A hackathon may sound like something conducted in a disused warehouse by a bunch of computer nerds trying to break into government websites. In reality it is the complete opposite; a gathering of whitehats and industry professionals sharing knowledge and innovating on current networks. A weekend Ethereum hackathon in Toronto, Canada produced some interesting developments as the ETH community continues to grow.
Ethereum Innovation Continues
Ethereum has no shortage of detractors and it gets more than its fair share of FUD. But the bottom line is that there are more developers working on the Ethereum network than any rival blockchain project and this has made it the global standard platform for dApps and smart contracts.
The leading minds in the cryptocurrency space joined over white hat 500 hackers from around the world over the weekend to collaborate on Ethereum based dApps. The Toronto based ETHWaterloo event is organized by the core ETHGlobal team and has been running since 2017.
Prizes were awarded for innovation and 65 projects were submitted over the weekend which brought total hackathon projects to more than 1,000. The most famous dApp ever to emerge from the hackathon was ‘CryptoKitties’ which overwhelmed the network in late 2017.
A recent post by Camila Russo’s ‘The Defiant’ has taken a deeper look into some of the developments and cool things that were built on Ethereum at the event. Previous collaborations have focused on DeFi which is seeing monumental growth this year however this event’s attention was geared towards smart wallets, messaging and gaming.
There were five winners at the event and the first was a concept which turned Google Sheets into an Ethereum wallet. Dubbed ‘Sheetcoin’ (which could have other connotations), the platform allows users to send ERC-20 tokens to a Gmail account. Essentially a Google Sheets sidechain has been strapped on to Ethereum making it ridiculously easy to use.
Another project used Ethereum to prevent spam voice calls, SIM swapping and telecoms providers selling personal data. Eth P2P VOIP uses a token based system that enables users to allow or block calls by placing a price on them that the caller has to pay if not on a whitelist.
A DeFi custody wallet was also developed which, using Metamask, can interact with any dApp. This one if developed further could help simplify DeFi and accelerate its adoption.
Another MetaMask based dApp called Connexion allows users to instant message using their ENS names (Ethereum based domain names). Messages can be sent and received directly on the blockchain without needing third party apps that eat your data such as Facebook Messenger, Microsoft Skype or Apple’s Facetime.
A similar system for notifications was also showcased. Wallet Notify sends push notifications to Ethereum addresses for things such as smart contract expiry, loan liquidations, governance votes etc.
As the Ethereum community grows, more of these hackathons will be scheduled. ETHGlobal already has plans for an online DeFi event early next year.
0/ Early next year, we're launching our first online hackathon, focused on DeFi. https://t.co/Nv49GaOcXA
Here's a short thread about why ?
— ETHGlobal (@ETHGlobal) November 11, 2019
Ethereum is shaping up to be the future of finance. Watch this space!
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