What is CryptoCanvas?

CryptoCanvas is a limited set of collectible 48x48 pixel artworks to-be-created by the CryptoCanvas community. Each canvas has multiple authors, who create a unique piece of art by collaborating together. Completed artworks are put up for auction and when their first price is determined, it is evenly distributed across all of the authors, depending on how many pixels they have set.

How does it work?

A canvas can be in one of three states:

I. Painting

A canvas is being painted as long as there is still at least one pixel without a color. You can place a pixel of any color on any empty space of the canvas. You can't paint over already painted pixels.

II. Initial Bidding

A canvas enters Initial Bidding mode when all of its pixels have their colors selected.

In the real world, when an artist finishes an artwork, she offers it for sale. CryptoCanvas has the same principle - the only difference is that it has many authors instead of one.

To determine its first owner, the canvas is put up for auction and anyone can make a bid. Once the first bid on the canvas is placed, a clock starts to count down the remaining time for bidding. Other users willing to make a bid will have only 48 hours to do so. After this time, a bidder with the last, highest bid becomes the sole owner of the canvas. Amount of Ether from the bid is evenly distributed to all the authors of the canvas, based on how many pixels appearing on the completed artwork they placed. The more pixels were painted by you, the bigger will be your reward!

III. Trading

Once a canvas has an owner, it can be traded in the "Marketplace".

• Buy Offer - users willing to buy the canvas can offer some amount of Ether for it. The canvas' owner can then accept it if the amount specified is satisfactory.
• Sell Offer - the canvas' owner can offer it for sale for any amount of Ether. Other users can accept the offer and buy the canvas.

Each time a canvas is sold, 6.1% of the transaction value is distributed again to the painters of the canvas.

In both cases, after accepting Buy Offer by the owner or Sell Offer by a user, the ownership is transferred to the buyer automatically.

How can I participate?

CryptoCanvas is based on the Ethereum blockchain technology. To get started you need:

• a desktop version of Chrome or Firefox
• MetaMask - a browser extension allowing you to interact with the blockchain, see Installing MetaMask
• Ether - a digital cryptocurrency powering transactions like painting or trading, see Getting Ether

How much does it cost?

Essentially, it's free. We don't charge any fees for creating canvases, placing pixels or making bids. The only thing you need to cover is a transaction fee required by the Ethereum network.

We take a small commission of 3.9% from the final highest bid after Initial Bidding is finished and from each successful trading transaction (accepted Buy or Sell offer) in the "Marketplace".

Withdrawing Rewards and Profits

Because of the Ethereum platform security guidelines, rewards for painting and profits from trading are not transferred to your wallet automatically. Instead, they are added to your Account Balance on the CryptoCanvas Ethereum Contract. The Contract is publicly available and is completely independent of the CryptoCanvas.art website, so you don't need to worry about your funds. They will be stored in the Contract forever waiting for you to withdraw them.

All of your profits from selling canvases, Ethers from unsuccessful bids and canceled Buy Offers are added to your Account Balance automatically. You can withdraw your Balance to your wallet at any time by using the "Withdraw" button on the My Account page.

The only thing not stored in your Balance automatically are your rewards for painting. In order to withdraw them, you need to enter the page of the finished canvas on which you have painted, and press "Add to my Account Balance" button. This operation will check how many pixels of the canvas were painted by you, calculate your reward based on the canvas price from auction and trading history, and add the total value to your Balance. From there you will be able to withdraw it as described before.

How do you calculate Rewards for painting?

The reward is evenly distributed across all the painters, based on how many pixels of the canvas they have painted.

Painters Reward consists of:

• 96.1% from the winning bid in the Initial Bidding phase
• 6.1% from each trading transaction (when a canvas is sold)

Example 1:
The canvas was sold during Initial Bidding for 1 ETH. Painters will receive 0.961 ETH (96.1%) to share. If you painted 1152 pixels—that is half the pixels of the canvas—you would be rewarded 0.4805 ETH, which is 50% of the total reward value.

Example 2:
Owner of the Canvas sold it to another person for 2 ETH. Painters will receive 6.1% of that value to share, which is 0.122 ETH. If you painted 1152 pixels—that is half the pixels of the canvas—you would be rewarded 0.061 ETH, which is 50% of the total reward value.

What is stored on the blockchain?

To put it simply: everything. Unlike other projects, we store all pieces of information on the blockchain. That includes information about every single pixel of the canvas and its author. Storing this amount of data on the blockchain would be very expensive for one person, but with the collaborative effort, it becomes possible.

Is the number of canvases limited?

Yes, the total number of canvases is limited to 1000. However, maximum 12 canvases can be active at the same time.

Who holds copyright to a canvas?

Each finished canvas has its owner, determined during the Initial Bidding phase. The current owner holds all copyright to the canvas. Once the owner transfers the ownership of the canvas to another user, the copyright is passed to the new owner along with the canvas.

CryptoCanvas fans are able to use images of the canvases in non-commercial purposes.

Is the code open-source?

Yes! All of the CryptoCanvas code is available for everyone at our GitHub page.

Smart Contract is also verified and available at Etherscan.

Because CryptoCanvas is open-source and all the data is stored on the blockchain, the canvases will never disappear and everyone will be able to interact with them forever! Even if our servers were down, the canvases would always be there, on the blockchain, available to be read by anyone. You are free to create your own website to interact with the CryptoCanvas Smart Contract.