Author: Pastel Network

Pastel Network teams up with Parity Technologies to bring NFT Security and Permanent Storage to the Polkadot Ecoystem

Posted on by Pastel Network

Pastel Network is excited to announce that it’s teaming up with Parity Technologies, a leading core blockchain infrastructure company — the builders behind Polkadot and Substrate. Parity will collaborate with Pastel with the goal of providing Pastel’s Sense and Cascade protocols to its NFT ecosystem. This collaboration signifies the continued successes of both Pastel and Parity, and is a massive step forward for the overall NFT ecosystem. It is a testament to the growing need for NFT reliability, security and verifiability, solved via Pastel’s advanced infrastructure.

What is Parity Technologies?

Parity Technologies provides decentralized infrastructure for Web3, enabling blockchains to operate together at scale. It is creating an open-source creative commons that will enable people to create better institutions through technology. This started with work building Ethereum. Today, Parity is focused on Substrate, an industry-standard blockchain framework. It has used it to build Polkadot, a decentralized web blockchain meta-protocol, securing and connecting crypto-economies to the world.

What is Polkadot?

Polkadot is the first fully-sharded blockchain. Polkadot enables scalability by allowing specialized blockchains to communicate with each other in a secure, trust-free environment.

Polkadot is built to connect and secure unique blockchains, whether they be public, permissionless networks, private consortium chains, or other Web3 technologies. It enables an internet where independent blockchains can exchange information under common security guarantees.

Polkadot is a living network with the core pillars of governance and upgradability. The network has an advanced suite of governance tools and, using the WebAssembly standard as a “meta-protocol”, can autonomously deploy network upgrades. Polkadot adapts to one’s growing needs without the risks of network forks.

By connecting these dots, Polkadot serves as a foundational layer of a decentralized web, where users control their data and are not limited by trust bounds within the network.

What is Substrate?

Substrate is a Software Development Kit (SDK) specifically designed to provide you with all of the fundamental components s blockchain requires so you can focus on crafting the logic that makes your chain unique and innovative.

Substrate is a fully modular blockchain framework that lets you compose a chain with explicitly decoupled components, by selecting the network stack, consensus model, or governance method that suits one’s project or by creating one’s own components.

All of the Substrate architecture and tooling is available under open-source licensing. Substrate also has a large, active, and helpful builder community contributing to the ecosystem. Contributions from the community enhance the capabilities available for you to incorporate into your own blockchain as it evolves.

All Substrate-based blockchains can interoperate with the other blockchains through Cross-Consensus Messaging (XCM). Substrate can be used to create chains as independent networks (solo chains), or tightly coupled to a relay chain to share its security as a parachain.

Substrate is built to be upgradeable, composable, and adaptable. The state transition logic — the Substrate runtime — is a self-contained WebAssembly object. Your nodes can be given the ability to completely change the runtime itself under specific conditions, inducing a runtime upgrade network wide. Thus “forkless” upgrades are possible, as no action is required in most cases for nodes to operate with this new runtime. Over time, your network’s runtime protocols can seamlessly, and perhaps radically, evolve with the needs of your users.

What does a Pastel Collaboration mean for the Polkadot ecosystem?

In the immediate term, we are excited to collaborate with Parity to bring our mission-critical Web3 protocols to the Polkadot Ecosystem, which can be integrated seamlessly across all native layer-1s and layer-2 dApps. We will specifically work with Polkadot’s layer-1 parachains and their NFT and DeFi dApps built on top of them to integrate Pastel’s:

  • Near-Duplicate NFT Detection (Sense) → Deep-learning technology that assesses the relative rareness between NFTs to detect counterfeits, scams, or copyright infringement and provide a certification of authenticity.
  • NFT Data & Metadata Storage (Cascade) → Fully distributed, permanent and entirely redundant storage protocol. Pay once and store forever. Prevent centralized points of failure, monthly subscription maintenance, IPFS pinning & 404 errors.

Given the lightweight nature of these protocols and their interoperability as Web3 Open APIs, any Polkadot ecosystem member will be able to directly access Pastel’s near-duplicate NFT detection and store NFT metadata in a cryptographically secure, redundant, and distributed manner.

In the longer term, we will work directly with Parity Technologies to develop fully decentralized and trustless interoperability via a communication bridge. As a non-parachain blockchain, Pastel Network can achieve trustless communication with Polkadot via a Substrate instance. This Substrate instance can be deployed to Polkadot via a common-good public utility or community-operated parachain. Initially, Pastel’s Network of high-compute validators (“SuperNodes”) can serve as a federation of off-chain agents.

With this type of interoperability, Pastel and Parity can bring decentralized NFT permanence and security to the entire ecosystem.

How does the integration work?

Pastel Network has not only worked relentlessly to develop incredible infrastructure for the NFT ecosystem, but to also deliver it to network partners in a lightweight, seamless manner. Partners of the Pastel Network such as Parity and along with other native blockchains or dApps communicate directly with Pastel via open Web3 APIs.

During NFT minting on Polkadot, secure and authenticated REST API calls pass the hash of the candidate NFT to Pastel Network. The return responses — 1) a JSON file with the relative rareness score in the case of Sense and 2) the SHA3–256 hash for the JSON file stored in Kademlia which itself contains the SHA3–256 hashes of the set of redundant copies of the JSON files in Kademlia — are signed by randomly selected SuperNodes operating on the Pastel Network. Smart tickets write and store the outputs to the Pastel blockchain, which is returned to Polkadot and included as additional Response fields in its NFT standard.

We are very excited to embark on this relationship and look forward to sharing more great news with the entire community.

If interested in learning more about Pastel and these revolutionary protocols, please see below:

Pastel Overview: https://pastel.network/

Pastel Docs (more technical): https://docs.pastel.network/introduction/pastel-overview

Sense Protocol: https://sense.pastel.network/

Cascade Protocol: https://cascade.pastel.network/

About Pastel Network

Pastel Network is a fully decentralized, developer-friendly layer-1 blockchain serving as the preeminent protocol standard for non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) and Web3 technology.

Pastel allows for the development of third-party decentralized-applications (“DApps”) to sit on top of its Network, enabling developers to enjoy the scalable registration features, storage processes, and security of the broader ecosystem. Lightweight protocols such as Sense — which was built to assess the relative rareness of a given NFT against near-duplicate metadata — and Cascade — which conducts permanent, distributed storage of underlying NFT data — can be integrated cross-chain across various layer-1 blockchains, layer-2 protocols, or other third-party apps.

Pastel is managed by world-class developers, cryptographers, and technologists, supported alongside an experienced and extensive network of marketers, influencers, and third-party agencies. Pastel is backed by key stakeholders including Innovating Capital, a prominent venture fund.

For more information on Pastel Network, visit https://pastel.network/.

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This article was first published by our team here.

Cezanne Mainnet Release

Posted on by Pastel Network

Pastel Network’s highly anticipated Cezanne Mainnet Upgrade is LIVE! The Cezanne Mainnet Upgrade includes major upgrades to the Pastel blockchain and a number of improvements for our broader ecosystem.

Having been under development for over 8 months, Cezanne is our largest release to date and marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Pastel Network. This upgrade includes:

  • Improvements to NFT Minting and Collections
  • Support for NFT Transfers, Trades, and Auctions
  • Interchain account identification via PastelIDs
  • Cross-chain network access via Web3 APIs
  • Dramatic upgrades to Sense (our near-duplicate NFT detection protocol)
  • Enhancements to Cascade (our distributed NFT storage protocol)
  • User-friendly utility services via PastelUp
  • Improvements to network optimization and security
  • And more!

A full list and description of all updates can be found below.

The Pastel community has completed the painstaking and tedious process of testing each component to ensure that all functionality is highly performant and optimized under a variety of environment and network state conditions. With the completion of these multiple phases of unit-level, integration-based, and protocol-level stress-testing, we have successfully activated the latest chain release across Miner, SuperNode, WalletNode, and Node clients.

Community members have been notified to upgrade their existing infrastructure to the latest release prior to a blockHeight 316300. If you are running an active client, we encourage you to upgrade as soon as possible. Full stable release source code and upgrade instructions are available here.

First, what is a Mainnet Upgrade?

A Mainnet Upgrade is the introduction of new software changes, improvements, and features that are made at the blockchain level to continue to advance the overall network’s functionality.

Mainnet Upgrades enable all network participants and community members — such as SuperNode operators, miners, ecosystem partners, and end-users — to access the most up-to-date and cutting-edge technology.

As Mainnet Upgrades introduce drastic changes to the blockchain, they require tremendous testing, debugging, and implementation along with a majority consensus from participating network nodes and miners.

What is the Cezanne Mainnet Upgrade?

As introduced in our Testnet Release, Cezanne brings countless improvements to both end-user & NFT functionality — such as registration, minting, transferring, and trading — alongside unrestricted access to advanced protocols like Sense and Cascade via interoperable Open-APIs, seamless composability, improved token economics, and the most powerful protocol standard for the Web3 ecosystem.

Continue reading to learn more about each new update, feature, and improvement.

Unrestricted NFT Functionality

One of the largest updates for the Cezanne Mainnet Release is unrestricted NFT accessibility on the network. Users are able to fully create persistent identities (‘PastelIDs’) on the network which can then be used to create, register, transfer, and trade NFTs via our layer-1 protocol. This release is instrumental in ensuring that new users — whether they are individual creators, communities, or applications — can seamlessly mint NFTs for a variety of use-cases on the Pastel protocol itself using our advanced Smart Ticket structure.

Various Smart Tickets have been added, improved, and upgraded to support all of the necessary NFT-related information on the network, ensuring even more application flexibility and functionality. Stored in a simple and secure format, information is easily written, transmitted and subsequently signed by relevant nodes on the network. Various Smart Tickets implement all requirements to support:

  • User Information
  • Creator and Collector PastelIDs
  • NFT Minting
  • NFT Collections
  • NFT Transfers, Trades, and Auctions

The benefit of this system is that it provides a highly powerful and generic framework for encapsulating all sorts of structure, features, and functionality that can be easily leveraged by users minting directly on the protocol, third-party developers building entire decentralized-applications on the Pastel Network, or decentralized ecosystems seeking cross-chain composability.

In addition, the declarative and static nature of Smart Tickets means that there is no risk to end users from subtle bugs or edge cases in custom smart contracts. Instead, all the required logic for handling tickets and performing related computations is done in the node software itself, operating at the protocol level.

Web3 OpenAPIs

The future of the Web3 ecosystem relies upon trustless applications that interact with Web APIs. As a native layer-1 blockchain, it is important that any user around the world can access the functionality powered by Pastel via simple and secure Web API calls.

Users can now interact directly with the Pastel Network via context-specific APIs, which can be done directly from native full nodes or from smart contracts via off-chain services. To support this functionality, we have upgraded the core Pastel software (‘pasteld’) to provide new types of Smart Tickets for each action type such as Activation, Status, or Retrieval events. This also extends to native Sense and Cascade protocol-level calls, making it even easier for ecosystem partners to interact with our network.

Sense Protocol

Sense is a lightweight protocol on the Pastel Network, built to assess the relative rareness of a given NFT versus all previously registered NFTs on the network. Sense can recognize the most subtle similarities between two digital collectibles, even if one has been transformed. The protocol goes beyond the standard “digital fingerprint” approach to establishing the rareness of an NFT and actually looks at the rareness of the pixel patterns in data. While digital fingerprints do allow users to verify that an NFT was created by a particular creator, this is a fairly weak form of rareness. Sense solves this problem by assigning a ‘Relative Rareness Score’ to quantify how rare an NFT is relative to all NFTs in the underlying dataset.

See how it works first hand in our Demo.

Pastel’s Sense Protocol saw a dramatic facelift to make it even more powerful and robust against transformations through new methods of fingerprint analysis, statistical correlation, and rareness computations.

When a user registers an image as a new Pastel NFT or applies Sense via OpenAPI to an NFT from another blockchain, the Sense software analyzes the pixel data in this new “candidate” NFT and, using powerful Deep Learning models, generates a fingerprint vector (a set of ~1,500 numbers) which characterizes the visual structure of the candidate image in a very particular way. This allows the system to quickly compare this fingerprint vector to the fingerprints of all previously registered images on the Pastel Network, and for each one, precisely measure the visual similarity of that image versus the candidate image. This measure of visual similarity is robust to all sorts of transformations, allowing it to basically “see through” any superficial changes to an image. If any previously registered image is “too similar” to the candidate image, then this results in a lower “rareness score” for the candidate image.

We further modified how each WalletNode processes fingerprint data calculated by SuperNodes in order to dramatically decrease the time between asset registration and Sense analysis.

Through these method refinements and upgrades, we have more insight into image recognition and rareness than ever before. Sense provides users with the ability to define the relative rareness of their NFT with the highest level of precision. This release just made Sense even more capable.

Cascade Protocol

Cascade is an integrated, decentralized storage layer based on two powerful ideas from computer science: distributed hash tables (DHTs) and fountain codes (in particular, RaptorQ). Pastel ensures that the digital asset itself (e.g., an image file) is uploaded, verified, and registered on the Pastel Network, rather than just some brief metadata describing the asset with a link to an externally hosted file which might be unavailable in the future. Through a series of smart tickets living on the Pastel ledger, creators can store their assets in a distributed fashion across a variety of SuperNodes. The objective is that in 20, 50, or even 100+ years, the world does not lose access to a single data file entrusted to the Pastel network.

The emphasis of Cascade is on data retention, which is at its core an exercise in designing fault-tolerant, high-reliability systems.

By enhancing WalletNode features, we are optimizing Cascade to run and execute in a high activity and high volume environment. The ability to operate efficiently while scaling is crucial. The upgrades to Cascade in this release allow that to happen.

Introducing PastelUp — A Pastel-Utility Service

PastelUp is a Pastel-Utility service that makes the installation of key infrastructure like WalletNode and SuperNodes extremely intuitive and user-friendly. This service’s features include install, start, stop, remote set-up, default settings, and various command options. It also supports better handling of operation termination and dd-server installation.

We also added various SuperNode applications as systemd services for SuperNode operators, such as pasteld, supernode, rq-server, and dd-server, and have built in functionality to support remote updates.

PastelUp is an extremely important infrastructure tool that we are proud to announce. PastelUp was developed with our community in mind as a means to support network participation, performance, and decentralization by making it easier for users to get up and running with Pastel services.

Network Optimization

Speed, security, storage, and efficient runtime processes are core pillars for Pastel. We rolled out a variety of network upgrades to continue to ensure that the Pastel Network runs with maximum uptime and reliability:

  • Implemented connection pool w/ multiplexing support & peer-only authentication to improve communications in Kademlia
  • Integrated zstd compression for Smart Tickets written to blockchain
  • Converted scheduler from boost to std to replace boost threads with stoppable threads
  • Added gtest for thread services and upgraded scheduler tests
  • Modified write ticket from async to sync to prevent previous ticket error during block load / re-load (on valid blocks)

Security

As always, security is our utmost concern and we made sure to further increase the robustness of our network in the Cezanne Mainnet Release. Certain improvements include:

  • Removed configuration of SSH clientConfig with insecure HostKeyCallback from various sources in sshclient.go
  • Cleared text logging sensitive data extraction
  • Added additional encryption to data returned by actions requiring SN PassPhrase logging
  • Supported enable/disable logging for P2P and MetaDB
  • Replaced Ticket encoding from b64 to ascii85
  • Included authentication of Kademlia’s peers to other peers when connections occur using a SuperNode’s PastelID as a certificate
  • Added additional validation of connection requests by Kademlia peers to confirm PastelID in handshake is generated by enabled SuperNodes

Other Improvements and Functionality

We have made a series of other improvements as well as supported a variety of new functionality including:

  • LegRoast Public Key stored and encrypted in PastelID Registration Ticket as pq_key field as a vector of bytes, making it possible to locate LegRoast Public Keys via aPastelId
  • Updated API Documentation
  • Refactored the entire GoNode layer
  • Created checkpoint of blockchain written into chainparams
  • Updated PQSignatures for sign/verify of Ed448 & LegRoast Signatures

We are very excited to have reached this key milestone in our roadmap and to share these amazing updates with the community!

The future of Web3.0 is here.

Cezanne Mainnet Release source-code can be reviewed here.

About Pastel Network

Pastel Network is a fully decentralized, developer-friendly layer-1 blockchain serving as the preeminent protocol standard for non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) and Web3 technology.

Pastel allows for the development of third-party decentralized-applications (“DApps”) to sit on top of its Network, enabling developers to enjoy the scalable registration features, storage processes, and security of the broader ecosystem. Lightweight protocols such as Sense — which was built to assess the relative rareness of a given NFT against near-duplicate metadata — and Cascade — which conducts permanent, distributed storage of underlying NFT data — can be integrated cross-chain across various layer-1 blockchains, layer-2 protocols, or other third-party apps.

Pastel is managed by world-class developers, cryptographers, and technologists, supported alongside an experienced and extensive network of marketers, influencers, and third-party agencies. Pastel is backed by key stakeholders including Innovating Capital, a prominent venture fund.

This article was first published by our team here.

George Floyd NFT Explained (Read Before Buying)

Posted on by Pastel Network

The “Floydies” NFTs have sparked a contentious debate over intellectual property within the NFT world after an NFT collection of George Floyd caricatures in diverse costumes and settings emerged. 

George Floyd was an African-American man who was wrongly murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 2020. The police officer behind the crime was sentenced to 22 and a half years in jail for killing the father of five by kneeling on his throat for more than nine minutes. 

The tragic event triggered the United States’ largest racial justice protests since the Civil Rights Movement, spearheaded by the“Black Lives Matter” (BLM) organization. Interestingly, BLM  went far beyond the nation, inspiring a global reckoning with racism across the globe. 

Nonetheless, the initial collection of Floydies NFTs was released by anon curators on OpenSea starting on December 7—a week after the police officer who killed Floyd plead not guilty. OpenSea took the collection of NFTs down following backlash from those concerned about equality and human rights. 

Some believe digital art is “overtly racist caricatures.” The project attracted labels such as “horrible,” and many campaigned for their reporting and removal from marketplaces like OpenSea. Others claimed to perceive the digital assets as a “commemoration” of the life of George Floyd. 

Please note that this article isn’t intended to be a commentary on the social issues surrounding George Floyd’s murder, but an exploration of the debacle surrounding the “Floydies.” 

The History of Floydies 

The original Floydies weren’t very financially successful on OpenSea before being pulled down, but were the target of much criticism on Twitter. The highest-priced NFT costs 0.05 ETH ($97.39). The lowest-priced cost 0.007 ETH ($13.72).

The curator of the first drop of Floydies used Twitter to announce the drop and link to the collection on OpenSea. The post gained over 3,000 likes and 4,100 retweets in just three weeks.

Many dubbed versions of Floydies NFTs followed. The highest bid for one of the non-fungible tokens was $12k. Others sold for significantly less. 

Despite OpenSea kicking off many versions of Floydies, anon curators continue dropping other versions—“George Floyd Defender of Ukraine”, “George Floyd on the Moon”, “George Floyd Explore the Sea”, “In Memory of George Floyd 108” and “George Floyd on the Moon Shining”. 

Following the popularity of Floydies, another marketplace, Scatter Art, continued selling NFTs of George Flloyd. Although, it recently erased the collection regarding copyright issues:

Unlike OpenSea, the project removal had nothing to do with racial scrutinization. 

Floydies Digital Art – Yay or Nay? 

Many NFT projects write descriptions regarding the reasons behind their project to entice buyers. The description on OpenSea for the original collection of Floydies NFTs stated: “Owning a Floydie is a great way to express yourself and your beliefs! Floydies are a unique and progressive way to celebrate the monumental life of George Floyd”.

Although the blockchain applies human rights activism in numerous ways, many find this hard to believe concerning Floydies. 

The main issue with these NFTs is that there’s no sign of the proceeds going towards good causes, like Floyd’s family, Black Lives Matter, and the George Floyd Memorial Foundation. Further, the creators were anon. 

There’s no excuse for the proceeds not being donated. One of the most significant benefits of NFTs is that curators can easily donate auction proceeds using marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible. All curators need to do is set a payout address to their given organization’s cryptocurrency wallet address in advance. 

Thus, people have turned to Twitter to voice their outrage over the anon curators behind Floydies using the homicide for financial gain:

Another concern regarding Floydies is what the imagery manifests. Many different types of Floydies have circled the Web3 space. The digital assets showcase tasteless designs, such as Floyd dressed as a police officer, angel, astronaut, minion, standing in front of a trans flag, and much more. 

It’s important to note that buyers also needed an “N word” pass to access the first collection of Floydies NFTs after purchase.

Nevertheless, the repercussions haven’t prevented other crypto collectors from being drawn to the collection and showing off their purchases on the social media site: 

As you can see, Floydies NFTs and other George Floyd derived and inspired works of art draw much criticism. 

Using NFTs to Fight for Racial Equality

Following Floydies and the many dubbed versions, George Floyd’s brother, Terrance Floyd, created his own much more tasteful collection. 

There are 9,000  “SEENINJUSTICE” NFTs in collaboration with Confront Art on the Flow blockchain. The digital assets feature George Floyd sculptures alongside Breonna Taylor ones. 

Sadly, Taylor was also killed in America by the police in 2020. She was shot by one of the seven police officers who broke into her apartment in Kentucky to investigate a drug dealing operation. 

Unlike the above collections, these NFTs highlight the need to fight for justice whilst raising money for relevant charities—The Breonna Taylor Foundation, the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation, and We Are Floyd Org.

Additionally, the NFT charity campaign also partners with the families of the late Rep. John Lewis, alongside participation from the TV host and Grammy Award-winning singer, Dionne Warwick: 

Final Thoughts

Many Floyd NFTs that degrade the African-American wrongly murdered by a policeman in the States are circling. The project scorns not only George Floyd and his beloved family but also progressivism, equality, and other politics behind the black culture. 

If you are interested in holding a mini George Floyd in your wallet, you can purchase a “SEENINJUSTICE” NFT, the collection launched by the Floyd family, donating to relevant charities.

The Floydies collection has since been removed from Opensea

Anyone disheartened by some of the characters of Floyd continuously swirling around the sphere can do their part by reporting the projects’ Twitter and Openseas accounts. Many of these projects are money grabs by anons seeking to exploit what was a nationally painful moment. 
If you want to show support without purchasing a “SEENINJUSTICE” NFT, you can pledge directly to the George Floyd Memorial Foundation. Donations support critical work to inform, unite, engage communities and fight for justice.

The Solsea NFT Marketplace Explained (Read Before Using)

Posted on by Pastel Network

More blockchain platforms are coming into existence, continuously evolving the Web3 world. Of course, each claims to be the best of its kind. But, unlike some, Solana’s blockchain network has much to boast about—particularly its NFT marketplace, Solsea. 

Solana addresses common Web3 challenges, making the blockchain’s secondary marketplace all the more appealing. For example, Ethereum faces high gas fees due to the prices of gas fluctuating concerning network congestion. Contrastingly, Solana is arguably the fastest moving blockchain. It has the tech to roll out more than 20,000 transactions per second (TPS) at peak load, eliminating congestion issues entirely. 

Thus, purchasing Solana NFTs on its very own marketplace is the way forward for cheaper mints and purchases. 

But what other perks does Solsea have, and how can the secondary marketplace benefit you? 

What is Solsea? NFT and Secondary Marketplace Perks 

To better understand Solsea, grasping the concepts behind NFT marketplaces is vital. Like an art exhibition in the physical world, NFT marketplaces are galleries in the digital world. But instead, each marketplace is a hub for people to auction or buy their favourite digitized content. 

Thus, creators can make money directly from their work, and collectors can own a rare piece of content that they solely own.

Think of it like an art gallery that doubles as a 24/7/365 marketplace for art. 

The use cases of NFTs showcased on the marketplace are endless. Some include crypto domain name ownership, real estate, identification and documentation, and even real-world assets. You can find anything you want in a digital asset on such marketplaces at contrasting prices. Your most-loved celebrity may even own the NFT collection you have your eye on. 

But what makes Solsea unique compared to others?

In contrast to OpenSea, which accepts the cryptocurrencies Ethereum (ETH), Klatyn (KLAY), Polygon (MATIC), and Solana (SOL), Solsea only accepts SOL and a few FIAT currencies (USDC and USDT) for transactions. 

Minting costs also change depending on which marketplace you use. As you may have experienced firsthand, an ETH-based marketplace like OpenSea charges an arm and a leg to mint NFTs.

Solsea is hailed for its cheap experience, but again, the only NFTs available here are based on SOL. 

On top of fees during the minting process, OpenSea also takes a 2.5% profit once an NFT sells, whereas Solsea charges a 2% fee after each successful purchase. 

Other advantages of Solsea include: 

  • Airdrops for upcoming projects
  • Participants can schedule NFT drops ahead of time to avoid missing project launches
  • The first-ever NFT marketplace that enables curators to select and incorporate their licenses while minting NFTs
  • Ahead of the chain for embedding copyright-licenses into NFTs during the minting process
  • A straightforward and easy-to-use interface for uploading NFT collections 
  • Each fully verified and minted Solsea NFT highlights trait statistics and rarity ranks
  • Curators can list their NFTs for sale to the public or privately for more exclusive or more comprehensive purchases

Another plus is that Solsea handles creators’ royalties. When minting an NFT on Solsea, curators can set the percentage of royalties they want to receive (e.g., 10%). Therefore, each time an NFT sells on the secondary marketplace, you can receive a percentage of the royalties set by the current owner. 

How to Join Solsea 

If the above perks appeal to you, take a look through Solsea for yourself.

First, create a Solana wallet on Phantom–buying, storing, or trading NFTs on Solsea is impossible unless creating one. 

Upon following the straightforward guidelines shown on the site to create your wallet, you can deposit your Solana tokens. Make sure you have at least 0.2 worth of SOL in your account; otherwise your wallet will show as being invalid. 

Whether you want to be an NFT curator or to join the marketplace for buying and selling purposes, you must create a Solsea account using a valid email address and private password. 

Write down your login information and tuck it away out of reach of hackers.   

Solsea Minting Tips

Hurrah, you now know the basics for creating a Solsea account. Now it’s time to create your own personal NFT collection held on the Solana blockchain. 

Solsea can be a bit challenging for crypto novices and first-time curators; but don’t get overwhelmed by the buzzwords or confusing features. Here is some advice and potential hurdles you may face while minting your NFT collection: 

  • Be prepared to connect your Phantom wallet to your Solsea account due to being locked on for security purposes. Keep your login information within reach to save time
  • Describe your collection of NFTs as thoroughly as possible while using few words due to the description section having a tight word limit 
  • Be aware of no bulk option if wanting to create multiple NFTs in one collection. Mint each NFT individually if wishing to switch up the artwork
  • Patience while minting your NFT is necessary. The process takes a hot second, especially if your computer power and Wi-Fi signal isn’t the speediest
  • Be prepared to lose a little bit of SOL if uploads fail. But fear not, each transaction roughly costs around $0.075
  • Free up some time over the platform requiring 3 transactions—2 for minting (approve, wait, approve), and 1 for setting the price. Each transaction is nonsensical regarding Phantom’s approval system. You will also be unsure how much the transaction fee will be until the minting process is complete. Although, don’t let this put you off—minting charges are never too steep 
  • You cannot set the price during the minting process. Instead, once successfully minting your NFT, go to your Phantom wallet, click the second tab not in focus by default that shows your NFTs, then click the list button
  • The combination of the three transactions costs approximately $2 total per NFT. Reasonable prices compared to Ethereum, which typically charges around $70-$100 when minting for the first time 

As you can see, Solsea has a few kinks that need ironing out. However, now that you have the know-how to mint your very own collection and overcome potential issues, the process should be relatively straightforward. 

Buying and Trading Advice—Happy NFT Hunting

So, let’s figure out how to use the secondary marketplace wisely to get the most bang for your buck.

On the main page of the Solsea platform, you can see important information about the platform and featured collections. You can easily filter out projects to find a collection that best suits you. You can find it all when looking for music, art, photography, gaming, virtual, or utility NFTs. Other filters include price, rank, likes, views, categories, licenses, and rarity ranks.

With that said, once finding an NFT you desire, you can check out the history of the digital assets, including its sales history and price, before deciding whether or not it is a good investment or a reasonable sale. 

Once reviewing all information, click “Buy NFT” and confirm the transaction in your Phantom wallet. You will now own an NFT, which is viewable in your profile and the “Collections” section of your wallet. Although, it’s critical to note that Solsea is not 100% clear of imposter collections. It’s wise to join project community channels on Discord, Twitter, and Telegram to help notice suspicious activities. You can also voice concerns to other community members and project management on such sites.

 The 10 Best-Selling NFT Artists Ever

Posted on by Pastel Network

NFT sales have come a long way since the first-ever mint in 2014. The digital assets mostly began taking the Internet by storm in the midst of the pandemic; people had more time to see what this Web3 malarkey is all about, and more NFT artists began flooding the space. 

Digital artists like Beeple, Pak and Tyler Hobbs regularly sell their NFT artwork for more than six figures. 

What makes their NFT projects stand out compared to others? Check out these top 10 historic NFT artists and what they brought to the blockchain: 

Pak (Murat Pak)

The anonymous NFT curator Pak, known as Murat Pak, is top of the NFT ladder. One of his Merge NFTs sold for a whopping $91.8 million, making it the most expensive sale to date. Buyers with the most significant stakes can trade and buy shares in other markets for higher prices. 

Pak is also well-known for creating NFTs with unique use cases. For example, his Clock Censored* collection consists of a timer that counts the number of days Assange has spent in prison. The former WikiLeaks publisher faces 175 years in jail over extradition to the US. 

Interestingly, a DAO fighting for Assange’s rights—AssangeDAO—won the NFT bid for approximately $52.7 million. The cypherpunks gave 100% of the proceeds to the Wau Holland Foundation, which supports Assange’s defense. 

It’s challenging to know precisely how much Pak is worth, seeing as the anon artist is a mystery in the sphere. However, between February 2020 and April 2022, the curator sold more than 180,300 NFTs. The total NFT market cap for the digital assets currently stands at around $430 million. 

Murat Pak’s works typically sell for $6.5k on average. 

Beeple

Mike Winkelmann, “Beeple”, shocked the world when his NFT collection Everydays: The First 5000 Days was sold for $69.3 million (38535 ETH). The event created an NFT hype and hit the headlines in mainstream media in 2021. 

Beeple’s digital work comes down to other valuable factors: he accumulated a vast fan base, with more than 2.5 million followers across social channels. His projects are often described as prolific. For example, his “Everydays” art piece is a collage of his digital artwork of the first 5000 days he began creating digital art from start to finish. Although not only does the digital art present a glimpse into Beeple’s artistic journey, but also a timeline of the United States history in real-time. 

Beeple has sold 1,351 NFTs in total that cost an entire value of $176,201,356. 

His average sale price for an NFT is $130,422.91.

Tyler Hobbs (Art Blocks)

Since joining Art Blocks in June 2021, computer scientist and generative artist, Tyler Hobbs, has caused a storm among NFTs. His most famous collection, Fidenza, made more than $177 million in secondary sales, turning him into a crypto multi-millionaire. 

Fidenza #946

Like other Art Blocks curators, he creates his now-viral art entirely from raw lines of code rather than using Photoshop and other popular photo editing tools. Although, differently, Hobbs is most famous for incorporating different hues and creating unique textures through algorithms, making his work one of the most versatile generative art styles to date. 

Tyler Hobbs has sold 1012 NFT masterpieces, making his total NFT value stand at nearly $120 million. 

On average, one of his NFTs costs around $115k. 

Dmitri Cherniak 

Dmitri Cherniak has been a long-time crypto aficionado but didn’t mint his own NFTs until 2019. 

Since then, Cherniak joined Art Blocks, creating his own generative art pieces through algorithms, similar to Hobbs. Despite only selling 875 NFTs in total, he stays ahead of the game over his Ringers collection, accumulating enough financial gain. 

Cherniak’s artwork focuses on geometric shapes and vibrant colors. Although, some of his artwork is in black and white. 

Ringers #463

Thanks to his Ringers collection, his current NFT value is close to the billion mark, standing at around $99 million. 

Cherniak’s highest sale for one Ringers NFTs is $2,682,000. 

Although, these digital assets usually sell for $112,365.58.

XCopy 

Hitting the top five is the anonymous artist XCopy, who also showcases his collection on Art Blocks.

Unlike the above Art Blocks artists mentioned, XCopy’s artwork is not generative. Instead, the anonymous NFT creator mints various collections on multiple platforms, including SuperRare, KnownOrigin, NiftyGateway and Async. 

The digital artist’s work typically consists of spooky-looking themes, featuring skulls and dramatic lighting that explore “death, dystopia and apathy through distorted visual loops”. However, like all art, collectors can perceive his work however they wish. 

XCOPY – “All Time High in the City”

XCopy has sold 9,543 NFTs, with his highest sale being $6.2 million—thanks to his All Time High in the City collection. 

His total NFT value is around $90 million, with his most famous ones typically selling for more than $9k each.

Matt DesLauriers

Like Tyler Hobbs and Dmitri Cherniak, Matt DesLauriers is another creative coder representing some of the most famous generative art on the Art Blocks platform.

Unlike other abstract pieces found on the platform, DesLauriers’ artwork is representational at first glance. His NFTs similarly showcase contrasting strokes of colour, giving an abstract effect. But, differently, you can notice 2D and 3D landscapes of high peak mountains. 

Matt DesLauriers has sold 2,070 NFTs. 

Meridian #327

DesLauriers’ most expensive digital asset, Meridian #327, sold for $36,963.58. In total, his digital assets are worth $55 million. 

Hackatao

The name Hackatao is fitting for this NFT project. “Hack” means discovering hidden meanings, whereas “Tao” is Yin and Yang for representing a dynamic balance. 

Hackatao is famous for both his NFT work as for physical pieces. Both styles showcase vibrant and expressive illustrations of female characters. 

Although, the most soared after NFTs created by Hackatao represent everyday issues regarding humanity, the environment and society. 

A well-known project created by Hackatao is Queen of Silence #3/5. The tattoo-styled, quirky piece of art features a woman with skulls, animals and dreams embedded into her body—representing her inner thoughts and demands. 

So far, Hackatao has sold 9184 NFTs, making a total market cap of $42,079,970.32. 

The NFTs typically sell for nearly $5K, although one sold for approximately $940k. 

Snowfro (Erick Calderon) 

Erick Calderon—who goes by the name Snowfro—is an iconic Web3 enthusiast who’s had an incredible journey. Not only is he renowned for being the founder of the Art Blocks generative NFT platform, but his iconic “Chromie Squiggles” generative NFT took the Web3 world by surprise.

Despite the generative art not looking like much at first glance, each Chromie Squiggle “embodies the soul of the Art Blocks platform”. Thus, collectors consider it as a personal signature from Snowfro himself. 

There are six contrasting types of Chromie Squiggles—fuzzy, ribbed, bold, standard, slinky, and pipe. He makes all styles from code that displays different characteristics and varies in rarity.

Chromie Squiggle #4697

Mystery also plays a big part in the project. Interestingly, collectors don’t know which squiggle they will acquire until after purchase.  

To date, the most expensive Chromie Squiggle is Chromie Squiggle #2227, with one selling for $26k. 

The average sale price for these digital assets is around $12K, boosting the project’s total market cap to approximately $38K. 

Richard Lord 

Richard Lord is yet another NFT curator reaping the benefits of being an artist on the Art Blocks platform. 

Lord’s most talked about NFT collection is Geometry Runners. The artwork represents animated geometric shapes “walking” across tiles. The collection’s colours vary from being mutable to bright. 

Geometry Runners has a total value of more than $30 million, with collectors purchasing 1,423 in total.  The highest bid for a Geometry Runner NFT is $28k. However, most sell for around $21k. 

Monica Rizzolli 

Last but not least, Monica Rizzolli joins the list of the top ten NFT artists. And, guess what, she’s another Art Blocks curator—who would’ve thought it? 

Being lucky enough to live in the Brazilian countryside, Rizzoli shows off her surroundings through digital art. And gosh, is it stunning. Her NFT collection consists of generative, abstract art. Although, she also highlights natural world forms, like flowers and leaves. 

Despite being bottom of the list, she still has six figures to be proud of. Her most famous collection is Fragments of an Infinite Field #570, assisting towards a total market cap of $30 million. 

The highest and average sale price for one of her NFTs is $29k. 

Final Thoughts: The Evolving Popularity of NFT Artists

The top 10 Web3 millionaires mentioned above bring something unique to the blockchain. Nevertheless, many other noteworthy NFT artists are floating around the space—all of which also show off six figures. 

There are a few trends we’ve gathered:

  1. Many of the top-selling NFT artists are anon. Collectors find the mystery appealing, as evidenced by the high-flying collections from Pak, XCopy and Hackatoa.
  2. The Art Blocks platform is a powerhouse. Buyers purchasing generative art on the platform do not fully know which digital assets they will receive until after forking out crypto to acquire one. 
  3. The personal allure and branding of the creator adds to the mystique. Beeple, for instance, has built his following by creating daily pieces over a decade. 

Of course, this list likely will change in time, as new generations of famous Web3 artists regularly appear on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea.

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