The Mastercoin protocol is an additional layer on top of the Bitcoin protocol. Multi signature Bitcoin transactions are used to encode data and to enable a whole set of new possibilities
without bloating the blockchain with unspendable outputs.
Mastercoins facilitate the creation and trading of smart properties and user currencies, as well as other types of smart contracts. They serve as the exchange point between Bitcoin, smart properties and smart contracts created on top of the Mastercoin protocol.
If you never heard about Mastercoin before, please visit
mastercoin.org, the
Mastercoin thread on bitcointalk.org or
/r/Mastercoin. A detailed Mastercoin specification is available
here.
The Mastercoin faucetThe Mastercoin faucet rewards users with free Mastercoin and Test Mastercoin. Four authentication methods are available to claim a reward:
Reddit,
GitHub,
bitcointalk.org and
Twitter.
Distributed exchange testing specialIn the light of the broader
testing of the distributed exchange, the
first 100 Test Mastercoin rewards are doubled and users can receive up to
0.0025 MSC and 0.1 TMSC.
Authentication via bitcointalk.org:To claim a reward via bitcointalk.org visit
mastercoin-faucet.com/bitcointalk-intro:
Copy the verification token and go to your
bitcointalk.org profile. Click on "Forum Profile Information" in the left navigation:
Paste the verification token in one of the fields: Personal Text, Location, Signature, Website title, Skype, Bitcoin address or other contact info. Confirm:
Copy any URL to your bitcointalk.org profile and paste it into the box on the
Mastercoin faucet website:
Insert a Bitcoin address you fully control (no shared one) to finish the process and receive the reward.
Additional resources and more information about sending MastercoinThe tutorial
Sending and Receiving MasterCoins for Dummies or the
Mastercoin Wiki is probably a good follow up to learn more about sending Mastercoin.
More general talk, discussion and information about Mastercoin is available in the Mastercoin
thread on bitcointalk.org or the subreddit
/r/Mastercoin.
The
Mastercoin Blog is definitely also worth a read and there is
Google+,
Twitter,
LinkedIn and a group on
Facebook.