We’re excited to announce the launch of the Artifct marketplace beta on the morning of February 15th (UTC).

This will be the first chance for the wider community to try Artifct on Cardano testnet; to provide feedback, stress test our infrastructure & wallet integrations, and ensure our marketplace is ready for launch.

How to help us test:

On the morning of the 15th (UTC) we will provide a link to the Artifct beta on the Artifct Discord.

Set your wallet to Testnet — Any wallet you connect for testing will need to be switched to the Cardano Testnet, which will allow you to test the marketplace without spending from your main wallet. Switching to Testnet is an easy process we’ve documented here.
Load up on tADA — Once you have switched to a Testnet wallet, you’ll need to grab some free test ADA (tADA) from the Cardano Testnet faucet.
Buy & sell test NFTs — Set up your profile, look for bugs. We’d love your feedback.

There are some key differences between this public beta & what will launch on Mainnet:

Test NFTs — Since the NFTs we know and love on Mainnet are not accessible on Testnet, we’ve preloaded the marketplace with test NFTs so you can safely test the platform. We’ve also created a Testnet minter so you can mint more using tADA. More info on minting test NFTs will be provided closer to the date on Discord.

A simplified feature set — Not every feature can be tested on a smaller dataset, so we’ve streamlined the marketplace to include core features, like search, filtering, notifications, and of course buying & selling test NFTs. When we launch on Mainnet, we’ll gradually enable new features and early access for existing Artifct Moon holders.

What to watch for:

Find those bugs — They’re sneaky creatures hiding in the drop shadows. Feel free to put the marketplace through its paces. Try to break things. We’ll be rewarding testers with the best feedback.
Did you set collateral in your wallet? — It’s easy to forget about setting collateral on a fresh Testnet wallet, so be sure to do so before connecting your Nami or CCwallet to the marketplace.
Blockchain congestion — Testnet can still suffer from congestion on the network. This will give you a feel for Mainnet congestion & how we handle transactions during high network load.
Security — We’ve made sure you can’t accidentally connect your Mainnet (real) wallet while we’re in our public testing phase. Even still, beware of scams. The team will never ask for your seed phrase, or request ADA or NFTs during testing.
App updates — We will be working continuously on feedback and key findings, which may result in design and infrastructure changes during this phase. Our infrastructure is continuously deploying to keep these updates seamless, and we’ll provide release notes with each milestone.

Awards for best feedback

We’ll be giving away prizes for the best feedback to 4 of our Discord members during the testing phase.

Most Unique Bug — 1 Moon plot & 250ADA

Best Feedback Logged — 1 Moon plot & 250ADA

Most Helpful Tester — 1 Moon plot & 250ADA

Most Supportive Community Member — 250ADA

Winners be will be chosen by the team and announced on our official #announcements Discord channel after the beta phase has closed. Again, we will never ask for your seed phrase, ADA, or NFTS, so be wary of scams.

Providing feedback

To help us track bugs and improve the experience, please use this link.

We’ve broken issue tracking into two categories. Bugs, where something is broken, and Feedback, where something isn’t broken but could be improved.

Please include screenshots and a detailed description of anything you find, including the steps to replicate the issue. We also ask that you include your email & discord name so we may contact you if more information is needed.

How long is the beta phase?

If there are no major issues, we’re hopeful this phase on Testnet will be short. We’ll be engaged with the community on Twitter and Discord, discussing our development progress as well as our plans for integrating the moon & Artifct Spaces into the marketplace.

Have more questions?

Join us on Discord if you have any questions related to the marketplace, the metaverse, and more.

Thanks!

As we work towards launching the Artifct marketplace, we have nothing but gratitude for this amazing community of artists and pioneers. This is just the beginning of what we’ve been working on behind the scenes, and the first of many steps toward building an ecosystem for creators and collectors to thrive.