What Is the Pastel Network (PSL)? | A Guide to the Digital Art Blockchain

March 7, 2019

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What Is the Pastel Network?

The Pastel network (Pastel, for short) is a blockchain-powered platform for artists and collectors to publish and purchase digital art. The platform turns digital works into non-fungible tokens so that you can freely trade them without the need for an intermediary.

Tokenizing digital assets has a few benefits. Besides lowing their trading fees, it gives them proven authenticity, a reliable provenance, and a censorship-free publication avenue. Let’s learn how Pastel is utilizing blockchain to bring these benefits to fruition.

In this Pastel guide, we’ll look at:

Editor’s Note: CoinCentral has an established relationship and strategic partnership with the Pastel team. All content in this article is objective and non-promotional.

How Does the Pastel Network Work?

Interestingly, Pastel draws architecture inspiration from several different cryptocurrency projects.

The team built the network on top of ZCash, a fork of Bitcoin. Therefore, it uses the EquiHash hashing algorithm, produces new blocks every two-and-a-half minutes, and implements Zk-SNARKs for private, on-chain transactions. Unlike ZCash, however, Pastel doesn’t have a founder’s reward to fund operations.

Instead, they’ve implemented a Dash-inspired system of Masternodes that vote on rewards.

Pastel Masternodes

Even though the Pastel network still has miners generating new blocks, Masternodes are the crux of the system. They inspect and store art images as well as facilitate trades between users. In return, they receive PSL token payments. Masternodes also get a PSL reward from each new block.

The Pastel network implements a ranking system to ensure that a malicious Masternode, or set of Masternodes, doesn’t compromise the blockchain. Without going into too much detail, the Pastel network implements the XOR distance metric to ensure that there’s no foul play between Masternodes. The XOR distance metric was first popularized by Dash and effectively ranks Masternodes in the order of which one should receive the next block reward.

Pastel Network Process

The Pastel Network includes several features that should benefit digital art provenance and trading. Most important is the registration of artwork on the Pastel blockchain. The process goes something like this:

As an artist, you create a Pastel ID that uniquely identifies you.
With that ID, you upload image files for your digital art using the Pastel platform.
You sign this file with the private key of your Pastel ID. The signature ensures that another party, like one of the Masternodes, can’t tamper with your artwork.
The Pastel network utilizes the XOR distance ranking system to determine which Masternodes receive your piece of art.
The Masternodes check the artwork for an indecent content or plagiarism. In return for this service, you pay them a registration fee.
Once three Masternodes accept your registration, the highest ranking Masternode will write your ticket to Pastel blockchain.
Finally, the art ticket becomes active on the network once the associated transactions are confirmed.

Pastel Network Art Categories

Animecoin (ANI) to Pastel Coin (PSL) Token Swap

The Pastel network has an unusual backstory. The project is a recent fork of Animecoin (ANI), a now-defunct project that with a similar digital art focus except, obviously, with much more anime.

Post-fork, only active ANI holders will be able to participate in the token swap. Therefore, if you’re holding your ANI in a wallet, you’ll need to send one ANI to an unspendable PSL wallet. The Pastel team will announce this wallet address once the token swap starts. Additionally, if your ANI is on Cryptopia (the only exchange where it’s available), it will most likely be swapped for PSL automatically.

Pastel Coin Distribution

During the token swap, the Pastel coin team will distribute half of the 21 billion PSL supply to previous ANI holders in proportion to the amount they hold. The remaining tokens follow an emission schedule similar to Bitcoin/ZCash.

Pastel Coin Tokenomics

Initially, the block reward is set to 12,500 PSL per block and will halve every four years until all 21 billion PSL are in circulation.

Pastel Network Team

CEO and Founder Jeff Emmanuel leads the Pastel coin team. As a contemporary art enthusiast with over ten years of experience as an investment analyst at various hedge firms, he has two of the three skillsets you’d expect to see in a project like Pastel.

Pastel Coin Team

Pastel network’s CTO, going by the name Airk42, fills the technology gap. Airk42 has worked on enterprise software for over 25 years, specializing in security and cryptography. He also contributed to the Bitcoin Private fork.

Where to Buy PSL

Pastel coin isn’t available yet, but if you’re looking to get involved, you can still purchase ANI before the swap. To do so, head over to Cryptopia and exchange either Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Dogecoin for Animecoin.

Where to Store PSL

We don’t usually recommend storing coins on an exchange. However, with the upcoming fork and lack of a reputable wallet, it may be best to keep your ANI on Cryptopia until the token swap. From there, be on the lookout for an announcement from the Pastel coin team about an official wallet to use.

Final Thoughts

Digital art and blockchain go together like Satoshi and Bitcoin. Although numerous blockchain projects are working with art provenance (Pepe Cash, Codex Protocol, Maecenas), Pastel coin is unique in its implementation of Masternodes in an attempt to create a completely decentralized system.

The project is still young with a lot to prove. But if the team can quickly and efficiently get their product to market, Pastel coin could become the new standard for rare, digital art.