Spruce at ETHDenver 2023

It’s the greatest time of year again–when thousands of developers and Web3 aficionados descend upon the mountains of Colorado for a week of Ethereum fandom, activities, events, and hackathons.

Yes, it’s ETHDenver time.

Many are predicting 2023 as the year of decentralized identity (see Vitalik’s blog, “What in the Ethereum application ecosystem excites me,” where he names Sign-In with Ethereum as a leading topic of interest). We might be biased–but we agree. Momentum is building in the decentralized identity space, with more progress on fundamental infrastructure layers, adoption of global standards, and developers interested in implementing solutions within real-world applications.

So, we’re bringing that energy to ETHDenver.

👾did:day👾

As we previously announced, we are hosting a half-day summit, did:day, on March 1 as a part of the official ETHDenver BUIDLWeek. At did:day, we’ll be joined by speakers representing other leaders in the space–including Disco, Ceramic, ENS, Gitcoin Passport, PolygonID, Unlock, Lit Protocol, CyberConnect, and Lens–to bring together visionaries who are building the foundations to turn decentralized identity into a reality.

You can learn more about did:day in our blog post announcing the event here or on the did:day webpage on the Spruce website. The event is currently sold out, so if you missed your chance to register for a free ticket, stay tuned for our recaps.

🌲Plant a Tree at our booth🌲

At our booth during the main conference, we’re doing something a little bit different. Rather than giving away swag, we’re introducing an interactive experience where booth visitors can test out our newest product (hint: bring your own identity and data with Sign-In with Ethereum, fun with POAPs, and more) and then plant a tree. Yes, a real tree–without disclosing too much, we are planting one tree for each person that “completes an interaction” with our newest product.

Sticking with the tree theme (Spruce, trees, get it…) we’ll also have a fun tree-themed giveaway and some other bonus goodies for folks who come say hello at our booth.

If you’re at ETHDenver and want to chat about decentralized identity, Sign-In with Ethereum, or just want to see what all this tree stuff is about, stop by our booth in Devtopia at the main conference to chat with us.

👩‍💻Bounties for Buidlers🧑‍💻

Our main bounties focus on improvements and enhancements for SSX, or “Self-Sovereign Anything,” our open-source product that acts as a gateway for developers to incorporate decentralized identity into their applications. Learn more about SSX in our announcement blog here.

1. The Best Use of SSX + ENS: Developers are tasked with incorporating Sign-In with Ethereum workflows into their project using SSX’s feature to resolve ENS names and avatars for users. For this bounty, we are looking for existing projects to incorporate SSX into their application workflows and we’ll judge based on the open-source submitted for the hackathon.

Prize: For this in-person bounty, there will be four (4) winning projects that will each win $1,000.

2. Extending SSX’s Availability: For this bounty, we are looking for open-source contributions to SSX that extend SSX to additional frameworks and languages that are not currently supported. For example, this could be Python support for SSX, a new frontend or backend that SSX doesn’t yet support, and so on. Our goal with this bounty is to make developer experiences even easier, as they explore ways to incorporate decentralized identity solutions into their existing applications and frameworks.

Prize: For this in-person bounty, there will be two (2) winning projects that will each win $2,000.

3. The Best Upgrade to SSX: As the name suggests, we are looking for an open-source contribution that offers the best upgrade to SSX. This might be an enhancement to SSX or a new feature flag alongside the existing ones. SSX currently supports features like DAO logins with multi-sig wallets or ENS and Lens profile resolutions, but developers can contribute new feature flags for SSX, like SSX chat functionality for users when developers bring it into their project.

Prize: For this in-person bounty, there will be two (2) winning projects that will win $1,000.

And last, but not least:

4. The Easiest (Micro and Unofficial) Bounty of Them All: We’re looking for developers to give us feedback on our open-source products and libraries. No previous familiarity with Spruce, SSX, or Sign-In with Ethereum is required to participate in this. Stop by our booth in Devtopia at the main conference for a brief feedback session and we’ll give you a $20 gift card to a nearby local Denver coffee shop for a caffeine dose and a snack on us. Yes, it’s that easy.

Our team will be available at our booth in Devtopia throughout the event and virtually in our Discord to answer any questions related to bounties or hackathon work.

💡The Talks💡

In addition to the lightning talks, panels, and keynotes at did:day, we’re excited that three of our team members will be speaking at the main ETHDenver conference.

• Wayne, Cofounder of Spruce, will take the stage on March 4th at 7:00 PM MT to talk about Single Player-Ready Dapps - a presentation of an end-to-end architecture where applications can be built as “single player” ready with a “multiplayer” mode to provision access to other groups. For example, imagine a private version of Yelp or Goodreads, where you store all your favorites privately, but then have the option to share various bookmarked favorites with colleagues, friends, or families, as relevant to them. Add Wayne’s talk to your schedule here.
• Rocco, Cofounder of Spruce, will deliver a talk on March 4th at 3:20 PM MT on Defeating Big-Login with Sign-In with Ethereum, explaining how risky the dependency is that we’ve built on Big Tech to maintain our access to various applications and services is and how Sign-In with Ethereum can empower individuals to regain control of their online identity. Add Rocco’s talk to your schedule here.
• Anukriti, Product Manager at Spruce, is taking the stage on March 4th at 10 AM MT, talking about Sign-In with Ethereum 101 with a crash course on SIWE and what the future holds for SIWE and beyond. If this blog is the first you’re hearing about Sign-In with Ethereum and your curiosity is piqued, you don’t want to miss this presentation. Add Anukriti’s talk to your schedule here.

ETHDenver will be a busy week, and we’re excited to meet all the buidlers and frens in person. If you’re planning to be in Denver, we hope to see you!

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, chat with us in our Discord.