There’s something poetic about watching a pixel Dino lose its color. Not because of a bug, but because someone sold the NFT that defined that color.

That’s the heart of Color Dinos — a fully on-chain generative collection that connects art, ownership, and composability through BaseColors.

A Living Experiment in On-Chain Design

Color Dinos isn’t just another generative pixel project.Every pixel, trait, and palette is stored fully on-chain via SSTORE2. There’s no IPFS, no off-chain metadata, and no servers quietly holding the art together.

Instead, the artwork is written directly into Ethereum’s memory: transparent, verifiable, permanent. That’s the foundation.

But where it gets interesting is what happens next:
each Dino can “borrow” color from a completely separate NFT collection: the Basecolors.

Color as Ownership

In traditional NFTs, color is just data. It’s a value stored somewhere, assigned to a pixel or a trait.

In Color Dinos, color becomes a relationship.

If you own a BaseColor token (say, a shade of blue #00A3FF), you can bind it to one of your Dino’s palette indices. The Dino updates live on-chain, instantly reflecting your color.

Sell that BaseColor, and the Dino loses the color automatically, reverting to its default palette.

No central server, no metadata refresh. Ownership is the art.

Why It Matters

When we talk about “fully on-chain art,” we often mean permanence, storing everything on-chain so it can’t disappear.
But permanence alone isn’t culture.

What makes blockchain art alive is composability, the ability for one contract to talk to another, to borrow, extend, or respond.

That’s something IPFS can’t do. It’s what makes on-chain art native.

Color Dinos uses that native language. Every Dino listens to its owner’s on-chain state. Every color is a handshake between two contracts.

It’s a living, breathing representation of ownership: simple, playful, and deeply blockchain-native.

The Culture of CC0

Color Dinos is also built in the open, inspired by the Tiny Dinos community and their CC0 ethos. CC0 means anyone can build, remix, or extend and that’s how on-chain culture grows.

This project is our way of honoring that spirit: taking something open and evolving it through code.

The BaseColor Framework

Under the hood, Color Dinos runs on the Mintbay BaseColor framework — a modular set of contracts designed for artists to create composable on-chain art.

The framework uses PixelDataBaseColor for storage, and MintbayGenerativeBaseColor for minting and rendering. Together, they allow artists to create generative works that can react to external NFTs, state changes, and ownership transfers, all within the blockchain itself.

This isn’t just a single drop, it’s an invitation to build on-chain together.

Writing Blockchain Culture

We often say “we’re early,” but what we’re really doing is writing culture directly into code.

Color Dinos is a small proof of that idea, a project where art, ownership, and culture all exist in the same immutable space.

Each Dino is a reminder:
on-chain art isn’t static: it’s alive, interoperable, and composable.

And it’s only the beginning.

Own the art. Own the color.
Where art meets chain.

mintbay.xyz/basecolor
basecolors.com

Follow : Mintbay on X | TinyDino on X | Basecolors on

This isn’t just another NFT platform.It’s a new chapter for permanence, creativity, and digital ownership.

The Language of Pixels

Pixels are more than images. They’re memories.

Think back to the first video game you played. The little squares of light forming characters, worlds, and emotions bigger than the screen.
Pixels carry identity, nostalgia, and simplicity, a shared language that feels timeless.

Artists use them to tell stories. Collectors treasure them as cultural relics.
Together, they remind us that digital art can hold as much meaning as anything painted on canvas.

The Fragility of Today’s NFTs

But here’s the problem: most NFTs today aren’t built to last.

The artwork? Stored off-chain.
The metadata? Off-chain too.
Even the links we rely on can disappear overnight.

When the server dies, the NFT dies with it. What was supposed to be permanent digital art becomes as fragile as the system it depends on. Most NFTs from 2021 are starting to vanish, because of this.

The State of NFT Data Storage

In the past year, creatives have earned billions of dollars selling digital art, collectibles, and game items to their true fans using NFTs. NFTs are tokens that represent ownership of unique assets...

https://thecontrol.co

The Birth of Mintbay

Mintbay was created to fix this broken system.

On Mintbay, art doesn’t live on some server. It doesn’t depend on a file host.
It doesn’t risk vanishing into 404 errors.

Instead, every artwork is code on Ethereum. Immutable, verifiable, permanent.
It can’t be erased because it doesn’t just exist, it lives on-chain.

For creators, Mintbay is the first true home for fully on-chain pixel art.
For collectors, it’s a promise: what you own here lasts as long as Ethereum itself.

A Playground for Creators

Got a pixel idea in your head? With Mintbay, you don’t need to write a single line of code to bring it on-chain.

We’ve built tools that let artists create generative collections directly:
Live previews, trait builders, rarity settings, allowlists, even free mint options.

It’s not just about minting an NFT.It’s about launching something that can live forever, without depending on anything except Ethereum itself.

A Vault for Collectors

For collectors, Mintbay is something different: certainty.

No disappearing JPEGs.
No broken links.
No “sorry, the file’s gone.”

What you collect here is living art, code locked into the Ethereum chain.
It doesn’t fade. It doesn’t vanish. It simply is.

That means when you own a piece of art from Mintbay, you own something that’s not just scarce, but permanent.

A Movement, Not Just a Platform

Mintbay isn’t only a product, it’s a belief.

With the rise of Ethereum L2s and cheap gas, there’s no excuse for NFTs to live off-chain anymore. From here forward, every pixel collection can exist where it belongs: on-chain, forever.

Retro digital art. On-chain permanence. Images as code. This is the future we’re building. And we want you to be part of it.

Why It Matters

Art deserves better than fragile servers.

By generating everything fully on-chain, both metadata and image, Mintbay makes NFTs truly immutable. No dependencies. No fragility. No fear.

This is the difference between a JPEG and a living artifact.
This is art that will outlive us.

Mint It. Collect It. Own It. Forever.

Whether you’re a creator ready to launch your first collection or a collector who wants to own art that can never be erased, Mintbay is your home.

The chain is forever.
Your art should be too.

mintbay.co

mint it. collect it. own it. forever.

After weeks of development and testing, [mintbay] is proud to launch a brand-new smart contract designed specifically for fully on-chain generative art collections.

Inspired by the legacy of CryptoPunks, this new contract, paired with an intuitive frontend, makes it easier than ever to create, deploy, and collect fully on-chain pixel art across the Ethereum network.

Having deployed over 20 generative collections to date, I'm excited to finally share what I consider my "dream" dapp: a tool built for creators, collectors, and the future of decentralized art.

Go Fully On-Chain or Die

Fully on-chain NFT art is an art form in itself. Every image, every piece of metadata, it all lives directly on the blockchain. That means every byte matters. You have to craft the contract with care, because once it’s deployed, it’s there forever, like tattooing your artwork onto the chain.

Unlike NFTs that rely on IPFS or other decentralized storage solutions, fully on-chain art is truly immutable. It doesn’t depend on external nodes or gateways staying online. As long as Ethereum exists, your art exists: untouched, uncensorable, and indestructible.

This permanence creates unmatched provenance and security, giving collectors confidence and artists the best possible native brush: just pure, verifiable, enduring art.

Fully on-chain isn't just a technical choice - it’s a philosophical one. It's about preserving culture in code, forever.

Mintbay 2.0 – Fully On-Chain

Let’s talk about what you can expect from Mintbay 2.0.

While staying fully on-chain, Mintbay 2.0 is built to make creating a pixel art collection as easy and accessible as possible for everyone, no coding required.

You get full creative control over how your final collection looks and behaves. Set rules, define rarities, and shape your generative logic with precision. Whether you're an established artist or a newbee, Mintbay gives you the tools to make your vision real, directly on the blockchain.

We’ve also upgraded the minting experience with features like:

• Free mints

• Max mints per wallet

• Allowlist support

• Customizable mint pages — tweak colors, fonts, and layout to match your vibe

Mintbay 2.0 blends the permanence of on-chain art with the usability of modern web3 tools. This is how pixel art meets smart contracts: accessible, customizable, and unstoppable.

Where We Are Now

Mintbay 2.0 is currently live on Base Sepolia for testing and experimentation. We're preparing for our full launch on Base Mainnet very soon.

To stay up to date on our latest drops, releases, and launch news, follow us on Twitter.

This is more than just a tool, it’s our dream dapp. And we’re just getting started on Base and move to other ETH chain soon.

Thanks for being part of the journey.

Whether you're here to launch your first collection, push the limits of pixel art, or simply explore the future of on-chain creativity, you're in the right place.

***

mint it. collect it. own it. forever.

Welcome to issue #3 of the Mintbay newsletter.

Mintbay is a minting platform that lets you create and collect fully on-chain editions on Base. Every piece you mint is a ERC-721, stored completely on-chain, permanent and collectible.

New Art

This week brings a fresh wave of stunning creations. Even within the tiny bounds of a 9x9 canvas, artists are telling their stories, proving that great art needs no limits

Here’s a small curated selection from this week’s standout drops:

SpaceTalk: Mintbay on DeFi on Base

This week, Mintbay founder @filter8 joined Episode 4 of DeFi on Base for an insightful conversation about the platform and its vision for the future.

In the episode, he shares how users can interact with Mintbay, the inspiration and motivation behind its creation, and why building on Base was a deliberate and strategic choice.

The discussion also touches on the growing role of AI in creative expression, what lies ahead for the platform, and gives listeners an early glimpse into the upcoming BayBatches feature.

You can listen back to the full episode now on X

mintbay

@mintbay_co

x.com/i/spaces/1yNGa…

3

20:02 • 6. Mai 2025

BayBatches Update

The Base Buildathon is in full swing, and Mintbay is joining the momentum with our first miniapp: BayBatches.

Built natively for Warpcast, BayBatches makes it incredibly simple to create and collect fully on-chain artworks using the Mintbay contract. The app is designed with ease and aesthetics in mind, offering a playful and intuitive experience.

BayBatches features three key sections: Create, Collect, and a Leaderboard, all integrated with Warpcast’s social graph. This setup encourages community participation while showcasing contributions in real-time.

At its core, BayBatches is about lowering the barrier to creativity. It invites everyone to take part in Base Batches, making it fun, accessible, and social to mint your presence onchain. With low fees, seamless creation, and a spirit of collaboration, it embodies the Base vision of bringing people onchain through joyful, shared experiences.

BayBatches is currently being tested on Base Sepolia, and we expect it to launch on mainnet next week. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create.

Thanks for being part of the journey.

Whether you're here to launch your first edition, push the limits of pixel art, or simply explore the future of on-chain creativity, you're in the right place.

***

mint it. collect it. own it. forever.

→ Explore the platform

Mintbay is a minting platform that lets you create and collect fully on-chain editions on Base. Every piece you mint is a ERC-721, stored completely on-chain, permanent and collectible.

New Art

This week, we’ve seen some incredible new work dropped on Mintbay.
We’re loving the growing variety of styles and how differently each artist is using the platform’s tools.

Here’s a small curated selection from this week’s standout drops:

Mintbay is beginning to show its range and this is just the start.

Base Batches participation

We’re excited to announce that Mintbay is officially part of the Base Batches global buildathon, organized by Base.

For this event, we’re building something special: BayBatches.

What’s BayBatches?

BayBatches is a public creative drop where anyone can shape, remix, and mint pixel art together. Each edition is a small statement,not just art, but a collective act of on-chain expression.

Everyone enters the same shared studio.
Everyone leaves with their own edition.
And all of it lives permanently on Base, fully on-chain.

Because building on-chain should feel like making art with friends.

More details and preview art coming next week. Stay tuned!

100+ Editions in 14 Days

We just crossed a major milestone:
Over 100 editions minted fully on-chain in Mintbay’s first two weeks on Base mainnet!

That’s 100+ unique creations now etched forever into the blockchain.
Thank you to every early artist and collector making history with us.

A New GlyphSet: Pixel Love

At Mintbay, every piece of art is generated using 8x8 glyphs, sourced from a dedicated smart contract called the GlyphContract. This contract can hold up to 127 unique glyphs—all stored fully on-chain.

The system is modular and open:
When minting, creators choose their GlyphSet, think of it like selecting a brush. Each set creates a different aesthetic and structure for your artwork.

The newest set is inspired by pure pixel love.
A tribute to the expressive power of the smallest unit in digital art.

Thanks for reading and being part of the journey.

Whether you’re here to launch your first collection, explore the edges of pixel art, or just see what the future of on-chain creation looks like. it’s all happening here.

Welcome to [mintbay].
Built with pixels.

mint it. collect it. own it. forever.

→ Explore the platform

Hello I'm filter8 a on-chain pixel artist and the founder behind mintbay. An Artist-built platform for fully on-chain pixel art on base.

For years, I thought creating a platform meant finding a dev, learning to program, or just waiting. But in 2025, something changed:
AI gave me the possibility to build my dream.

That’s how mintbay was born.

A Platform for Artists & Collectors. Built by One

Mintbay isn’t the result of a startup, VC funding, or a dev team.
It’s the result of a pixel artist with a big idea and an AI assistant.

I used AI to help me:

• Write and deploy smart contracts

• Set up Hardhat, Vercel, GitHub

• Build the front end

• Build a farcaster frame

• set up an image server

• Build a marketplace

• Build an editor

• Structure metadata, optimize SVG storage

• Even write this newsletter you’re reading now, because I am not a native english speaker

I didn’t know any of this before. But every prompt, every line of code, became a collaboration between my artistic vision and AI’s generative ability.

MintBay is the proof and example that the next wave of builders will come from creative people willing to put in the work and learn and use new technology.

Why On-Chain? Why Pixels? Why Base?

My medium has always been minimal.
9x9 pixel canvases. Pure color. Glyphs. Emotional reduction:
with pixels as the most distilled form of a digital image.

But when I entered web3, I discovered something deeper:
storage as a constraint. The blockchain limits how much you can store—but within that constraint. I found a new kind of creativity.

MintBay is a fully on-chain platform.
Every piece of art is saved as code—directly on-chain—making it truly web3-native: decentralized, immutable, and permanent, as long as Base is running.

And Base was the perfect foundation with its builder ethos, accessible tools, and low fees.

What AI Makes Possible

This isn’t just a story about art.
It’s a story about possibility.

AI is not here to replace artists. It’s here to amplify them.
It turned me into a founder, a coder, a creator of tools and not just tokens.

I didn’t need to know everything. I just needed to start with a vision.
Mintbay is the result.

A platform for creators. A bay for collectors. Fully on-chain.
And most importantly: built from a spark, not a spec sheet.

mintbay

@mintbay_co

Welcome to mintbay!

An Artist-built platform for fully on-chain pixel art on @base.

mint it. collect it. own it. forever.

This is your guide to what makes it special

48

17:46 • 18. Apr. 2025

Whether you're here to launch your first collection, explore on-chain pixel art, or just see what the future looks like. It’s all happening here.

Welcome to [mintbay].
Built with pixels. Powered by AI.

mint it. collect it. own it. forever.

→ Explore the platform