Getting Started with Tessera
Welcome to Tessera!
Let’s get started on your journey of collective ownership.
If you’re new to Tessera, hello! We’re so pumped you’re here. If you’re not new, we also get it — using websites is hard. There’s no shame in it. My mom needs tech support ALL the time. This shit can be complicated af, but we got you.
Before we jump in, let’s cover the basics.
The Basics
What is Tessera?
Tessera is a platform where people can come together to participate in collective ownership and governance of digital collectibles native to the internet. Tessera enables unique ownership experiences via a hand-curated collection of culturally significant and historic NFTs, inviting anyone to own and govern NFTs, together.
What is a Vault?
A Vault is a non-custodial smart contract wallet that is part of the Tessera Protocol. Vaults are trustless, permissionless, and decentralized.
No centralized person or group can directly access or control the NFTs in a Tessera Vault, including Tessera. Transferring an NFT to a Vault triggers the countdown to begin an auction for Raes that represent ownership and governance of the Vaulted NFT.
What is a Rae?
A Rae, short for the plural form of Tessera (Tesserae), is a type of NFT that represents collective ownership and governance of a Tessera Vault. In other words, it’s how you own dope shit, together. Raes help us create unique experiences that enable Tessera users to recognize, join, and participate in communities and causes they care about. Raes are actually really cool — check out our write-up on Raes to learn more about what they are and what to do with them.
How do I get started?
Connect your wallet.
To use Tessera, you’ll need to connect a non-custodial Ethereum wallet funded with ETH. Click here for more information on how to set one up.
To get started, click “Connect Wallet” in the upper righthand corner of the menu bar.
Next, you’ll need to verify that you’ve read and accepted our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Select your preferred Ethereum wallet application from the next menu.
After connecting your wallet, click on the “Sign in with Wallet” button and sign a transaction to fully connect.
Explore Tessera
We’re always building new features and adding new Vaults, but here are some of the big things we think you should check out!
Tessera Home Page
The Tessera home page is where we feature our curated Vaults filled with the digital collectibles you know and love. On this page, you will find Vaults that are upcoming and already released.
At the top of our page is our “Curated NFTs on Tessera” section — this area highlights all the Vaults we have on Tessera.
Below this is a more detailed catalog of the NFT Vaults on our platform with buttons you can use to interact with each Vault. Depending on the Vault phase, there are different actions you can take.
NFT Vault Page
Once you’ve navigated into a particular Vault, you can interact with it in different ways depending on which phase the Vault is in. If you’d like to learn more about these phases, read more here.
Vault pages will look slightly different depending on which phase they are in, but they’re all composed of three main sections:
1) The Collectible
In the upper left corner of each Vault page, you will see the contents of the Vault. You can use the toggle feature to toggle back and forth between the underlying NFT in the Vault and how the Rae will look when viewed in your digital wallet.
2) Vault Transactions
To the right of the image of the Rae is information and buttons you can use to interact with the Vault. Such actions include setting a reminder for when the initial Vault auction begins, bidding on Raes, listing Raes for sale, proposing to buyout the Vault, and rejecting an ongoing buyout proposal.
3) Details and Activity
In the lower section of the Vault page, there are many areas to explore. At the top of this section is a navigation bar that allows you to access the Details, Secondary Marketplace, Vault Activity, and Mechanics & Data tabs.
Below the navigation bar is a description of the digital collectible, Vault statistics, and relevant links to get connected with your community of fellow Rae holders (e.g., Twitter, Discord, website).
Tessera’s Secondary Marketplace
If you miss out on a Vault auction or decide you’d like to sell your Raes, we recommend coming to the Tessera Marketplace to buy and sell Raes. The Tessera Marketplace imposes no additional fees for selling Raes.
When you find a Rae you’d like to purchase or sell, navigate to the Rae’s Vault page. To the right of the Rae image, you will find buttons giving you the option to buy or list Raes.
You can scroll down on the Vault page to access the Secondary Marketplace tab to view existing listings.
Profile Page
After you’ve connected your wallet, you can click on your address or profile image to navigate to your profile page.
From the Tessera profile page, you can view the Raes you own and your active Rae listings. You can also customize your social links and view your recent Rae transaction activity. Tessera uses the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) for profile pictures and usernames. If you’d like to change either, please do so through your ENS configuration.
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If you’re still reading, you’ve made it to the end of this guide — you’re almost there! You are ready to do the collective ownership thing. Revel in it. Take it all in. Bask in its gloriousness.
In all seriousness, we are SO pumped to have you here with us. And we salute you for making it to the bottom of this article.
If you still have questions, check out our main FAQ. Otherwise, go out and get yourself some dope Raes 🫡
