From Soul Tokens to Web3 Email: A Quick Look at 24 Projects from the Ethereum Shanghai Hackathon
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From Soul Tokens to Web3 Email: A Quick Look at 24 Projects from the Ethereum Shanghai Hackathon
24 project introductions from the Ethereum Shanghai Hackathon.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights
The ETH Shanghai Hackathon took place online from May 20 to 31, officially concluding on June 3. During the event, over 900 participants registered and submitted more than 200 projects. After evaluation by judges, 24 outstanding projects that utilized development tools provided by sponsors stood out and presented their work at the online Demo Day on June 3.
The ETH Shanghai Hackathon is a parallel event of the Ethereum Shanghai Web3 Developer Summit, led by Mask Network and co-organized by Gitcoin. Its goal is to encourage emerging developers to build creative and innovative applications that can shape a new landscape for the Web3 world. The Ethereum Shanghai Web3 Developer Summit is organized by the ETH Shanghai committee members (Low Dimension Tech and Omniverse), with co-organization by the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (hereinafter referred to as "CBCGDF") and Business China, and strong support from the Ethereum Foundation. With CBCGDF's dedicated assistance, both the summit and hackathon were included in the China Association for Science and Technology's Guidelines for Important Academic Conferences (2022), reflecting the association’s professional recognition of the event and its attention to current internet technologies.
Sponsors of this hackathon provided developers with over $140,000 in prize money to incentivize the use of their networks or technologies in building next-generation social platforms. Developer teams presenting at Demo Day came from around the globe, and the judging panel consisted of experts from top-tier Web3 projects and venture capital firms, including Ethereum Foundation, ConsenSys, Polygon, NEAR, Mask Network, Dragonfly Capital, Digital Currency Group, Hash Global, and Y2Z Ventures (see the official hackathon website for the full list). Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation supported the successful execution of this hackathon.
The ETH Shanghai Hackathon saw over 200 teams building cross-application projects, with decentralized social applications being a central theme. Numerous teams responded to trending concepts such as soulbound tokens (SBTs) and decentralized identity (DID), addressing highly specific Web3 use cases such as email, dating, private messaging, crowdfunding, business scenarios, and on-chain gaming. Together, they painted a rich and diverse picture of the future of Web3 social interaction.
ETH Shanghai Hackathon Award Winners (in parentheses: presentation order):
Grand Prizes
● Gold Award
○ MetaMail (1): Metamail.link offers Web3 email services. Users can use wallet addresses/ENS names as email addresses, with encryption or digital signatures ensuring security. All MetaMail features are free. In this hackathon, MetaMail leveraged KNN3’s user-following relationships to develop a user recommendation feature.
● Silver Award
○ Kwildb-cli (19): An interactive terminal, command-line client, and database import tool.
● Bronze Awards (two winners)
○ DAOU (10): DAOU (daou.io) uses Soulbound Tokens and Social Oracle to convert users’ daily activity data within DAOs—such as Discord engagement, contributions, and social connections—into verifiable on-chain data.
○ VokaAI (6): Voka represents the next generation of Web3 technology. Voka not only generates unique anime avatars using proprietary AI but also leverages existing NFT PFPs to create digital identities.
Categorical Awards (project details below)
● Best Decentralized Identity Project: Def Network (11)
● Best On-Chain Data Project: Web3 Shop (14)
● Best Permission Control Project: TogethDAO (4)
● Best Web2-Web3 Bridge Project: Scam Sniffer (12)
● Best Social Gaming Project: Arche Network (16)
● Best Arweave Ecosystem Project: Kwildb-cli (19)
● Best Communication Project: Xmtp-Lit (22)
Below are the Demo Day showcase projects (listed in presentation order):
1. MetaMail (@MetaMailInk) (Gold Award Winner)
https://github.com/MetaMail/metamail-fe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXMY5U3dj3k
MetaMail (metamail.link) provides Web3 email services compatible with traditional email, enabling seamless sending and receiving emails with any other mailbox (e.g., Gmail, QQ Mail). Users can use wallet addresses / ENS names as email addresses, enhancing email security through digital signatures and end-to-end encryption. All MetaMail functions are free and gasless. During the hackathon, MetaMail used KNN3’s user-following graph to implement a user recommendation system.
2. ETHChat
https://github.com/GeorgeFane/ETHchat/
https://youtu.be/ns02CxG63YU
ETHChat provides a filtering service within XMTP and CyberConnect, allowing users to filter private messages from people they follow. The user interface consists of three sections: following, followers, and mutual follows, and allows users to send follow requests via ETHChat.
3. Art By City (@artbycity)
https://gitcoin.co/hackathon/ethshanghai/projects/15680/art-by-city
Art By City (artby.city) aims to build a Web3 art storage protocol. This hackathon developed the first Art By City node, which tracks the status of art assets stored on Arweave via Meson Network to reward creators.
4. TogethDAO (Best Permission Control Project)
https://github.com/TogethDAO
https://github.com/orgs/TogethDAO/repositories
https://youtu.be/TlvsHnNld5k
TogethDAO is a secure, transparent crowdfunding platform powered by smart contracts. It enables users to pool tokens together to overcome high gas fees when purchasing Ethereum fungible tokens or expensive blue-chip NFTs. Proposers complete a cycle through four steps: creation, cross-chain transfer, purchase, and sale. Participants receive tokens upon proposal completion. Future plans include expanding DAO functionality such as pooled investments in FTs/NFTs, enabling flexible participation in micro-VCs among friend circles, joint investing, and fund management.
5. Proof of Soul (Fast Red Wood)
https://github.com/fastRedwood/ETHShanghai2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3YiPVOWnVI
Proof of Soul is a permissionless soul token issuance and attestation protocol designed to build rich human connections for a decentralized society.
6. VokaAI (Bronze Award Winner)
https://github.com/Zhang-Tianxu/VokaAIProtocol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCmYkD1LSS8&t=10s&ab_channel=DennisHY
VOKA AI represents a new form of native Web3.0 identity. VOKA AI not only generates personalized anime avatars via AI technology but also allows users to generate digital identities using existing NFT PFPs. Additionally, VOKA AI will collaborate with world-class designers and fashion brands to create various virtual outfits, sold via OpenSea. Users can employ their digital identities across multiple applications such as video conferencing, live streaming, virtual socializing, and even Web3.0 games.
7. Popula (@beepopula)
https://github.com/popula-io/popula-eth-shanghai
Testnet.popula.io
https://youtu.be/kQLKYW_Pkeo
Popula is dedicated to building new infrastructure for the Web3 creator economy, establishing a reputation system via non-transferable fungible tokens (NTFTs) and leveraging token economics to help creators monetize and incentivize community co-creation.
8. CryptoIn
https://github.com/ShuaJJ/CryptoIn/blob/master/README-ChainIDE.md
https://crypto-in.surge.sh/
https://youtu.be/M-DJH-zKCSY
CryptoIn aims to become the LinkedIn of crypto, using decentralized technology to build a social platform tailored for blockchain professionals. Users can showcase technical expertise, seek job opportunities or co-founders; projects can pursue partnerships, raise funds, and recruit Web3 talent. All data and chat content are stored decentralized, enabling seamless connection in the crypto world.
9. Tai-Shang Soul Card
English: https://github.com/WeLightProject/Tai-Shang-Soul-Card
Chinese: https://github.com/WeLightProject/Tai-Shang-Soul-Card/blob/main/README_CN.md
https://youtu.be/KAcfIohP-Y4
Addressing the social needs of various communities in a decentralized society (DeSoc), the NonceGeek team developed SoulCard — a blockchain-based business card that signifies one’s communal identity.
10. DAOU (Bronze Award Winner)
https://github.com/DAOU-IO/daou
https://www.daou.io/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFk3CKR3UG8
DAOU uses Soulbound Tokens and Social Oracle to transform member activity data within DAOs (Discord activity, forum Q&A, GitHub code contributions, DAO roles and connections) into verifiable on-chain data. Social Oracle refers to incentivizing members within the same DAO to sign and verify data generated inside the DAO, increasing data credibility. Verified data is published to members' Soulbound Tokens and made available for third-party use. Applications include credit lending, targeted airdrops, whitelist mechanisms to prevent DDoS attacks, etc.
11. Def Network (Best Decentralized Identity Project) (@NetworkDef)
https://github.com/DimensionDev/Maskbook/pull/6388
https://youtu.be/DM8F511JNus
Def Network is a collaborative tool for tagging wallet addresses. It helps developers and analysts easily obtain on-chain user profiles. Def Network organizes on-chain behavioral data into understandable and usable Events and Properties, allowing any user to query address lists meeting certain criteria. Use cases include airdrops, recommendations, building on-chain user personas, or developing trading tools.
12. Scam Sniffer (Best Web2-Web3 Bridge Project)
https://github.com/DimensionDev/Maskbook/pull/6336
https://youtu.be/1TWDhPTR6_E
Scam Sniffer is a browser extension built on the Mask Network ecosystem that helps users detect potential phishing risks in real time, protecting their asset security. Once a phishing site is detected, the plugin reports it immediately to MetaMask’s anti-phishing center to block related websites and addresses promptly, minimizing exposure to phishing threats for crypto users.
13. ZkSafebox
https://github.com/busyapedao/zksafebox-contract
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qieJDN68hbg
zkSafebox – Zero-Knowledge Vault: A zero-knowledge proof-based asset vault requiring a password for withdrawals, with the password never touching the network. The vault remains secure even if the password is compromised; it also stays safe if the private key is stolen. Only when both password and private key are compromised does the vault become vulnerable. If users forget their password, social recovery is available.
14. Web3shop (Best On-Chain Data Project) (@Lab3_Web3Shop)
https://github.com/Tingwei-Justin/web3shop-dapp
https://web3-e-commerce.vercel.app/
Web3Shop is a next-generation e-commerce social platform built specifically for Web3. Its vision is to bring designers and users together into a community to jointly design and produce goods, establishing new social dynamics for social commerce and integrating incentive models. Web3Shop aims to eliminate the flaws of Web2 e-commerce by returning traffic and control to users, growing through expanded social networks, and striving to become the most user-centric Web3 community.
15. Marry3 (@marryinweb3)
https://github.com/marryinweb3/Marry3
Marry3 is a social experiment initially inspired by reflections on 0x addresses as foundational natives in Web3, evolving from critiques of unhealthy trends in the Web3 ecosystem. Marry3's interim solution is a non-tradable, non-transferable, paired-binding non-financial NFT, perfectly aligning with the concept of SBTs (soulbound tokens), which Marry calls Paired Soulbound Tokens. Around this idea, Marry3 has built a base SBT contract along with higher-level multisig negotiation and DAO arbitration contracts and dApp. Future plans may include launching a token and pooling all revenue to incentivize ecosystem growth.
16. Arche Network (Best Social Gaming Project) (@Arche_Network)
https://github.com/Archenetwork?tab=overview&from=2022-05-01&to=2022-05-31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsGukmSeUGI
Arche Network is a community-driven Web3 gaming ecosystem. By developing and integrating Web3 protocol tools, it helps players positively influence each other within communities, exchange value, share creations, and collaborate. During the hackathon, Arche presented its DID framework and practical implementation with Project Galaxy in the DID space.
17. RomaN-Date
https://github.com/RomaN-Date
https://roman-doc.vercel.app
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6ADGIdHT9A
RomaN is a SocialFi dating dApp that operates on principles of trust and transparency, enabling prepayment, payment, and earning via LIKE options. Blockchain and hackathon-sponsored protocols provide RomaN with excellent solutions to leverage content, interoperability, and incentives to drive Web2 dating industries toward Web3. User interactions on RomaN are based on decentralized protocols: users receive recommended links via CyberConnect, view pre-generated profiles via RSS3, and communicate using their digital identities via XMTP.
18. Starlight Social
https://lively-violet-8626.on.fleek.co/
https://youtu.be/dhUprJ8mQ9Q
Starlight Social is a refreshing new social platform built on the Moonbase Alpha blockchain, leveraging Moonbeam’s exclusive pre-compatibility advantage to deliver a novel social experience while maintaining protocol security.
Starlight Social allows users to share media and rewards them in return. The value users contribute is staked via Moonbeam’s unique pre-paid protocol, granting additional collective benefits during mutual sharing.
19. Kwil db-Cli (Silver Award + Best Arweave Ecosystem Project)
https://github.com/xendarboh/kwildb-cli
https://youtu.be/Oeaq1yXiYxs
Kwildb-cli is an interactive terminal, command-line client, and database import tool. Conceptually modeled after mysql and psql clients to offer a familiar developer experience, it allows users to interactively input queries, send them to Kwil databases (optionally synchronized to blockchain), and view results. SQL input can be read from files as a database import utility. A configuration wizard simplifies setup and fast recovery of Kwil Data Moat.
20. Shorum
https://github.com/Shorumlab/shorum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg59yLD1084
Shorum is a social value derivation platform for the Web3 network, using relational data from RSS3 and KNN3 to create a socially-aware payment scheme. Applicable to community payments, fan payments, DAO payroll distribution, etc. Supports features like whitelisting and NFT-based identity verification.
21. Web3nft.social (@Web3HackerNinja)
https://github.com/NftTopBest/web3nft.social
https://www.loom.com/share/f49d8e0c76d14e8eb8390804026b1a3b
Web3NFT.Social aims to build a Web3 version of Linktree, with browser plugin support so users can see account ratings and link directly to the platform homepage from Twitter. Building on this, Web3NFT.Social will gradually launch NFT SaaS services to help more Web2 users adopt Web3. For example, automated NFT generation services, and homepage settings using LIT (https://litprotocol.com/) for on-chain permission validation to access various platform services. This hackathon also developed a prototype chat filter based on LIT + XMTP + CyberConnect, which will be integrated into the platform as a core feature.
22. Xmtp-lit (Best Communication Project) (The darkrai07)
https://github.com/thedarkrai07/xmtp-litprotocol
https://www.loom.com/share/b98304ed859644d89cb51df88eb7155e
Xmtp-lit is an embedded chat application combining Xmtp and CyberConnect, enabling users to send messages to others. It also supports adding friends by address and filtering friend messages.
23. Fraction Interface
https://github.com/0xPr0f/Fraction-interface/tree/maindev
https://frac-tion.vercel.app/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuVF0JAdlb8
Fraction is a protocol allowing users to earn yield on specific assets, wrapping assets (typically stablecoins) into ERC1155 and distributing yield as customizable superfluid tokens. Fraction also provides minting functionality for soulbound NFTs, binding users to their assets while earning additional returns.
24. Superfluid Ceramic AddressBook
https://gitcoin.co/hackathon/ethshanghai/projects/15522/superfluid-and-addressbook-ceramic-datamodel-integration
https://youtu.be/akCUKKoc18M
Superfluid is a smart contract framework on EVM networks enabling users to transfer assets on-chain according to predefined rules called agreements. Through a single on-chain transaction, funds flow in real-time from the sender’s wallet to the recipient’s.
For more information about the ETH Shanghai Hackathon, follow @ETHShanghai2022 on Twitter.
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