1000x1000 pixel canvas on Ethereum - buy, color, and trade pixels on-chain
Historical Significance
One of the earliest million-pixel experiments on a blockchain, predating concepts like r/place by years. Deployed during Ethereum's Frontier era just months after mainnet launch, it demonstrated that complex interactive applications with large on-chain state (2 million storage slots for the pixel grid) were possible on Ethereum.
Context
Etherboard was announced on r/ethereum in November 2015 by user u/etherboard as an image powered by the blockchain. The source code was preserved in a GitHub repository by Alex Beregszaszi (axic.eth), an early Ethereum developer who later became co-lead of the Solidity compiler team. The contract combined an on-chain marketplace with collaborative art, letting pixel owners set colors while creating economic incentives around pixel ownership and trading. Comments on the original Reddit thread compared it to milliondollarhomepage.com.
Key Facts
Description
Etherboard was a 1000x1000 pixel canvas where users could purchase, color, and trade individual pixels on the Ethereum blockchain. Each pixel had an owner, a color (encoded as RGBA), and a price. To claim another user's pixel, you had to outbid them by at least 110% of the current price, with a 1% fee on trades. The contract used a compact owner ID system (uint16 mapped to addresses) to minimize storage costs for the massive pixel grid. It supported both individual pixel operations and batch updates for painting larger areas.
Source Verified
Both init (4626 bytes) and runtime (4539 bytes) bytecode match byte-for-byte. Source from axic/etherboard GitHub repo. Compiles identically with solc v0.1.5, v0.1.6, and v0.1.7 with optimizer enabled. Created by Alex Beregszaszi (axic.eth), who later became a core Solidity compiler developer. The contract implements a 1000x1000 pixel canvas with an on-chain marketplace - users buy pixels at a minimum price of 5 finney, must outbid current owners by 110%, with a 1% trade fee. Uses compact uint16 owner IDs mapped to addresses to minimize storage for 1M pixels. Credit: axic.eth pointed out the contract and shared the original repo.
Heuristic Analysis
The following characteristics were detected through bytecode analysis and may not be accurate.
Frontier Era
The initial release of Ethereum. A bare-bones implementation for technical users.
Bytecode Overview
Verified Source Available
Source verified through compiler archaeology and exact bytecode matching.
View Verification ProofShow source code (Solidity)
contract Etherboard {
struct Pixel {
uint16 owner;
int32 color;
uint price;
}
mapping(uint16 => address) public ownersById;
mapping(address => uint16) public idsByOwner;
uint16 public ownerIds = 1;
Pixel[1000][1000] public pixels;
address owner;
uint16 constant width = 1000;
uint16 constant height = 1000;
uint public outbidPercent = 110;
uint public feePercent = 1;
uint public changePercent = 1;
uint public minPrice = 5 finney;
event Log(address sender, string message, uint value);
event PixelChanged(uint16 x, uint16 y, address oldOwner, int32 oldColor, uint oldPrice, address newOwner, int32 newColor, uint newPrice);
function Etherboard () {
owner = msg.sender;
}
function setPixelRgb(uint16 x, uint16 y, int32 red, int32 green, int32 blue, int32 alpha) {
setPixel(x, y, alpha * 127 + red * 65536 + green * 256 + blue);
}
function setPixel(uint16 x, uint16 y, int32 color) {
var amountToRefund = setColorInternal(x, y, color, msg.value);
if (amountToRefund > 0) {
msg.sender.send(amountToRefund);
}
}
function setPixelBlock(uint16[] xVals, uint16[] yVals, int32[] colors, uint[] prices) returns (bool complete) {
if (!check (xVals.length == yVals.length, "Different number of xVals as yVals.", xVals.length) ||
!check (xVals.length == colors.length, "Different number of xVals as colors.", xVals.length) ||
!check (xVals.length == prices.length, "Different number of xVals as prices.", xVals.length))
return false;
var remainingValue = msg.value;
uint amountToRefund = 0;
for (uint i = 0; i < xVals.length; i++) {
remainingValue -= prices[i];
if (remainingValue >= 0) {
amountToRefund += setColorInternal(xVals[i], yVals[i], colors[i], prices[i]);
}
}
if (amountToRefund > 0) {
msg.sender.send(amountToRefund);
}
return check(remainingValue >= 0, "Value was less than sum of prices", remainingValue);
}
function setColorInternal(uint16 x, uint16 y, int32 color, uint price) private returns (uint refund) {
var oldPixel = pixels[x][y];
var oldOwner = ownersById[oldPixel.owner];
var minToOutbid = oldPixel.price * outbidPercent / 100;
var sameOwnerPrice = oldPixel.price * changePercent / 100;
if (oldOwner == msg.sender) {
if (!check (msg.value >= sameOwnerPrice, "Changing your own pixel costs 10% of its value", sameOwnerPrice))
return price;
} else {
if (!check (msg.value >= minPrice, "Minimum pixel price is 50 finney.", price) ||
!check (msg.value >= minToOutbid, "Value must be 10% higher than current pixel price.", minToOutbid))
return price;
}
if (oldOwner == msg.sender) {
PixelChanged(x, y, oldOwner, oldPixel.color, oldPixel.price, oldOwner, color, oldPixel.price);
pixels[x][y].color = color;
return price - sameOwnerPrice;
} else {
if (oldPixel.owner > 0) {
var fee = price * feePercent / 100;
oldOwner.send(price - fee);
}
PixelChanged(x, y, oldOwner, oldPixel.color, oldPixel.price, msg.sender, color, price);
pixels[x][y] = Pixel(getOrCreateOwnerId(msg.sender), color, price);
return 0;
}
}
function check(bool condition, string message, uint value) returns (bool pass) {
if (!condition) {
Log(msg.sender, message, value);
}
return condition;
}
function getRow(uint16 y) returns (address[1000] owners, int32[1000] colors, uint[1000] prices) {
for (uint16 x = 0; x < width; x++) {
owners[x] = ownersById[pixels[x][y].owner];
colors[x] = pixels[x][y].color;
prices[x] = pixels[x][y].price;
}
}
function getPixel(uint16 x, uint16 y) returns (address owner, int32 color, uint price) {
owner = ownersById[pixels[x][y].owner];
color = pixels[x][y].color;
price = pixels[x][y].price;
}
function setPixelsOwnersAndPrices(uint16[] xs, uint16[] ys, address pixelOwner, int32[] colors, uint[] prices) {
if (msg.sender == owner) {
for (uint i = 0; i < xs.length; i++) {
pixels[xs[i]][ys[i]] = Pixel(getOrCreateOwnerId(pixelOwner), colors[i], prices[i]);
}
}
}
function getOrCreateOwnerId(address owner) internal returns (uint16 ownerId) {
ownerId = idsByOwner[owner];
if (ownerId == 0) {
ownerId = ++ownerIds;
ownersById[ownerId] = owner;
idsByOwner[owner] = ownerId;
}
return ownerId;
}
function setFeePercent(uint price) {
if (msg.sender == owner)
feePercent = price;
}
function setMinPrice(uint percent) {
if (msg.sender == owner)
minPrice = percent;
}
function setOutbidPercent(uint percent) {
if (msg.sender == owner)
outbidPercent = percent;
}
function setChangePercent(uint percent) {
if (msg.sender == owner)
changePercent = percent;
}
function empty() {
if (msg.sender == owner)
owner.send(this.balance);
}
}