Do you have an NFT that you need to get rid of? If so, you’re only option is to burn it. So, how do you burn an NFT on Ethereum?
Below I’ll show you how to burn an NFT that lives on the Ethereum blockchain regardless of the marketplace. This method works the same for NFTs on Opensea, Foundation, Mintable, Rarible, or any other platform.
How to Burn NFTs on Ethereum
1. Go to the platform or wallet where your NFT is stored
Using the wallet where the NFT you’re trying to burn is stored, you can either go to the marketplace where your NFT is available or access the wallet that holds it.
2. Tap transfer on the NFT you want to burn
Once you have found the NFT you want to destroy and after verifying it is indeed the correct one, you’ll want to begin the transfer process.
This function might look different depending on the marketplace or wallet you’re using. Look for a button that says ‘Send’ or ‘Transfer’, and tap it.
3. Enter the Ethereum burn address
After you hit ‘Send’, input the official Ethereum burn address (0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000) into the recipient section.
This address is also referred to as a Null Address. It is the black hole of the Ethereum blockchain. No one has access to this address, meaning anything that’s sent to it can’t be recovered.
There is no reversal or undo button, so make sure that you really want to eliminate the NFT you’re sending before confirming the transaction.
4. Click confirm and approve the transaction using your wallet
If everything looks good and you’ve verified that you’re destroying the correct NFT, tap ‘Confirm’ and approve the transaction using your wallet.
Since this is still a blockchain transaction, you will have to pay a gas fee to send it to the burn address.
That’s it! Your NFT has officially been sent off into the abyss.
How Much Does it Cost to Burn an NFT?
There is no cost to burn an NFT on Ethereum. You do have to pay a gas fee to submit the transaction to the blockchain though, which can cost as little as $1 or more than $50 depending on the current gas prices. You can check gas costs using the Ethereum Gas Tracker before burning your NFT.
If you want to burn your NFT immediately but you want to avoid paying high gas fees, here are a couple of things you can try to mitigate the fee.
- Burn your NFT early in the morning or late at night. This depends on the timezone you’re in. But, by using the Ethereum Gas Tracker, you can pinpoint if gas prices are on the rise or at a low point for the day.
- Choose the ‘Low’ Priority option when confirming the transaction. If you want to save every penny, then you can try sending your NFT using the ‘Low’ Priority option when you go to confirm the transaction. This option generally takes longer, but if the blockchain isn’t too busy, then it only takes a couple of seconds.
- Set your own gas limit. By changing the maximum GWEI fee using your wallet, you can literally choose how much your gas fee will be, or rather, the price you’re willing to pay. You can change the GWEI limit when at the confirmation screen. Just know the transaction won’t go through until gas reaches that price.
Is Burning an NFT Safe?
Burning an NFT is completely safe. There is one exception though; don’t burn NFTs that are ‘gifted’ or ‘airdropped’ to you by an unknown sender. By interacting with these tokens you could unknowingly give scammers access to your wallet and any assets within, by simply approving the transaction.
Unfortunately, if you have an NFT in your wallet that was sent to you unwillingly, there’s not much you can do about it. Definitely don’t approve any transactions associated with these tokens.
Your best option is to flag them as spam on the marketplace where they exist. Also, some platforms like Opensea let you hide these suspicious NFTs so you don’t accidentally interact with them.
As long as you don’t try to send, sell, or approve any transactions with these spam tokens you should be safe.
Aside from not interacting with these malicious NFTs, it’s important to remember that once you burn an NFT, there’s no way to recover it. That means what’s done is done. There’s no one you can contact to get it back.
So, before you send it to a null address, make sure that you really don’t want that NFT.
Why Burn an NFT?
Below are some of the most common reasons why someone might want to burn their NFT.
Reduce supply
Reducing the total supply of an NFT collection or project is a common reason why you might want to burn your NFT. Maybe you had a limited-time sale and that time is up.
This is a prime example of supply vs. demand. If there’s a high demand but you decrease the total supply, then the demand could increase even further as a result. As a result, burning a token could have a long-term effect on the value of a collection.
Rectify errors
There’s no doubt that even creators in the NFT space make errors. The only problem is that the blockchain is nearly impossible to edit compared to other technical mistakes one could make.
Hence, sometimes the only option is to rectify the error by burning the token. This is often the case when a creator accidentally mints too many NFTs.
Gamified trading
Numerous brands and projects have implemented a burn mechanism that is used to gamify their ecosystem. By giving collectors the option to continue holding an asset or trade it for something else of equal or greater value, holders are incentivized to burn their tokens to receive the new asset.
At the same time, this reduces the total supply of the original tokens, potentially making them more valuable. So, the decision to can be quite difficult at times, but also rewarding if you make a good trade.
One example of an NFT project that has implemented this mechanism is Gary Vee’s ‘Book Games NFTs’ and his blue-chip NFT project ‘VeeFriends’.
Those who wanted to mint any of the 15 new characters that were introduced in Series 2, had to burn certain Book Game tokens to be eligible to buy the new character.
Can I Get Money for Burning an NFT?
You don’t get money for burning an NFT on Ethereum. However, if you burn an NFT that you paid for, it could be considered a tax loss. Also, other blockchains like Solana offer users a rebate for burning tokens by depositing small amounts of SOL into their wallet whenever an NFT is burned.