> +
          "@" + <second argument of the method in hexadecimal encoding> +
          <...>
}