The Chainlink Spring 2023 Hackathon has concluded, leaving no doubt that Web3 innovation is progressing at an unprecedented pace. With over 14,000 registrants and a staggering 498 project submissions from teams representing more than 100 countries, this hackathon shattered all previous records. The abundance of available resources and support made it an opportune time for participants to bring their ideas to life.
Notably, nearly 40% of the registrants had little to no experience building with blockchain technology, underscoring the hackathon’s ability to attract and nurture new talent. The success of the Chainlink Spring 2023 Hackathon was made possible by the collective efforts of participants, judges, sponsors, and mentors, making it the largest Chainlink Hackathon to date. Now, let us highlight the exceptional projects that emerged as winners in various categories:
Grand Prize ($25,000) – SecureChain
The prestigious Grand Prize was awarded to SecureChain, an innovative hybrid transfer validation system designed to safeguard NFTs and tokens stored in hot wallets from wallet-draining attacks. Developed by Eduard Lopez as a solo project, SecureChain employs a hybrid Web2/Web3 approach, utilizing Chainlink Functions to create a two-factor authorization process for transferring digital assets.
Additionally, SecureChain proposes two new EIP standards to facilitate secure transfers, allowing users to migrate assets between “normal” and “secured” tokens. When a transfer is initiated on secured tokens, SecureChain utilizes Chainlink Functions to post the transfer request, and users can approve the transfer via the web app.
Tech for Good Prizes ($20,000) – DREx and Agrosurance
The Tech for Good prize, which recognizes projects leveraging blockchain and Chainlink oracle technology for social impact, was divided into two awards. DREx secured the first-place prize of $15,000. The DREx team, consisting of Joselyne Del Rosario, Tomás Cordero, Shobhit Goyal, Ahron Sotomayor, and Trevor Chan, developed a platform that connects solar developers, corporations with potential project sites, and investors to accelerate the creation of solar projects.
By tokenizing the energy output of a solar installation in Ecuador into renewable energy certificates (RECs) and further fractionalizing them into e-NFT bonds, DREx enables the utilization of these assets in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. The project utilizes Chainlink Any API to access data from solar installations and IoT devices.
Agrosurance, developed by Yash Goyal, Riya Jain, Spandan Barve, and Ishpreet KaurBedi, secured the second-place Tech for Good prize, earning $5,000. Agrosurance is a decentralized platform that provides transparent and decentralized insurance coverage to farmers. The project leverages Chainlink Functions to access real-time data from external sources, enabling the calculation of insurance premiums and verification of claims through smart contracts.
NFTs and Gaming Prize ($15,000) – Data NFT for Data Licensing
Data NFT for Data Licensing, developed by Ricky Yuen, Fei Lin, and Charles Cao, won the NFTs and Gaming Prize worth $15,000. The project allows data owners to tokenize their datasets into NFTs, granting them increased control over data access and usage. By embedding licenses within DataNFTs, owners can define parameters regarding the scope, duration, and terms of data usage, protecting their intellectual property.
DataNFT for Data Licensing utilizes Chainlink Functions to verify platform asset ownership and connects the platform to users interested in licensing data. This process ensures a trust-minimized environment for verifying license ownership and facilitating the generation and distribution of data licenses.
DeFi Prize ($15,000) – Prompt DeFi
Prompt DeFi, created by Anastasiia Kondaurova and Kyrylo Orlov, claimed the DeFi Prize, receiving $15,000. Prompt DeFi simplifies DeFi applications by enabling users to execute actions through simple text inputs or voice commands. Leveraging account abstraction to eliminate user-facing network fees, Prompt DeFi employs a trained ChatGPT AI model to process transactions based on text- or voice-based prompts. By utilizing Prompt DeFi, even novice DeFi users can perform transactions by issuing straightforward commands. Chainlink Automation is used for transactions with conditions, such as limit orders.
AI Prize ($15,000) – StoryChain
The AI Prize of $15,000 was awarded to StoryChain, a decentralized application created by Cem Ad. The platform enables collaborative storytelling, where different users contribute chapters to an AI-generated story. Story creators choose the genre and select an AI model for story and image generation, while other users continue the narrative by reading previous chapters and providing their own prompts. Each page of the story is minted as a unique NFT owned by the contributing user and can be viewed on OpenSea. Chainlink Functions facilitate the connection between the application and various AI models.
Chainlink Services Prizes ($13,000) – Top Three Projects
The Chainlink Services prize recognizes projects that improve the Chainlink Network, integrate Chainlink into foundational infrastructure, or simplify its usage for developers. The prize was distributed among three deserving projects.
Maven, developed by Yash Jagtap, 0xthresh, Geoffrey Millar, Merdi Kimuha, and Shobhit Sundriyal, claimed first place and a prize of $7,000. Maven is a platform that enables social media agencies to manage Lens profiles on behalf of their clients. Employing account abstraction, Maven provides a secure way for agencies to post with a client’s Lens profile, mitigating the risk of profile theft. Additionally, Maven facilitates automatic coordination of payments between agencies and Lens users based on smart contracts, utilizing measurable metrics from the Lens API delivered through Chainlink Any API.
Chainiversity, created by Muhammed Mustafa Savar and Ege Aybars Bozkurt, secured the second-place prize, earning $4,000. Chainiversity is an interactive, on-chain learning platform designed to foster a more engaged and active Chainlink developer community. It provides a gamified learning experience with three levels; each focused on a different Chainlink service. Smart contract development is validated directly on-chain, and successful completion of levels rewards developers with soulbound NFT certificates.
Vernari Protocol, developed by Jon Gregis, won the third-place Chainlink Services prize, amounting to $2,000. Vernari is a decentralized escrow protocol that integrates smart contracts with the Shippo e-commerce shipping software. This integration establishes trust-minimized digital asset payment functionality for store items. Smart contracts act as escrow for digital asset payments and are automatically released upon verification of tracking information. Chainlink Functions connect Vernari to Shippo’s data for shipment verification, while Chainlink Automation triggers the payment process.
DAO Prize ($10,000) – The PAO (Private DAO)
The DAO Prize of $10,000 was awarded to The PAO (Private DAO), developed by Nguyen Pham, Nguyễn Dương, Phạm Văn Nam, and Tan Phan. The PAO is a DAO framework designed to address privacy concerns inherent in DAO operations that are transparently recorded on-chain. Utilizing zero-knowledge circuits, The PAO offers unparalleled privacy for a DAO’s funding and voting processes. The framework employs Chainlink Automation to facilitate autonomous actions within the DAO, increasing operational efficiency.
Women in Tech Prize ($10,000) – Super Cool AI
The Women in Tech Prize, worth $10,000, was bestowed upon SuperCool AI, a generative AI-powered NFT marketplace. SuperCool AI enables users to generate NFTs based on AI-powered prompts and inputs, ranging from personalized profile pictures and game assets to metaverse avatars. Chainlink oracle services enhance the platform, with VRF enabling randomized variations of prompts/results, Automation facilitating dynamic NFT changes, and Price Feeds determining conversation rates for payment processes.
Top-Quality Prizes ($500) – Recognizing Excellence
In addition to the main prize winners, 40 projects were awarded a Top-Quality Prize, each receiving $500. These projects demonstrated outstanding implementations and showcased the creativity and technical prowess of the participants. Among the Top-Quality Prize recipients were projects like AI:1301, Applauds, AuthE, Boom Boogers Marketplace, BuildIt, Burn2Earn, C’mon, AI, check my skills, Card.Club, and Ceptor Club.
Other winners for this category include Cexles Finance, Chainfluence, ChainHealth, ChainlinkGPT, Cloudbeam, CozyCove, CropLink, EcoVerse, EnergySwap, FINDR app, Flipper!, Funding Open Source AI Models for Blockchain, Google AdmodConsumer & Chainlink Charity App, Hamslink, Hive, Island of Space & Time, Kash, LINKIT, LinkEvent, Notional, OTCNexus, Peer Review, Posterity, Rainsurance, refLINK, SLI, ShillStreet, Token Wordle, Trypto, Upgoaled, and Via Dappia.
The Spring 2023 Hackathon Comes to a Close
The Chainlink Spring 2023 Hackathon concluded with resounding success, thanks to the dedicated mentors, judges, and sponsors who made the event possible. It became the largest Chainlink Hackathon to date, attracting participants worldwide and resulting in a record-breaking number of project submissions. The hackathon showcased the power of blockchain and Oracle technology, with participants utilizing cutting-edge tools and technologies to develop groundbreaking applications.
Chainlink Labs expressed their gratitude to all the talented hackathon attendees for their commitment to building innovative projects. Written feedback from the Chainlink Labs team will be provided to the top 100 hackathon projects in the coming weeks, further supporting their growth and development. The remarkable achievements of the participants in the Chainlink Spring 2023 Hackathon foreshadow the promising future of the blockchain industry.
