Definitions of the core terms behind every artwork in the museum. Skim the index, jump to a term, or read straight through.
Lives directly on the blockchain.
An asset is on-chain when its data — ownership, metadata, sometimes the artwork itself — is recorded on a public blockchain such as Ethereum. Anyone can verify it without trusting a central server. NFTmuseum.art reads its entire collection on-chain in real time, so there is no mirrored copy on our servers.
Creating a new NFT on a blockchain.
Minting writes a brand-new token into a smart contract for the first time. The transaction permanently records the artwork's identifier, its initial owner and (usually) a link to its metadata. Once minted, the token can be transferred, sold or displayed but its origin block is immutable.
The full ownership history of an artwork.
Traditional museums prove provenance with paperwork. On a blockchain, every transfer of an NFT is timestamped and public — so the chain of custody from the artist's wallet down to the current holder is verifiable by anyone, instantly, without intermediaries.
The cost of writing to the blockchain.
Every action that changes blockchain state — minting, transferring, listing for sale — requires a small payment in the network's native token (ETH on Ethereum) to compensate the validators who process it. Browsing, viewing, and reading data are always free; gas only applies when you write.
Non-fungible token: a unique on-chain asset.
A non-fungible token is a one-of-a-kind unit recorded on a blockchain. Unlike cryptocurrency, where every coin is interchangeable, each NFT has its own identifier and history — making it suitable for digital art, collectibles, tickets and certificates.
Self-executing code deployed on the blockchain.
A smart contract is a small program that lives on a blockchain and runs exactly as written. NFT collections are smart contracts that define how tokens are created, transferred and queried. The museum reads the contract directly to populate the collection.
Your identity and key on the blockchain.
A crypto wallet is a piece of software (or hardware) that stores the private keys controlling your on-chain assets. The public address derived from those keys is what shows up as the owner of an NFT. NFTmuseum.art is read-only — you never connect a wallet to browse it.
The descriptive data attached to a token.
Beyond ownership, an NFT carries metadata: title, description, image URL, traits, creator. Some collections store metadata fully on-chain; others point to off-chain storage like IPFS or a centralized server. The robustness of an NFT often depends on where its metadata lives.
Decentralized storage addressed by content.
The InterPlanetary File System stores files by their cryptographic hash rather than by location. Many NFTs use IPFS to host images and metadata so they can't be silently swapped — if the file changes, the hash changes, and the link breaks.
Ethereum standard for unique NFTs.
ERC-721 is the original Ethereum standard for non-fungible tokens. Each token under an ERC-721 contract is unique and indivisible — perfect for one-of-one artworks. Most blue-chip art collections in the museum follow this standard.
Ethereum standard for multi-edition tokens.
ERC-1155 lets a single contract issue both unique and editioned tokens — useful for artworks released in numbered runs, or for collections that mix one-of-ones with open editions. The museum supports both standards.
A venue for buying and selling NFTs.
Marketplaces like OpenSea aggregate listings across many collections and let collectors trade tokens directly from their wallets. NFTmuseum.art links out to OpenSea for any commercial action — the museum itself never holds inventory or processes sales.