Quickstart: your first contract

This uses bkc-starter-hardhat, a ready Hardhat project with the BKC plugin wired in. Five minutes, start to verified contract.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• A terminal and git

1. Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/bkc-network/bkc-starter-hardhat my-app
cd my-app
npm install
cp .env.example .env

2. Create an account

npx hardhat bkc-new-account

It prints a 32-byte seed and the account's bkc1… and 0x… addresses. Put the seed in .env:

# .env — gitignored; keep it that way
BKC_SEED=0x…                                # the seed bkc-new-account printed
BKC_EVM_RPC=https://rpc.bkc.network
BKC_COSMOS_RPC=https://comet-rpc.bkc.network
BKC_EXPLORER=https://explorer.bkc.network

Fund the address at the faucet.

The seed is not a private key

BKC keys are ML-DSA-65. The seed is what the key is derived from; a secp256k1 private key from MetaMask means nothing here. The BKC Wallet can export the same kind of seed.

3. Check everything

npm run doctor

Ready to deploy.

  ok    EVM endpoint           https://rpc.bkc.network · chain 262144
  ok    Cosmos endpoint        https://comet-rpc.bkc.network · bkc-testnet
  ok    account                bkc1…
  ok                           0x…
  ok    balance                1 BKC
  ok    gas price              5000000bkc

Every failing line says what to do. A fresh, unfunded account fails balance.

4. Deploy

npm run deploy

deploying from 0x…
Counter        0x268f598Cc797A9B1ed1E3eb3619F8ef59d288c76
increment()    0x…
value          1

next: npm run verify -- 0x268f598Cc797A9B1ed1E3eb3619F8ef59d288c76

scripts/deploy.js is ordinary Hardhat code:

const counter = await (await hre.ethers.getContractFactory("Counter")).deploy();
await counter.waitForDeployment();
await (await counter.increment()).wait();

5. Verify on the explorer

npm run verify -- 0xYourContract

The source appears on explorer.bkc.network. With constructor arguments, pass them after the address. See Verify contracts for what Blockscout does differently.

6. Test against the chain

npm test

Tests in test/ run against the live network through the same plugin.

What just happened

Nothing in your code mentions ML-DSA. The plugin intercepted the deployment's eth_sendTransaction, wrapped it in a MsgExecuteEvmCall, signed it with your seed and broadcast it through CometBFT RPC; the chain ran it in the EVM and returned an ordinary Ethereum hash and receipt. Details: Transactions & EVM calls.

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