Wallets and your address

To read ARIADNE you need nothing at all. To act (publish, review, vote, comment, follow) you need an Algorand wallet: an app on your phone or computer that holds your private key and signs each action. This page explains what the wallet does, which wallets work, what your address is and how to get free TestNet ALGO.

Your wallet is your identity

ARIADNE has no accounts and no passwords. Your wallet signs each action, and your public address is your identity: every article, review, vote and comment you make is recorded under it, on the blockchain, for good. ARIADNE never sees your private key; the website only prepares transactions and shows their cost, and your wallet signs them.

Because the address is the identity, everything attached to it stays with it: your reputation in each field, the articles you published, the co-authorships you confirmed. There is no account to reset, so keeping your wallet safe is up to you (see Keep your wallet safe below).

Which wallets work

On TestNet (and later MainNet) the web app connects to three Algorand wallets: Pera, Defly and Lute.

Install one of them and create an account in it before you continue. The wallet’s own help pages explain how; ARIADNE plays no part in creating the account. To use TestNet, set the wallet to TestNet as its help pages describe, so that it shows your TestNet balance.

Note

On a local development network (LocalNet) the app offers two developer wallets instead. They are never offered on TestNet or MainNet. See TestNet and MainNet.

Connect your wallet

1. Open ariadne.press/testnet.
2. Click Connect wallet (in the sidebar on a computer, in the top bar on a phone or tablet).
3. Choose Pera, Defly or Lute and approve the connection in the wallet.

Once connected, the button shows your name or a short form of your address. It opens a menu with My profile, Inbox, Copy address and Disconnect.

Every transaction names its network, so a transaction prepared for TestNet cannot take effect on MainNet. The app connects your wallet only for the network you are viewing.

Your address

An Algorand address is a string of 58 capital letters and digits, derived from your public key. It includes a checksum, so a mistyped address is detected. It is public: share it freely, for example so that a co-author can declare you on an article. Your profile lives at https://ariadne.press/testnet/u/<your address>.

A readable name (NFD)

Where an address has a name ending in .algo, ARIADNE shows the name instead. These names come from NFD (Non-Fungible Domains), a naming service on Algorand: the owner of an address chooses the name and proves the address is theirs. The name is a convenience, not a certificate of identity, and the full address is always one click away. ARIADNE’s server asks NFD for the names, so your browser never contacts NFD. In comments you can mention people as @name.algo or @ADDRESS.

Your real name (ORCID)

If you have an ORCID iD, you can link it to your address. Readers then see your name from your ORCID record, citations use it, and co-authors can find your address by your iD. It never changes your reputation, which is earned in ARIADNE. See Link your ORCID iD and Identity: addresses, names and ORCID.

Fund a TestNet account

On TestNet, ALGO are free and have no value. Get them from the Algorand TestNet dispenser:

1. In ARIADNE, open the account menu and choose Copy address (or copy it from your wallet).
2. Open the TestNet dispenser and paste your address. The dispenser may ask you to prove you are a person first.
3. Request ALGO. Your wallet shows them when it is set to TestNet, and the website shows them in the cost box.

How much do you need? Every Algorand account keeps 0.1 ALGO as its minimum balance, which it cannot spend. On top of that, publishing a single-author article costs about 0.2152 ALGO (a 0.2122 deposit plus 0.003 in network fees), and a vote, review or comment costs a few hundredths of an ALGO. Before you sign anything, the website shows the total and the ALGO available in your account, and warns you, with a link to the dispenser, when the account cannot pay. See Costs and deposits.

Post-quantum (Falcon) accounts

Since version 5.0, Algorand supports post-quantum accounts, which sign with Falcon-1024 instead of the usual Ed25519 signatures and stay secure even against future quantum computers. ARIADNE’s governance account is one of them.

The ARIADNE contract treats a post-quantum address like any other address. A transaction signed with Falcon pays two extra minimum fees, so it costs 0.003 ALGO instead of 0.001. When the web app was built, none of the wallets it connects to could sign with Falcon keys, so its cost preview assumes an ordinary Ed25519 wallet and says so.

Keep your wallet safe

Never share your recovery phrase

Your wallet’s recovery phrase (the list of secret words it showed you when you created the account) gives full control of your address. Never type it into a website, never send it in a message, and never give it to anyone, including anyone who says they are from ARIADNE. ARIADNE never asks for it: on TestNet and MainNet the app only connects to your wallet app, which keeps the key.

• Keep a backup of the recovery phrase offline. If you lose it and your device, nobody can restore your address: ARIADNE never had your key and there is no account to reset.
• Read before you sign. Before your wallet opens, the website shows what you are about to do, on which network, and the total cost. The transaction is built so that it cannot charge more fee than the preview shows.
• Remember that it is permanent. What you sign is public and stays on the record. A vote cannot be withdrawn and a review cannot be edited.
• Your pinning key is a different secret. To publish, review or comment through the website you paste a key from your pinning service (Filebase or Pinata). It is stored only in your browser, sent only to that service, and Forget it removes it. It has nothing to do with your wallet. See Your first article, step by step.

Messages you may see

Message	What it means
Connect a wallet to sign.	No wallet is connected; connect one to act.
Your wallet is on X, ARIADNE is on Y.	The wallet is connected for another network than the page you are on.
Your account cannot pay this yet: it needs … more on TestNet.	The balance, minus the 0.1 ALGO minimum, is below the cost shown. On TestNet, use the dispenser.
Your account … does not have enough ALGO on TestNet for this transaction …	The network refused the transaction for lack of funds (deposit and fees, plus the 0.1 ALGO every account must keep).

Next

• TestNet and MainNet: where ARIADNE runs today.
• Your first article, step by step: publish with your new wallet.