SpruceID Bounties for the Encode Future of Blockchain University Hackathon

We are thrilled to announce SpruceID’s sponsorship in Encode’s Future of Blockchain University Hackathon, where students from 20+ universities worldwide will have the opportunity to shape the future of decentralized identity by building dapps.

From students who are brand new to Web3 to those who already have experience in the world of blockchain, everyone is welcome to participate from July 31st-August 27th for a chance to win two bounties with a $6,000 prize pool.

Your mission: build decentralized identity into a dapp using SpruceKit: a collection of libraries that power your application to:

• Accept digital credentials from users on their terms,
• Originate trusted information for users, and
• Interact with data vaults giving users greater control over their digital identities and personal data.

Why enter?

There are many great reasons to participate in Encode’s Future of Blockchain University Hackathon this year. Just to name a few, you’ll be able to:

• Earn recognition and cash prizes
• Gain hands-on experience learning about decentralized identity
• Add apps that you build to your resume and portfolio, and lastly,
• Learn how to make contributions to an open source code base!

Who should enter?

This hackathon is geared towards students currently enrolled in university who are learning software development and are both new to or familiar with Web3.

You can join either as a solo hacker or as a part of a team. If you’re interested in participating with a team but don’t have a group to work with yet, you can find fellow hackers by joining the Encode Discord server, select the ‘Uni Hack’ channel from the onboarding menu, and there will be a ‘Team Formation’ channel on Discord that you can use to join forces with another hacker.

If you are entering as a team, there must be at least one student on your team.

What should I build?

Bounty #1: Let users bring their own identity and data to your app

About the bounty: At SpruceID, we’re building a future that empowers everyone to generate verifiable digital credentials that make statements about reality, such as their identity, qualifications, achievements, experiences, or even the content they’ve created.

For this bounty, hackathon participants should tie together SpruceKit libraries and use the SpruceKit Credential Faucet to let users prove who they are in your application. Participants should make sure to pull in credentials in a meaningful way, such as using them to enhance profile information or use them as part of a core workflow.

Prizes:
🏆 Most innovative app use case (introduces unique concepts, pushing boundaries of existing technologies or addressing problems in new and creative ways): $1,500
🏆Best technical implementation of the libraries: $1,000
🏆 Implementation with the best user experience: $500

Bounty #2: Allow users to log in without a username/ password by authenticating with their Ethereum accounts.

About the bounty: Sign-In with Ethereum is a decentralized authentication mechanism that lets you log into websites or applications using your Ethereum wallet address to store and access your data. Sign-In with Ethereum eliminates the need for usernames and passwords, using your Ethereum address as a unique identifier — adding security and transparency to the authentication process.

SpruceID is looking for hackathon participants to incorporate our open-source SpruceKit libraries to enable their app users to Sign-In with Ethereum. Developers can optionally also use SSX (as a part of SpruceKit) resolve to ENS (hint: this may help you with some ENS bounties too!), but, at a minimum, must use SSX to install Sign-In with Ethereum to log users in.

Prizes:
🏆$3,000 prize pool: $250 for the 12 best dapp submissions

To see more information on our bounties and challenges, head over to our docs.

Mark your calendars and make a plan

After you decide whether you’d like to participate in a team or on your own, don’t forget to mark your calendar with the following key times and dates to keep track of all the key milestones:

July 31, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm GMT: Launch event
August 1: Start building your project
August 9, 3:00 - 4:00 pm GMT: Join us for the "Using open source to power your app with decentralized identity" workshop
August 27: Deadline to submit your project!
September 12, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm GMT: Finale event

What happens after I submit?

After you submit your project, we will review each and every submission carefully based on the judging criteria: quality of the idea, implementation of the idea, and potential impact. We will determine the finalists who will then be invited to go up against your fellow finalists and pitch your dapp at the finale event for a chance to win the bounties. If you are selected as a finalist, you will be invited to a pitch practice session.

Have more questions?

We’re here to help! If you have any questions, head over to Encode’s Discord server, select the ‘Uni Hack’ channel from the onboarding menu, and ask your question via the ‘technical questions’ forum post, or read more about the hackathon in our documentation.

Active on social? Mention us at @spruceid on Twitter to share updates on your progress! We’re excited to see what you create.

About SpruceID: Spruce is building a future where users control their identity and data across all digital interactions. If you're curious about integrating Spruce's technology into your project, come chat with us in our Discord.