NERO Chain Participates as a Silver Sponsor at ETHTokyo 2024: Highlights from the Hackathon and Conference

From August 23rd to 26th, the Ethereum Japan Association hosted the "ETHTokyo 2024" hackathon at Digital Garage in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Organized by Ethereum Japan, a non-profit promoting Japan's Ethereum community, attracted over 200 participants and 40 hacker teams. Blockchain and dApp tool providers also participated. At the final conference, NERO CEO Jake Stolarski presented the NERO Chain and vision. As a Silver Sponsor, NERO Chain, along with Chainsight and Owl Protocol, supported the developers. Resulting with 10 teams submitting their projects to NERO Chain, with the top teams receiving prizes of $2,000, $1,000, and $500.

All submitted projects can be viewed here:
https://app.akindo.io/hackathons/3dXM7ZO2WsxvlkXp?tab=products　

About the Hackathon

NERO Chain focused on building dApps and tools on its testnet, partnering with Chainsight, an on-chain data hub, and Owl Protocol, which offers blockchain integration solutions through APIs and Zapier, to support developers.

Award-Winning Projects

1st Place: ZKCredit - Prize: $2,000

The ZKCredit team developed a system that securely verifies off-chain credit data on-chain by integrating zkTLS and zkML. zkTLS is a protocol that safely connects private Web2 data to the Web3 ecosystem, allowing data to be portable and verifiable on-chain while maintaining privacy. zkML is a technology that proves machine learning results without revealing the input data. Together, these technologies enable the secure and flexible verification of off-chain data on-chain, without compromising privacy as their goal.

This solution significantly expands Web3 use cases, such as undercollateralized lending protocols based on off-chain credit data, and whitelisting in GameFi projects and NFT marketplaces based on users' off-chain activities. It also enables selective data disclosure with privacy protection, using DID/VC, opening the door to more versatile applications.

Verifier Contract (NERO Testnet): https://testnetscan.nerochain.io/tx/0xa5fd934a23fd97ff79d03f031af2ab868e27658fa87e01b05f87cded7695a104

More details:
https://app.akindo.io/communities/Pv3EJERJwSenWWdk/products/63z0JAMw9hDQRvKq?tab=overview

2nd Place: ONI-CHAN - Prize: $1,000

ONI-CHAN was created to address the reliability issues often faced in traditional OTC trading, where delays and fraud risks are common. Using ZKPs, this system allows users to instantly and securely receive cryptocurrency from a smart contract as soon as they deposit fiat currency into a specified bank account or digital wallet (e.g., PayPal). This greatly improves transaction speed and reliability, eliminating uncertainty.

The key feature is that ZKPs automate the transaction process while protecting user privacy, completely removing the need for trust. By using Reclaim Protocol to securely verify bank transaction history, the system triggers the smart contract to confirm the cryptocurrency exchange. This makes OTC trading safe and fast, eliminating the risks and delays of traditional methods.

Verifier Contract (NERO Testnet): https://testnetscan.nerochain.io/address/0x8b3340EFcB90e586Edf0790538c7f3730560D4b3

More details:
https://app.akindo.io/communities/RDo68AZVVs61q8V1V/products/63z0R3MWNF3JEpaL

3rd Place: S.P.R.M (State of Primary Elements that is Rolled-up and Merged) - Prize: $500

SPRM was designed to optimize hash computations involving sensitive data. Traditional hash mechanisms require processing the entire message, including sensitive information, which raises privacy concerns. SPRM addresses this by condensing the initial blocks containing sensitive data into a compact intermediate state, reducing data exposure and computational load during the hashing process. This ensures data integrity while maintaining privacy.

SPRM leverages the structural properties of hash functions like SHA-256 to efficiently process sensitive information. It is fully compatible with traditional hash mechanisms, meaning it can be easily integrated without changes to existing systems like DID, VC, X.509 certificates, or NFTs. SPRM is expected to be especially useful in scenarios requiring privacy protection and data verification.

Verifier Contract (NERO Testnet): https://testnetscan.nerochain.io/address/0x8FAC3AbfBfD92BeB634ba598af9b66a433e46d65

More details:
https://app.akindo.io/communities/3dB0ReGz3iQqK8De/products/kzj1QmLrgcOJ9vMk?tab=overview

At the Conference

At the conference, CEO Jake Stolarski gave a keynote presenting NERO Chain and its vision. He introduced the concept of "Blockspace 2.0," discussed how Paymaster allows flexible gas fees and its cyclical impact on liquidity, and the upcoming launch of the mainnet and AA Platform in late October 2024. This platform will allow usage and acceptance of tokens and stablecoins in dApp development, as well as adjustable token gas management.