Sepolia Network
5BLOCK uses Sepolia, Ethereum's primary testnet.
Why Sepolia?
Free Testing
Sepolia ETH has no real value - you can get it for free from faucets. This lets you test minting, trading, and all features without spending real money.
Production-Like Environment
Unlike local development, Sepolia is a real blockchain network:
- Transactions require gas
- Blocks take ~12 seconds
- Multiple validators secure the network
- Real network latency and conditions
Persistent State
Your deployed contracts and minted cards persist on Sepolia. Unlike Hardhat local (which resets), Sepolia maintains state across sessions.
Network Details
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Network Name | Sepolia |
| Chain ID | 11155111 |
| Currency | SepoliaETH |
| Block Time | ~12 seconds |
| Explorer | sepolia.etherscan.io |
Getting Sepolia ETH
You need SepoliaETH to pay for gas. Get it from faucets:
Recommended Faucets
| Faucet | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alchemy | sepoliafaucet.com | Requires Alchemy account |
| Infura | infura.io/faucet | Requires Infura account |
| QuickNode | faucet.quicknode.com | Easy access |
Most faucets provide 0.1-0.5 SepoliaETH per request, which is plenty for testing.
MetaMask Configuration
Add Sepolia Network
- Open MetaMask
- Click the network dropdown
- Select "Add Network" > "Add a network manually"
- Enter:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Network Name | Sepolia |
| RPC URL | https://rpc.sepolia.org |
| Chain ID | 11155111 |
| Currency Symbol | ETH |
| Block Explorer | https://sepolia.etherscan.io |
Alternative: Auto-Add
Most dApps (including 5BLOCK) can add the network automatically. Just connect your wallet and approve the network addition prompt.
RPC Endpoints
5BLOCK uses multiple RPC endpoints for reliability:
| Provider | Endpoint | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| QuickNode | Custom endpoint | Primary |
| Public | https://rpc.sepolia.org | Fallback 1 |
| Public | https://ethereum-sepolia-rpc.publicnode.com | Fallback 2 |
| Public | https://rpc2.sepolia.org | Fallback 3 |
The frontend automatically falls back to the next endpoint if one fails.
Deploying to Sepolia
Prerequisites
- SepoliaETH in your deployer wallet
- QuickNode API key (or use public RPC)
Deploy
pnpm run deploy:sepolia
Verify Contract
After deployment, verify on Etherscan:
npx hardhat verify --network sepolia <CONTRACT_ADDRESS>
Viewing Transactions
All Sepolia transactions are publicly viewable on sepolia.etherscan.io.
Search by:
- Wallet address
- Transaction hash
- Contract address
This transparency is a core feature of blockchain - anyone can verify what happened.