Raretoshi, a new art marketplace for digital art patronage, brings curated art NFTs to Bitcoin and the Liquid Network. Built by Coinos CTO Adam Soltys, with support from Blockstream, Raretoshi enables artists to issue NFTs for their artwork and put them up for auction or direct sale.
Raretoshi will feature collections from some top names in the Bitcoin art space, with renowned Bitcoin artist cryptograffiti auctioning some exclusive artwork at launch.
“Cryptograffiti was one of the first artists to see the potential in Bitcoin to revolutionize the financial world, so we’re excited to have him on board,” explained Adam Soltys, the creator of Raretoshi. “We’ll also be launching collections from other Bitcoin artists on a regular basis, so keep an eye out for upcoming listings.”
As one of the first NFT marketplaces exclusively for Bitcoiners, Raretoshi issues NFTs on the Liquid Network, a Bitcoin sidechain that offers faster transaction times and lower transaction fees than the Bitcoin mainchain, as well as enabling asset issuance.
Art patrons on Raretoshi can make payments for artwork in Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC) and other Liquid-based stablecoins like USDt and L-CAD. Liquid-based transactions on Raretoshi are completed using atomic swaps, minimizing the trust required when making a payment. Users can also choose to top up their accounts with on-chain BTC or through the Lightning Network using technology originally developed for the Coinos wallet.
Artwork data from graphics to animations to videos is all stored on the decentralized InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to ensure that both artists and patrons are not dependent on one central entity for the availability of their artwork. Artists can even choose to receive royalties for the resale of their art thanks to some clever multisig architecture.
“The Raretoshi team are releasing all the code powering the platform as an MIT-licensed open source project called LNFT (Liquid NFT),” said Samson Mow, chief strategy officer at Blockstream. “This allows anyone to spin up and host their own marketplaces with different themes or focuses. We’re excited to see what other use cases people come up with and are happy to help you get started!”
In addition to a built-in non-custodial wallet, Raretoshi enables users to move their NFTs to a mobile wallet, such as AQUA, Blockstream Green, or SideSwap.
Raretoshi is now available at https://raretoshi.com. For further updates on Raretoshi and to learn more about upcoming featured Bitcoin artists, users can follow @Raretoshi on Twitter.
About the Liquid Network The Liquid Network is a sidechain-based settlement network for traders and exchanges, enabling faster, more confidential Bitcoin transactions and the issuance of digital assets. The network is operated and managed by its federated members, ensuring the system has no single point of failure. Learn how to get access to the future of digital asset finance at liquid.net.