📷 Photography · photo auctions

Snapshot Bid · x402

Bid with precision. Every bid placement or private gallery 'peek' is a 0.01 USDC micro-transaction. Auctions settle instantly on-chain, eliminating bot spam while allowing high-frequency price discovery for digital photography. Pay only for the auctions you actively engage in.

Hedera testnet + x402 paywall· x402 native
Section · Onchain

The primitive.

full primer →

Access to the photo auctions engine is metered with x402: 0.01 HBAR or 0.01 HTS USDC per call, paid from the embedded wallet, so photographers — or the agents working for them — pay per query and get a HashScan receipt every time.

Why this primitiveBy shifting from 'gasless' to 'metered,' we replace the cost of gas with the cost of intent. This filters out noise and creates a high-signal environment for collectors where every action—from viewing a high-res proof to outbidding a rival—is a micro-payment that secures the network and compensates the creator.

Kernel
an x402 v2 paywall metering access at 0.01 HBAR or 0.01 HTS USDC (token 0.0.429274) per call, paid from the embedded wallet through the relay and verified by a self-hosted facilitator against the Hedera mirror node
Drives the UI as
a 'pay 0.01 HBAR or USDC to unlock' button with a live flow log and a HashScan link for every settlement
Appendix · Secrets

Required keys.

HEDERA_OPERATOR_ID
Hedera testnet account id (0.0.xxxxxx). Create and fund it free.
open ↗
HEDERA_OPERATOR_KEY
ECDSA private key for that account, from the Hedera portal dashboard.
open ↗
REOWN_PROJECT_ID
Free project id powering the HashPack pairing modal.
open ↗
HEDERA_RPC_URL
Optional. JSON-RPC relay, defaults to the public Hashio endpoint.
open ↗
PINATA_JWT
Pins images / JSON / manifests to IPFS.
open ↗

Add these in your Lovable project under Settings → Secrets before pasting the prompt below.

Appendix · Mega-prompt

The build prompt.

Paste into a fresh Lovable project. Make sure all five secrets above are set first. read the build strategy →

Loading the mega-prompt…
Appendix · Market

Market sizing.

TAM
$4.2B
The global online art auction market transitioning to instant, micro-settlement rails.
SAM
$850M
High-end digital art and photography collectors prioritizing low-latency bidding.
SOM
$12M
Hedera testnet early adopters and mobile-first photography enthusiasts using embedded wallets.

Indicative figures for hackathon pitches — refine with your own research before raising.

See also

Adjacent entries.