Recapping ETHGlobal Waterloo 2023 Finalist Projects
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Recapping ETHGlobal Waterloo 2023 Finalist Projects
This article reviews the 11 projects that made it to the finals at ETHGlobal Waterloo 2023.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: ETHGlobal
Translation: TechFlow
1. AquaNet
AquaNet leverages Non-Fungible Token Bound Accounts (ERC-6551) to enable NFTs to create and record activities within an AI-driven social media network. Each qualifying NFT can create its own account on the "myPuddle" network, allowing the NFT to build and develop a unique AI identity—primarily generated from its existing traits. These NFTs will autonomously post messages to their accounts, list their interests, and share information about themselves.
2. Smarter Contract
Have you ever wondered how to optimize smart contract efficiency, seamlessly leverage the unique advantages of various blockchains, and simplify the complexity of cross-chain operations? Now you don't have to wonder anymore. Welcome to the future with Smarter Contract. Powered by the cross-chain protocol Hyperlane, this protocol pushes smart contracts to a new level—not just making them smarter, but significantly more intelligent. Here’s how Smarter Contract works:
The core components of Smarter Contract include:
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GasEstimator: Think of it as the strategist for your contract. It simulates contract functions across chains to determine the most cost-effective blockchain for each function at any given moment.
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Function Dispatcher: Once GasEstimator selects the most efficient chain, the dispatcher acts like a delivery service, using Hyperlane to route these functions precisely to their optimal chains.
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Result Aggregator: After functions execute on their respective chains, the Result Aggregator comes into play. Like a grand finale, it collects all results and presents them in a unified view.
Users can connect their wallets, select the functions they want to execute, and input data. They can monitor function execution in real time and directly see how much gas they’ve saved.
Smarter Contract aims to redefine the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of smart contract execution and maintenance. By delegating functions to different chains based on real-time conditions, it enhances your smart contract performance while reducing costs.
By leveraging Hyperlane’s cross-chain protocol, Smarter Contract taps into the potential of multiple blockchains to meet your smart contract needs. This isn’t just an upgrade—it’s a leap toward user-friendly, accessible, and cost-efficient blockchain technology applications.
3. Fukuro
This project uses EIP-6551 to create an auction marketplace. Users can list and bid on Fukuro bundles.
The name "Fukuro" is inspired by Japan's fukubukuro, also known as "lucky bags." These are mysterious sealed bags sold at a fixed price. EIP-6551 enables ERC-721 tokens to control their own "wallet address" and hold assets.
Each Fukuro can contain anything an Ethereum address can hold, such as other NFTs, ERC20 tokens, and more. This makes it possible to trade diverse asset collections—art collections, trading card sets, or even curated investment portfolios.
4. Roll a Mate
Our Ethereum mainnet-based mempool payment Rollups allow users to send and receive ETH with transaction fees ranging from zero to four cents. Dubbed "Roll a Mate," this protocol addresses the need for frictionless entry and everyday payments within the Ethereum ecosystem. Whether buying a meal or paying for a taxi ride, high transaction costs should never be a deterrent.
As Vitalik Buterin emphasized at Pragma Waterloo and ETH Waterloo openings, paying $5 in transaction fees for a $15 bill is unreasonable. This dilemma has driven crypto businesses to use centralized exchanges like Binance, which offer free or very low-cost transactions—but this doesn’t truly align with the ecosystem’s long-term vision.
Delivering competitive transaction costs on Ethereum mainnet is extremely challenging because it's the most widely adopted chain. However, Roll a Mate successfully solves this problem by leveraging the flexibility and capabilities of the mempool.
Ethereum mainnet’s mempool provides a dedicated broadcast channel for validating potential transactions, accessible under certain conditions by any node and several graphical services.
Anyone can broadcast valid transactions, provided they meet the following conditions:
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Valid structure, encoding, and signature.
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Sufficient balance to cover gas fees—at least 21,000 gas units.
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Valid nonce.
High transaction costs stem directly from elevated gas prices, often turning simple transactions that could cost just four cents into $5 expenses. This inflation renders any Ethereum mainnet-based payment system impractical.
By operating within the mempool to validate and broadcast low-gas transactions, then including them in sidechain order book rollups (without requiring user interaction), Ethereum mainnet users can send and receive payments at a cost of zero to four cents—faster than standard mainnet transaction finality.
Users of the Roll a Mate payment protocol only pay gas fees in two scenarios:
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Depositing ETH to spend—a low-cost transaction.
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Withdrawing, which triggers the order book construction rollup for order validation.
In summary, using the Roll a Mate payment protocol, an Ethereum mainnet user can deposit 1 ETH, pay gas once, and “use that balance for 100 transactions over a year,” averaging up to just four cents per transaction. Merchants, on the other hand, can receive and accumulate unlimited transactions, paying gas only once upon withdrawal—and they can even transact (send funds) from these accumulated balances without withdrawing them first.
5. Piggybank 6551 NFT
Piggybank 6551 is a fun NFT savings account. Users can mint a Piggybank NFT and load it with ETH either via payable functions or by sending ETH directly to the NFT’s 6551 account address. As ETH accumulates in each Piggybank, the NFT metadata—including color, text labels, and attributes—is instantly updated. Once ETH is locked inside the NFT, the only way to withdraw it is by destroying the NFT—either by calling the burn function or manually sending the NFT to its own 6551 account. When the 6551 account receives the NFT, it immediately returns the contained ETH to the account that destroyed the NFT and updates the metadata to “Destroyed.”
6. Smile DAO
This project is an experiment in the field of Zero-Knowledge Machine Learning (ZKML), aiming to verify machine learning (ML) model outputs given private inputs. The idea behind Smile DAO is that frontend app users take a selfie smiling, pass it through an ML model, and generate a proof of the process client-side. Smile DAO deploys a verifier on-chain; once users obtain their proof, they can submit it on-chain during NFT minting. This NFT holds voting power within the DAO, enabling participation in proposal creation, voting, and executing DAO operations.
7. a(i)udit
In 2022 alone, over $3.6 billion was lost due to exploitation and hacks from 167 major security incidents—of which a staggering 51.5% occurred in audited protocols! We don’t deny the value of audits, but they are centralized, expensive (in both time and money), and lack enforcement. The security of our Web3 future cannot rely solely on audits. So how can we make it easier for developers to become part of the solution and adopt security-first practices earlier in their development cycle?
a(i)udit offers the answer: an integrated platform where engineers can write, audit, test, and deploy smart contracts to any chain using natural language.
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For developers, a(i)udit shifts security best practices earlier in the development lifecycle by enabling specialized security testing and rapid prototyping. Master security and auditing tools within your dev loop—before undergoing costly external audits.
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For junior auditors, a(i)udit lets you focus on finding vulnerabilities by eliminating the burden of learning and managing multiple tools, procedures, environments, audit report templates, and frameworks. Get up and running faster and more effectively with a(i)udit.
Specifically, a(i)udit is a tool that allows developers to perform blockchain-specific workflows using natural language. Below is a description of a sample workflow:
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Users upload their smart contract to the platform. Alternatively, developers can use a(i)udit to help them start writing a smart contract. Currently, only EVM-compatible smart contracts are supported.
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Users can simply ask a(i)udit to write and execute basic unit tests and fuzz tests. Unit test quality cannot currently be guaranteed, and only Foundry fuzz testing is supported.
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Users can request a(i)udit to run static analysis tests. Currently, static analysis using Mythril and Slither is supported.
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Users can request the model to store test results on IPFS, enabling smooth review, categorization, and collaboration via web3.storage to resolve identified vulnerabilities.
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Users repeat steps 1–4 until no further vulnerabilities are detected.
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Users can then request a(i)udit to deploy the smart contract to a testnet or mainnet. Currently, we support Ethereum, Gnosis, Polygon, and local Ethereum nodes as deployment targets.
8. Tokenbound Titans
This is an NPC game implementation combining ERC-6551 with dynamically generated NFTs. Players are NFT owners, with each NFT possessing different abilities and characteristics.
At the heart of the game are battles between these NPCs, where players can stake their tokens on digital arenas. The algorithm calculating battle outcomes runs off-chain and can be verified using ZK-proofs.
Winning battles allows players’ NPCs to level up, enhancing existing attributes such as health, attack, speed, and armor. Naturally, this progression unlocks new skills and combinations, diversifying gameplay for their NFTs. As NFTs level up, they become stronger and more versatile. This advancement system adds depth and longevity to the game, encouraging players to strategize, adapt, and continuously improve their NFTs to dominate.
9. zBay
zBay is a project designed to transform the online marketplace industry by decentralizing and democratizing the existing eBay platform. Its mission is to empower merchants and buyers alike by removing intermediaries and providing a secure, transparent, and efficient marketplace for everyone. Inspired by eBay’s staggering $10 billion in fees earned in 2022, zBay believes it’s time to reshape the landscape of online commerce. To achieve this, we’ve implemented three key components within the zBay platform:
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Data and Reputation Import: We recognize the value of merchants who have already built reputations on eBay and understand the importance of reputation within the online marketplace ecosystem. Through our decentralized approach, we allow merchants to easily import their existing data and reputation from eBay, ensuring a seamless transition for those looking to leverage our decentralized market. By preserving and transferring reputation, we aim to foster trust among participants and allow them to benefit from their established track records.
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Escrow Mechanism: Trust is foundational to any successful online marketplace. To enhance trust and security, we’ve implemented an innovative escrow mechanism within zBay. This mechanism acts as a safeguard, securely holding funds until both buyer and seller fulfill their obligations. By incorporating this layer of protection, we aim to mitigate fraudulent activities and instill confidence in the decentralized marketplace. To ensure smooth and secure communication between buyers and sellers, we’ve integrated XMTP chat functionality around product listings.
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Dispute Resolution: Disputes inevitably arise during transactions. To address this challenge, we’ve integrated the Uma oracle framework into zBay’s infrastructure. This cutting-edge technology leverages decentralized consensus and verifiable off-chain data to enable efficient and fair dispute resolution. With Uma, we ensure disputes are handled transparently and promptly, promoting a fair marketplace experience for all participants.
10. Token Rescue Buddy
The rise of L2s and breakthroughs like Account Abstraction (EIP-4337) point to a future that is multi-chain and dominated by smart contract wallets. However, current solutions face several major issues. Unlike EOAs, smart contract wallets can only be deployed on one chain at a time. Even more frustratingly, Gnosis Safe—the most popular smart contract wallet—does not support multi-chain vaults under the same address, despite this being technically feasible and a long-standing community request!
This highly dangerous UX flaw creates significant opportunities for token loss due to incorrect chain selection.
Token Rescue Buddy works by redeploying your vault to the same address on a different chain. This is typically a complex process prone to fund loss or hacking, but Token Rescue Buddy makes it easy for any user to complete safely.
Its ease of use also makes it ideal for centralized exchanges—provided they technically control the private keys, they can now easily and programmatically recover tokens sent to the wrong address.
11. Copix
Copix is a public canvas built on Polygon’s Mumbai testnet, where each pixel is a non-fungible token. Verified World ID holders can modify metadata, enabling users to create art by changing pixel colors. Once a color is chosen, the user owns the pixel they just edited. A two-minute cooldown limits consecutive pixel edits by the same user. Additionally, users can access full pixel metadata history, including past colors and contributors.
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