What are NFT drops?

What are NFT drops?

An NFT drop happens when a new NFT collection is released. NFT drops can vary in both how the NFTs are sold (listed for sale or auction), and in who they’re released to (the public, or a specific list called an “allowlist”).

Often, NFT drops coincide with when the NFTs in the collection are minted, that is, written to the blockchain. You might hear these terms used interchangeably— a drop might be referred to as the project’s mint.

Primary vs. secondary NFT sales

In addition to the term “drop” you may also hear the terms “primary” and “secondary” when referring to NFT sales or markets. This is because NFTs are often bought and sold multiple times after their initial purchase. 

Primary sales

Primary sales happen the first time an NFT is sold. The first sale can be after the creator has minted (written the NFT to the blockchain) their work themselves, or it can be minted by the buyer at the time of purchase. NFT drops are almost always the primary sale of the collection.

Sometimes, there are additional benefits for those who participate in the primary sale and are the first owner of the NFT. For example, an art collection might offer community membership to anyone who holds an NFT from the collection, but only the people who minted an NFT in the primary sale get a physical print of the artwork.

Secondary sales

Secondary sales happen when NFTs are bought and sold after the initial sale, similar to how fine art or trading cards might pass through multiple owners’ hands over time. Because all NFT transactions are written on a public, immutable blockchain, you can see an NFT’s entire sale history, all the way back to the primary sale.

What does an NFT drop entail?

Typically, when an NFT project announces their upcoming drop (usually on their official Twitter or Discord), they’ll include information about the allowlist, “the reveal,” and the drop schedule. Let’s walk through these pieces.

Allowlists

An allowlist is a list of crypto wallet addresses predetermined by the NFT project’s founders or team that may have special or early access to the NFT drop. Think of it like being on the list at a nightclub— you get to skip the line and go right in. Projects may give allowlist spots to people who hold other NFTs from the same creators, influencers, active members of the project’s community, or giveaway winners.

Reveals

NFT project mints will usually have a “reveal.” This means that when buyers participate in the drop, the NFTs everyone mints will look the same (often they’ll display placeholder artwork until the real artwork is revealed). Later, the NFTs will be “revealed” when the drop owner updates the NFT’s metadata. Although the NFT you own is still the original token, the image will look different. This is common when NFTs within a given collection have different utility or varying rarity. Think of it like buying a pack of Pokémon cards— you buy the pack hoping you’ll get something rare, but you don’t know until you open it. Reveals typically happen after the mint date. It’s up to the creator to decide when they want to reveal the collection’s artwork, and the timeline varies from creator to creator.