In Qortal, in order to become a minter, you must first obtain a 'Sponsorship Key' from another minter of level 5 or higher.

Doing this can be accomplished in many ways, however, the primary method for those learning of the project from a source that cannot provide a key themselves, is to join the Sponsorship Requests Group on the Qortal Network.

In order to accomplish this, one must first have some QORT, a .01 QORT tx fee is required for any transaction that confirms, including joining a group.

The main method of accomplishing this, is to Go to Q-Chat and send a 'hello' message in the Qortal General Chat. General Chat is a 'global' chat that every Qortal account can see.

NOTE - if you are a brand new user with 0 QORT, you CAN still send messages in Q-Chat, however, you cannot send PMs until you have done an outgoing transaction and your public key is then on-chain. Prior to sending an outgoing transaction, your public key is local only, and others on the network cannot pull your public key from the chain. So, you can only message in Qortal General Chat channel.

Once you have messaged there, someone should see your message, and offer to send you some QORT, so that you can message more quickly, and register your first name. (see How To Register A Name for more details).

Register your name, and join the Sponsorship Requests group. Then send a message in that group requesting sponsorship.

You may be asked a few questions, namely how you heard of the project, and what your plans are. Then you will be contacted by a sponsor willing to provide you a key.

• Sponsorship Keys are TEMPORARY
• Spsonorship Keys are LIMITED in creation. Each level 5+ minter can only sponsor ONE account at any given time.
• Sponsors must remove the key from the chain after the new minter reaches level 1, then they can create another key.
• New Minters must do their best to reach level 1 as quickly as possible. This means running your node 24/7 until you reach level 1. (your sponsor should explain this to you.)
• Once reaching level 1 has been accomplished, the new minter may create their own 'Minting Key' with the 'Start Minting' button on the 'Overview Page' - see Re-Adding Your Minting Key for more details.

That's it!

It should be a relatively strightforward process to obtain a sponsorship key and reach level 1. After reaching level 1 you are 'back on your own again', and you do not need assistance from anyone to continue minting forever.

Sponsorship is simply a process to limit the number of new minting accounts that can be created, and provide a level of 'human verification' for the project's consensus.

1. Obtain a Sponsorship key from another minter of level 5 or higher, doing this in the Sponsorship Requests group in Q-Chat is the most likely to succeed.

2. Input (copy and paste) the key in 'become a minter' plugin, or 'node management - add minting account'. ensure that you don't copy any extra spaces while copying the key, and ensure that the key has been confirmed prior to assigning it. If it doesn't work the first time, wait 5 min and try again before asking for assistance.

3. The sponsorship key is a TEMPORARY KEY that is only utilized to get the account TO LEVEL 1. Once the account has reached level 1, they then create their own MINTING KEY.

4. Creating the minting key as of Feb 2024 and version 4.5.0 of the Qortal UI, you will want to use the 'start minting' button on the OVERVIEW PAGE, and NOT the one on the left sidebar. Until that issue has been resolved, the one on the left sidebar is not functioning correctly.

alternative method of creating minting key (after reaching level 1)

• Go to 'Reward Share' plugin.
• Click '+ own reward share' button at the top.
• Verify your public key, and click 'add' button.
• On the 'transaction request' dialog box, you will see another key, this is your minting key, copy that key.
• Wait at least 1 block for the key to CONFIRM.
• Add the key in 'node management - add minting account'