> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs-v4.nftx.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs-v4.nftx.io/core-concepts/minting-and-redeeming.md).

# Minting & Redeeming

Minting and redeeming are the two feeless doors in and out of a collection's fungible state. Together they're what make a floor token redeemable — and what make "buy an NFT" as simple as a swap.

## Minting: NFT → floor token

**Minting** deposits an NFT into the [vault](/core-concepts/vaults.md) and issues a floor token in return:

```
NFT → vault → 1 floor token
```

Deposit one Milady and you receive 1 MILADY, freshly minted and backed by the NFT you just deposited. You can hold it, sell it at floor value in the collection's pool, or use it to buy a different item. Minting is **feeless** — you pay only gas.

## Redeeming: floor token → NFT

**Redeeming** is the reverse: burn a floor token and withdraw an NFT from the vault.

```
1 floor token → vault → NFT
```

A plain redeem returns a **floor NFT** from the pool — any item held at floor, since each is worth exactly one token. Redeeming is **feeless** too. If instead you want one *particular* item that's worth more than floor, that item is a [Liquid Listing](/how-it-works/liquid-listings.md) priced above floor: you buy it by filling its listing at its [floor multiple](/how-it-works/floor-tokens.md#floor-multiples-pricing-above-the-floor), rather than by a plain redeem.

## Behind the scenes: buying an NFT with ETH

Most people never touch the floor token directly — they just want to buy or sell an NFT with ETH. That works because a buy is a swap plus a redeem bundled into one transaction:

```
ETH → floor token → burn for an NFT
```

Behind the scenes, most of your ETH buys one floor token in the collection's Uniswap V4 pool, and that token is immediately burned to redeem a floor NFT. Selling runs the same steps in reverse. See [Swaps & Trade-Ups](/how-it-works/swaps-and-trade-ups.md) for more.

## Feeless in, feeless out

Both mint and redeem are free by design. NFTX doesn't tax the entrance or the exit — it charges only where value is actually being priced: in the [listing system](/how-it-works/liquid-listings.md) and on [swaps](/how-it-works/swaps-and-trade-ups.md). [Fees](/core-concepts/fees.md) lays out the whole model.

The on-chain functions behind all of this — `deposit`, `redeem`, and `swap` — live on the [Locker](/contracts/locker.md).