Recently, the Pinata team had the exciting opportunity to dive into the world of blockchain innovation at ETH New York. It was a whirlwind of code, creativity, and camaraderie as we hacked alongside some of the brightest minds in the industry. In this blog post, we want to share our journey, the invaluable lessons we learned, and why we believe it's crucial for Pinata employees to participate in hackathons like these.

So, why do we hack?

At Pinata, we're passionate about empowering developers to leverage IPFS for their projects. Engaging in hackathons is more than a pursuit of accolades—it's about immersing ourselves in the developer community, understanding their pain points, and brainstorming solutions. By participating, we align ourselves with the very challenges our users face daily, enabling us to craft better tools and services. Let’s not forget, Pinata is a hackathon-born company, so naturally we love to get back to our roots, flex our building skills, and of course snag a few prizes along the way.

What We Learned

IPFS, beyond NFT metadata.

IPFS initially gained significant traction due to its critical role in NFT metadata storage. With the continuous expansion of the web3 ecosystem, IPFS is finding diverse use cases beyond NFT metadata. Notably, we've witnessed various content and media types finding a home on IPFS. One project we loved was AirTracker, which leveraged AirTag to create immutable records of a physical asset’s location history. It worked by scraping location data, encrypting the data, and then storing it on IPFS. Cool, right?

Simplicity is key.

In the world of developer tools, simplicity is the secret sauce.  Tools that make complex tasks easy are the true game-changers. We experienced this first hand during our race against the clock and it gave us a newfound drive to make Pinata as simple as possible for developers.

Supercharged NFTs with ERC-6551.

ERC-6551s, also known as Token Bound Accounts, address a major challenge in the NFT realm: utility. The ERC-6551 offers a solution to finally give NFTs more purpose and practicality. We explored this concept by deploying NFT-owned Safes made feasible by ERC-6551. A big shoutout to our friends at Future Primitive for guiding us through this implementation! This new standard is poised to drive increased innovation and utility within the NFT space.

How These Lessons Help Us Build Better

Every obstacle we encountered during the hackathon propelled us to rethink and refine our developer tools. We are committed to creating developer-centric solutions that alleviate the complexities developers face when utilizing IPFS and blockchain technologies.

Our takeaway from ETH New York emphasizes the need for intuitive interfaces, concise documentation, and enhanced interoperability. We're channeling this newfound knowledge into our ongoing projects, focusing on building tools that seamlessly integrate both technologies. Our aim is to empower developers by providing them with efficient, user-friendly tools that accelerate their blockchain journey.

Exploring Innovative Tools

During the hackathon, we integrated some intriguing tools into our project that could prove beneficial to developers in our community. These tools include Privy, UMA Protocol, and Safe, each offering unique capabilities for blockchain projects. Here's how they contributed to our DeSci-themed project, Swirl:

Seamless Onboarding with Privy

Privy is a versatile library that simplifies the integration of authentication flows and embedded wallets into applications.  We utilized Privy for a seamless onboarding. Due to their clear documentation and simple implementation, this library is a great option for developers seeking to onboard all types of users onto their web3 application.

Trustless Voting Procedures with UMA Protocol

UMA Protocol is an optimistic oracle and dispute arbitration system that enables data to be brought on-chain. We leveraged UMA’s oSnap (Optimistic Snapshot Execution) for Swirl’s voting system which allows DAO or organization members to propose transactions, conduct off-chain governance votes, and submit transaction data in a trustless fashion.

Decentralized Asset Management with Safe

Safe, a decentralized custody protocol and asset management platform, offers robust solutions for safeguarding assets.  As mentioned, we integrated Safe into our project by deploying NFT-owned Safe’s made possible by ERC-6551. That’s right, Safe’s owned solely by NFTs.

Celebrating Our Achievements

Our DeSci-themed project for funding scientific research, Swirl, garnered recognition and accolades during the hackathon, including the prestigious Best on UMA, Best Public Good on Polygon and Best UX with Privy. We're excited to share our success, showcasing our team's dedication and innovative spirit.

What’s next?

In conclusion, we've returned with fresh insights and a renewed determination to build tools that simplify the adoption of IPFS and blockchain technologies. We invite fellow developers to join us in this journey, as we strive to make a lasting impact on the decentralized future. So, stay tuned, because there's plenty more excitement and innovation coming your way from our passionate team!