The Hedera Portal is where developers create test accounts that enable building applications in development, risk-free, and cost-free environments (testnet, preview, or local network). The portal is a vital part of the Hedera ecosystem because it is effectively an onramp onto Hedera test networks, meaning accounts created using the portal can be topped up to 1,000 testnet HBAR every 24 hours with a manual request. As an alternative for existing accounts, developers can use this faucet to anonymously collect up to 100 testnet HBAR every 24 hours.
As part of our updates to the Hedera portal, it now supports the creation of Hedera testnet accounts that use ECDSA keys. These accounts are compatible with the most ubiquitous EVM ecosystem wallets, development libraries, and tools – and it only takes one click!
Get Started with the Hedera Developer Portal
Start by creating a Hedera Developer Portal login — for this, you’ll enter an email address and answer a few quick questions.
If you’re only interested in creating a Hedera mainnet account, check out the Hedera wallets ecosystem. Using a Hedera ecosystem wallet, anyone can anonymously create accounts for free, buy HBAR using a bank card, manage NFTs, and more. Remember that the cost of transactions on the Hedera mainnet are paid in real HBAR.
Create Your First Testnet Account
Once you create your first testnet account from the portal, that new account uses ED25519 keys by default. You can see the type of key used by the account at the top of the information box. The portal also shows you the amount of time remaining until the next refill to 1,000 HBAR for the account. After successfully creating your first testnet account, you should see something like this:
Create a Testnet Account with ECDSA Keys
Hedera supports two popular types of signature algorithms, ED25519 and ECDSA. Both types are used in various blockchain platforms, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, ECDSA keys are commonly used by existing ecosystems and tools that focus on deploying and interacting with smart contracts. If you wish to have a Hedera account compatible with those tools, then simply click the CREATE ECDSA ACCOUNT button.
After the testnet account with ECDSA keys is created, you should see its credentials in one of the information boxes. With this account, you can use services like Hashio (an instance of the open-source Hedera JSON-RPC relay) with tools and wallets like Truffle, Hardhat, web3js, ethers.js, and MetaMask to deploy and interact with contracts on Hedera.
Choose Test Networks – Testnet and Previewnet
The Hedera Portal also gives you the ability create preview network (previewnet) accounts. This network gives developers early access to new features before testnet and mainnet releases. You can choose the network for which you want to display credentials.
After toggling to Previewnet, create your first previewnet account with just one click!
Now that you have credentials for previewnet, along with testnet accounts with ED25519 and ECDSA keys, you can start building and testing exciting web 3 applications on Hedera.
Continue Learning
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Create Mainnet Accounts that Have ECDSA Keys (Follow the instructions in section 1)
