Docs · New to Tezos?

New to Tezos? Start here.

Four short steps, about two minutes to read. You don't need to know anything about crypto. By the end you will know what Tezos is, how to get a wallet and some tez, and what renting a plot in Internet Paradise really means.

1. What Tezos is

Tezos is a public network: a shared record, kept by many computers around the world, where artworks and payments are written down so that anyone can check them. Its coin is the tez, written ꜩ (exchanges call it XTZ). Each operation pays a small network fee, usually a tiny fraction of one tez.

Internet Paradise never holds your coins. Your tez and your artworks stay in your own wallet. When you pay for something, the tez go straight from your wallet to whoever you are paying.

2. Your wallet

A wallet is an app that keeps your tez and your artworks and asks you before anything leaves. It is also how Internet Paradise knows who you are: there is no account or password with us.

• Kukai on the web. Open wallet.kukai.app and sign in with Google, your email or another account you already have. Nothing to install. Works on a computer and on an Android phone.
• The Kukai app on an iPhone or iPad, from the App Store, with the same sign-in.
• Temple, a browser extension and a phone app, if you prefer it.

Your wallet has an address: a long code that starts with tz1 (or tz2, tz3). It works like an account number. It is safe to share, so people can send you tez.

The secret words

Some wallets give you a recovery phrase (also called seed phrase or secret words): 12 or 24 ordinary words in a fixed order. Whoever has those words has your wallet. Write them on paper and keep them offline. Never type them into a website, never photograph them, never share them: not with us, not with anyone who says they are support. If they are lost, nobody, not even us, can recover them.

If you signed in to Kukai with Google or email, that account is the key to your wallet: give it a strong password and turn on two-step verification.

Signing in to Internet Paradise costs nothing. Your wallet shows a message, you approve it, and no tez move. Which wallet works best on your device.

3. Getting tez

There are two common ways. The price of tez goes up and down every day, so look at what you will pay at the moment you buy.

In your wallet, with a card

Kukai has a buy option (the + beside your balance) that sells tez for a card or a bank transfer through a payment partner (MoonPay when this page was written), where it is available in your country. The partner may ask you to prove who you are and charges its own fee; it shows you the total before you pay.

On an exchange

Large exchanges such as Kraken and Binance sell tez as XTZ. What they offer depends on your country, so check before you sign up; they will ask you to prove who you are. Then move the tez to your own wallet:

1. Buy XTZ on the exchange.
2. Choose Withdraw (or Send) for XTZ.
3. If it asks for a network, choose Tezos, not Etherlink. Etherlink addresses start with 0x; your Kukai address starts with tz1.
4. Paste your wallet address, copied from Kukai. Check that the first and last few characters match.
5. Confirm. The tez usually arrive within minutes. Sending a small amount first is a good habit.

How much you need

The plot's first rent, plus a little for network fees: 1 ꜩ extra is plenty. The cheapest plot today costs 30 ꜩ; every price is in the price table. An exchange also takes its own withdrawal fee.

Copy and paste your address and check it twice: tez sent to a wrong address cannot be brought back. Never send tez to someone who messages you, about Internet Paradise, a plot, a prize or “support”. We will never ask you to send tez by hand.

4. Renting a plot

A plot is a numbered place on the mainland where you build your gallery. You rent it 3 months at a time; you do not own it.

1. Enter the town and open the Map, or go to Create › Rent land.
2. Pick a free plot. Its size, zone and rent appear.
3. Press Rent. A box shows what you pay, what it covers and until when. Read it and tick I understand that I am renting this plot for 3 months at a time.
4. Press Rent for 3 months (or Rent for a year). Your wallet opens: check the amount and approve.
5. Wait about a minute while Tezos confirms the payment. Then the plot is rented to you, to build on for its term.

Pay only with the Rent button. Never send tez by hand to an address someone gives you, even if it looks like ours.

Plot rentals open in two steps: first for invited wallets, then for every Tezos wallet. The plot picker tells you whether you can rent today. You must be at least 18 to rent a plot.

Renewing

Your first rent covers the first 3 months. To keep the plot, renew before the term ends: open your account, My plots, Renew, check the amount and approve in your wallet. A renewal costs about 20 % of the first rent (6 ꜩ a term for the cheapest plot). Or pay a year ahead: 4 terms for the price of 3, about 25 % off. Renewing early loses nothing: the new term starts where yours ends. Prices can change for terms paid later; the Renew box always shows the price before you pay.

We'll remind you in the world and, if you allow it, on your phone, 30, 7 and 1 day before a renewal is due.

Questions

Is it mine forever?

No. A plot is a renewable rental of a place to build, 3 months at a time. It is not land you own and not a token, and you keep it only while you renew. How land works.

What if I forget to renew?

We remind you 30, 7 and 1 day before the term ends. If it ends unpaid, you still have 60 days of grace to renew. After that the plot returns to the town for someone else. Your files are not deleted (your gallery leaves the map and its files are kept), but the place is no longer yours.

Can I get a refund?

No. Payments in tez are final and cannot be undone. The one exception: if a payment could not be applied (someone else's payment for the same plot was confirmed first, the amount was wrong, or the price changed while your wallet was open), nothing is recorded and the host returns the tez by hand. There are no refunds when a plot lapses, is taken back for breaking the terms, or when the site changes or closes. Rental terms.

Is this an investment?

No. A plot is for building and showing your work. We promise no profit, value or resale, and the price of tez moves. Do not rent a plot hoping to pass it on for more.

Can I pass on my rental?

Only when your plot is built: a version you published as its tenant and have not withdrawn. Then, after 90 days, Pass on your rental at a price you choose; the new tenant pays 95 % to you and 5 % to the treasury and takes over the rest of your term.