You may have heard people use phrase burn in sentences like, "In 24 hours, I will burn all unsold" or "Please burn editions after event." If you are new to the world of cryptocurrency, you may be unsure what "burn" means in this context.

I am here to teach what burn means, why you would burn a token, and to show you how to burn NFT editions on Objkt.com.

My name is Lauren McDonagh-Pereira. I am a photographer, NFT artist, NFT collector, and web3 blogger. I have been fully immersed in the NFT art space since February 2022, and obsessed with Tezos since May 2022. I am here to guide your through the process of becoming a member of the Tezos community. 

Let's dive in. 

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ⓒ Lauren McDonagh-Pereira Photography 2013[/caption]

Before we get into it, please consider a few quick DISCLAIMERS.

• I am not a financial advisor, an art expert, a lawyer, or an accountant. Always do your own research before purchasing NFTs and never spend money that you cannot afford to spend. 

• This post represents my personal opinions and is NOT financial advice.

• I am an NFT artist. At the time of posting, I have works minted on the Tezos and Ethereum blockchain. Links contained in this article may point to my own minted NFTs or may point to the NFTs of other artists that I have collected from. If you choose to collect NFTs referenced in this article, I may earn money from your purchase.

• This post may contain sponsored ads and affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you click on an ad and make a purchase. I am not responsible for 3rd party websites. 

• As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

• Review my Privacy Policy here. 

NFT stands for "non-fungible token."

When you mint NFTs, you are minting tokens. 

If you own an NFT and you no longer wish to have it in your wallet, you would need to burn the NFT to get rid of it.

Burning an NFT is like permanently deleting the file and its metadata from the blockchain. 

On Tezos, it is common for artists to mint their NFTs as editions of piece rather than as a 1-of-1 collectible.  Sometimes, artists decide to burn some or all of these editions if they haven't sold at the end of a Tezos community event, or after a set period of time. 

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Burn Token on Tezos[/caption]

The unsold tokens are burnt to reduce the supply of a particular art piece, to raise its value and reward early collectors.

The wallet that holds the token can burn the token.

If you minted 10 editions of a piece of art as a Tezos NFT, have sold 2 editions, but still own 8 editions, you are free to burn the 8 editions that you have not sold.

You cannot burn editions or 1-of-1 NFTs that reside in other peoples' wallets even if you created the NFT. Once the NFT is sold, only its holder can burn it.

Conversely, collectors are free to burn your NFT art once they have collected it from you.

There have been instances of collectors buying up all of the editions of an NFT art-piece only to burn all but one edition turning the editions piece into a 1-of-1.  This is a controversial move with social ramifications within the opinionated halls of crypto Twitter spaces, but it is both possible and within your rights as an NFT collector. 

Now you know what it is to burn. Let's move on to the "how". 

Open the browser associated with your Tezos cryptocurrency wallet, and head to Objkt.com. 

Log into your Objkt account, visit your own profile and visit your "Created" page. 

Here you will be able to see all of the Tezos NFTs that you have minted. 

Locate the NFT that you would like to burn and click on it. 

Take a moment to review your NFT.

Be sure that it is the correct piece, that you really want to burn it, and that you still own the editions you plan to burn.

Burning an NFT is a permanent action. Once an NFT has been burnt, it cannot be recovered. 

If you are satisfied that you want to burn the NFT, you will need to deslist editions that you have listed for sale, and then burn the number that you desire.

To do this, locate the "Actions" tab on the right side of the screen next to the image of the NFT. 

Before burning, you need to delist any edition that you plan to get rid of. 

It's not the end of the world if you miss this step. I have forgotten a few times.

It just confuses Objkt.com and will leave with you with an annoying "Hanging Listings" pop up warning every time you log into Objkt. 

Its best practice to delist first, but scrolling to the bottom of the "Actions" tab and finding the drop down menu titled "Listings".

In the example below, I have 198 editions of this piece listed for 1 xtz a piece. I listed this large volume for a specific Tezos community event called #200Tezos. The event is now over, so I want to burn this piece down to a more manageable edition size of 25 pieces.  I have sold 2 pieces of this edition of 200. I want 25 total pieces to remain in circulation. I will need to burn all but 23 of the editions that I still hold to get the piece down to 25 editions. I have typed "175" into the box because I am retracting 175 of the editions that I own from the market.

 Step 4A:  Type the number of listings you want to cancel from sale and click "cancel". 

Step 4B: If you are using a browser based wallet, it should pop up after you select "Cancel".

Enter your password to unlock the wallet. 

Step 4C: Approve the transaction. 

Click "Confirm" within your wallet to consent to the gas fee and approve cancelling your listings. 

Step 4D: Wait

Wait a few minutes. 

If the transaction is successful, you will see a green pop-up at the bottom right-hand side of your screen that reads "Your Listing was Canceled".

The editions you canceled are no longer listed for sale on Objkt.com and you are free to burn them now. 

Locate the "Burn" field in the middle of the "Actions" tab. 

This is where you will burn, or permanently destroy, a number of your tokens. 

Be warned! This action is not reversible. Once the tokens are have been burned, they are gone for ever. 

Step 5A: Enter the number of tokens that you want to burn.

In the example below, I want to burn 175 of my 200 editions to leave 25 editions of the piece in circulation. I have typed "175" in the burn field.

Step 5B: Click "Burn Token" to burn your desired number of editions. 

Step 5C: Your browser-based cryptocurrency wallet should pop up after you select "Burn Token".

Enter your password, and unlock your wallet. 

Step 5D: Click "Confirm" on your wallet to agree to the small gas fee and execute the burn operation. 

Step 5E: Wait for the transaction to complete.

When it is done, you will see a green pop up on the bottom right hand side of your screen that reads "Token/s successfully burnt. 

Return to the details tab of the token and check your work.

The number of editions should have changed.

Be patient. Sometimes this can take up to 10 minutes to be reflected on Objkt.com due to netowork traffic. 

Celebrate! You have burned your Tezos tokens to a smaller editions size!

If you found this article helpful, and want to support NFTArtwithLauren, collect some of the wonderful photography or fun AI-art I have minted on my favorite blockchain. 

You can find my Tezos NFTs for sale on Objkt.com under ‘LAMPphotography.tez”. 

I would be honored if one of my pieces made into the first page your Tezos wallet!

Join my mailing list and follow me on Twitter to get updates on future articles.

Lauren McDonagh-Pereira is a photographer from Massachusetts, USA. She captures the beauty of the world around her, favoring Nikon cameras and lenses. She is drawn to shooting landscapes, wildlife, nature, and people authentically enjoying life. 

Tweet me @LAMPphotography

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