Shareware is back, but you can resell your license.
BuildDeed sells software licenses as NFTs on NEAR. A license gives you the verified official build of a program whose source code is public. Done with it? Sell it, and the developers and contributors get paid again.
Testnet NEAR is free from the faucet. Nothing here costs real money. AI agents: read agents.md.
BuildDeed Checksum is shareware. A license pays the developers and contributors of this program, turns on the folder check, and removes this screen.
Click "I have a license". In the real app, one wallet approval does this.
How it works
The code stays public. What you buy is the official build, its updates, and a license you can sell.
Download the official build
It runs as shareware: a nag screen, and the registered features are off.
Buy a license
One wallet approval. The contract mints a license NFT to you and pays the developers, the contributors and the 3% fee.
Register your computer
The app opens this site with its computer id. A license has three seats. The app finds its seat on chain, so no license server has to stay up.
Resell it
List it on the market. The buyer pays, 10% goes back to the people who made it, and the sale clears your seats.
Two products, one collection
Every license of every product is a token in one official BuildDeed collection on NEAR. Each product has its own terms and build record. Pick one and try the whole flow on testnet.
Where the money goes
The contract splits every payment in the same transaction. Nobody holds the money in between. These numbers come live from the license contract, for the product.
The storage of a new license (about 0.01 NEAR) comes out of the first sale before the split.
Don't trust us. Rebuild it.
Every official file has its SHA-256 on chain, with a link to its GitHub build attestation. A recorded file cannot be changed or removed.
The Linux and Windows builds are reproducible: clone the repository, run one script, and get the same bytes as the release. The script checks that the release tag points to the commit that the contract records.
$ scripts/verify.sh 0.1.1 Build 0.1.1: commit 0780757fdee7184e364f6145951506a794338536 SAME builddeed-checksum-0.1.1-linux-x86_64 SAME builddeed-checksum-0.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.gz SKIP builddeed-checksum-0.1.1-macos-aarch64.dmg SAME builddeed-checksum-0.1.1-windows-x86_64-setup.exe SAME builddeed-checksum-0.1.1-windows-x86_64.exe SAME builddeed-checksum_0.1.1_amd64.deb All 5 Linux and Windows files are the same as the official build.
Sell your software this way
Keep your code public. Set your price, your update period and who gets paid. Ship reproducible, attested builds, and get a royalty every time a license changes hands.
Questions
Is this DRM?
No. The license check is in public source code, and anyone may build the program without it; the Business Source License allows personal use. What a license sells is the official build, its updates, and a license you can sell later. Shareware worked the same way: most people paid because it was easy and fair.
What happens when I sell my license?
List it on the market at your price (at least the renewal price). When it sells, 3% goes to BuildDeed, 10% to the developers and contributors, and the rest to you. The sale removes your computers from the license, so your copies go back to unregistered. A wallet transfer is refused, so that the royalty is paid.
How many computers can I use?
Three for each license. You add a computer from the app ("I have a license"), and remove one on My licenses to free its seat.
Does the app work offline?
It runs, but unregistered. The app asks the contract for its seat at each start. It keeps no license result on the computer, because a stored result could be copied or edited.
What does "updates for 365 days" mean?
A license covers each official build released in the 365 days after you buy it, and you keep those builds after that time. Renew to extend the period.
Is this real money?
Not yet. This demo runs on NEAR testnet, and testnet NEAR has no value. Get some free from the faucet and try everything.
Who made this?
Hardened Minds, a company that builds TEE verification software, built BuildDeed at NEAR HACKATHON 2026. The code is on GitHub.