RGH2024 Debrief
April 30, 2024 | 5 min read
Over the April 20th weekend, while most of crypto was literally treading water in Dubai, we brought ~60 people for a next-gen hackathon on the Radix stack. Hereās the background, what was built, and what we learned.
Protocol Revolution ā Publishing Revolution
Before we get to event, hereās a bit of context.
Throughout history, protocol revolutions have been reliably followed by publishing revolutions. From the 20m books that rolled off of Gutenbergās 1440 printing press, to the ~50bn web pages enabled by TCP/IP, HTTPS, and APIs. Radix is likewise a protocol revolution: Cerberus, the Radix Engine, Scrypto, and the numerous other protocols that constitute Radix are leading to a publishing revolution where anyone around the world is able to build and launch a performant Web3 application.
At this stage of the Web3 publishing revolution, developers are the main customers of blockchains and distributed ledgers. And like any customer thinking about a long-term commitment of capital or resources, they want to kick the tires before they start the long process of building an application. Usually held over a weekend, hackathons are an ideal vehicle to expedite this process. They give developers a chance to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with help from mentors, while being fed and watered in the company of like-minded collaborators with whom they can explore the potential of a technology.
During such events, developers are able to ask vital questions such as: āIs this technology viableā? āIs it future-proof?ā āIs there adequate documentation?ā āHow quickly will I be able to take a product to market?ā Radix is a Web3 infrastructure layer that has been built with these questions in mind. For example:
- Assets on Radix can only exist in a small number of permitted states, freeing developers from the stressful, time-consuming task of trying to specifically exclude undesirable states.
- Like a physics engine in the gaming world, Radixās execution layer - the Radix Engine - abstracts away the logic and behavior of assets, leaving developers free to focus on application and business logic.
In contrast, developers on the Turing-complete Ethereum blockchain spend ~90% of their time on security.
RADIX.wiki š¤Ā ArtSect
With a mission to accelerate the Web3 publishing revolution and building on the success of our Babylon Launch Party, we organized a Radix Global Hackathon in collaboration with the East London Decentralized Art Organization, ArtSect. The primary objective was to introduce developers to the Radix stack but also to strategically raise the visibility of Radix within one of the most vibrant and prolific Web3 art communities in the world.
The event began on Saturday April 20th at 10am and continued throughout the night until around 6pm on the Sunday. Over the two days we had around 60 people through the door, ranging from experienced full-stack developers to absolute beginners.
Experience š¤Ā Learnings
Aside from the logistical challenges of creating a harmonious happening of space, wifi, and food, here are a few things we learned during the event:
- The Scrypto effect is real. Nearly all of the developers commented on how quickly they were able to build and a few - having never touched Scrypto before - were up to speed within a couple of hours.
- A thorough presentation and a slice of pizza are enough to red-pill new developers. Doing this at scale would have the highest ROI of any marketing initiative we can think of.
- The prize money is way less important than we realized. Most participants signed up before the prizes were announced and hardly any of them mentioned it during the event. Building something cool was their primary objective.
- University blockchain societies are hosting events every week and always on the lookout for interesting developments to showcase.
- Beyond Bitcoin, the valence of networks and loyalty of participants is much weaker. Several participants wearing Solana t-shirts simultaneously said how difficult it is to develop on!
- Huge industries are still actively looking for where to build in Web3. We spoke to founders of gaming, fashion, and art businesses all waiting for the right infrastructure to deploy on.
In the end we had 7 great submissions. Here are the results and presentation videos:
šĀ Results
š„Ā Beginnersā Track Winner - šŗļøĀ Geochain
Geochain securely tracks and manages shipments in real-time using Radix for a transparent and efficient supply chain.
Team: Richard Jarram, Mariana Oka
Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NHJWIptTSpNwz4_rQeq7qeKeIL7GeEcEXz9H9wb7EwI/edit#slide=id.g26f1ee450e0_0_322
š„Ā Beginnersā Track Silver - šĀ Radix Stats
Radix Stats provides free and open token analytics for Radix, enhancing transparency and credibility.
Team: Thomas Starzynski, Mauro Jose
š„Ā Beginnersā Track Bronze - šŗĀ Jouna-Wyliometer
The Jouna-Wyliometer is a price sentiment tool that uses a 3D avatar who, via the Astrolescent API, reacts according to the current $XRD price.
Team: Jouna Lansman
š„Ā Advanced Track Winner - ā InfiniX
InfiniX offers customizable loss limits, instant fund settlements, and parametric insurance integration for DeFi investments.
Team: MD Abdur Razzak, Kishan Marsonia
š„Ā Advanced Track Silver - š¤Ā AI Invest
AI Invest provides an accessible chatbot interface with real-time stock and crypto data, guided purchases, and engaging UI for simplified trading.
Team: Jetnor Muhaj
š„Ā Advanced Track Bronze - š„Ā Top Scorer / FitClash
Top Scorer / FitClash is a fitness app that allows friends to wager each other with $XRD in various physical activities with real-time AI tracking and leaderboards.
Team: Justin Grierson
Advanced Track Runner Up - šØĀ PiciX
PiciX is a daily AI art challenge inspired by Wordle, where participants create image prompts to match a provided AI-generated image, with the winning creation minted as an NFT and sent to the winner's Radix wallet.
Team: MD Abdur Razzak, Kishan Marsonia
In the end, this event validated our thesis that facilitating collaborations is one of the most valuable activities we can do for the Radix ecosystem, and the faster we can do it, the more it will compound.
A huge thanks to everyone who participated and helped out, especially @a_vaunt, @wyliepieote, @beemdvp, @Radstakes and David Cuellar for the red-pilling and bug fixing, @ArtSectDAO for their 36hr straight technical support, and @JustEatBusiness, Dorothy's Deli and PAUL (http://instagram.com/dorothysdeli / http://instagram.com/paul_bakeryuk) for the food.
Check out the event page here for more details, and see you all next year!
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