How it works
How ARCADE works
Four parts: your browser, the arcades, the mesh that links them, and the public blockchains underneath. Nothing important is kept only on one arcade, so any arcade can serve you.
Swipe sideways to see the whole diagram.
Your browser
Holds your wallet, locked with your password. Every action, from a post to a trade, is signed there before it leaves your device.
An arcade
A computer that serves the games and apps, keeps track of what's on each chain, and passes your signed actions on to the chains. Its operator chooses which coins it runs.
The mesh
Links arcades together. They find each other, lend each other coins they run, share their order books, and carry messages between players.
The blockchains
Keep everything that matters: your @name, messages, posts, coins and collectibles. Pepecoin's test network carries the everyday social things, because using it costs next to nothing.
What you can do
All you need is a web browser. There's nothing to download and no company account.
| What | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Sign up | Pick a name and a password. Your wallet is made and locked on your device. Your 12 recovery words are the only way back if you forget the password. |
| Get an @name | A public name of 2 to 24 characters, first come, first served. Friends use it to find you, pay you and message you. |
| Hold coins | One wallet covers Pepecoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Bellscoin, Luckycoin and DigiByte, with more coming.      |
| Post and follow | A social feed with posts, replies, likes, shares and tips, written on a chain. |
| Message friends | Private messages that only the person you send to can read, with files and pictures. |
| Collect | View, send, buy and make collectibles (inscriptions and NFTs) on seven chains, or launch a whole collection. |
| Trade | Swap coins and tokens with other people, mostly without anyone holding them in between. |
| Play and use apps | An App Store of games, video calls, voice rooms, shops and tools stored on a chain. Each app must ask before it touches your wallet, camera, microphone or contacts. |
| Use AI | Chat with language and picture models that operators offer, and turn the pictures you make into collectibles. |
| Look around | Explore what's on each chain, by number, address or name, without signing in. |
| Go off the grid | A LoRa handheld radio (T-Deck) can reach an arcade with no internet connection. |
Trading without a middleman
Most trades settle in a single transaction both people sign, or in a pair of time-locked contracts that either pay both sides or give both their coins back. The few ways that ask you to trust someone are clearly marked in the arcade and in the white paper.
| Way | How it works | Who holds your coins meanwhile |
|---|---|---|
| Token order book | You and the other trader sign one transaction with both sides in it | Nobody |
| NFT sales and offers | Asks and offers are public notes; the sale is one transaction both sign | Nobody |
| Listings and mint pages | The seller signs a sale that can only complete at the listed price | Nobody |
| Swaps between coins | Each side locks coins on its own chain. One secret pays both, or both get refunds after 4 to 8 hours | Nobody |
Swipe sideways to see the whole diagram.
Borrow, then check
An arcade doesn't need to run every coin. Each chain is run here, borrowed from another arcade that shares it, or switched off. Only Pepecoin's test network must run locally. A borrowing arcade checks what it can, such as proof of work, block headers and its own signatures, instead of taking answers on trust, and the lending arcade is paid in kind.
| Chain | Swaps with other coins | Escrow |
|---|---|---|
| Pepecoin (main and test) | Yes (test: test coins only) | Yes |
| Dogecoin | Yes | Yes |
| Litecoin (main and test) | Yes (test: test coins only) | Yes |
| DigiByte | Yes | Yes |
| Luckycoin | Not open yet | Yes |
| Bellscoin | No | No |