How to access Steem and Golos blockchains using OnePlace.media

OnePlace.media differs from other interfaces to the Steem blockchain and for some users it's not immediately obvious how to register and start using OnePlace. Thanks to the multi-authority feature, a single profile in OnePlace app allows you to connect multiple accounts in Steem and Golos blockchains and switch between them instantly, without re-entering account keys. The first steps to start using the application are described below.

Registration

To start using OnePlace, click the "Get Started" link in the upper right corner.

If you have not yet registered on OnePlace, go to "Create Profile" tab, enter your email address and set a password for your profile.

After creating the profile, check your inbox, find a message from OnePlace and follow the link to confirm your email address and complete the registration. Now you can use this address in combination with the password to access your profile.

How to add your account

After password confirmation you will be redirected to the screen where you can attach your blockchain account.

To add an account, enter account name and private active key. If you are not ready to add an account, click "Skip this step". In this case, you can add it later in the profile settings, where you can add additional accounts or delete the ones you no longer use.

Since some other applications require only posting key for authorization, we are often asked — why do you need active key?

The reason is that our application uses the multi-authority feature to add posting permission to a trusted account. This allows selected account to sign certain transactions with its own private key. In case of OnePlace, the trusted account is our technical account @oneplace.app, which is authorized to sign the following user operations with its posting key:

voting operations,
publication and editing of posts and comments,
reposts,
following and unfollowing other users.

Adding a new trusted account currently requires signing transaction with private active key. In this case the key itself is not transmitted anywhere. It is used only to confirm the transaction. Similarly you can revoke your permission at any time, again using your private active key for this.

Users can view granted permissions using a blockchain explorer, for example, this is how it looks like in steemdb:

https://oneplace.media/storage/54/9d/48/a1/014f354b2f16.jpg

Why we are confident that this method is most favorable for security:

You need to enter the active private key only once to add the posting permission. This operation is signed in your browser, the private key is not transferred anywhere.
After that all operations are signed with our private key, and you are able to access the profile and manage your accounts using just the email / password.
No private keys are ever stored in the browser and therefore they can not be stolen by malicious software or scripts.

Despite all this we realize it still requires trust and that's why we decided to make our application's code completely open-source (GitHub) and available for review and verification by third-party developers.

Add account with SteemConnect

We have additionally implemented adding account with SteemConnect, a trusted method of account authentification for many Steem users. Please read our next post for detailed instructions.