A total of 88 projects were presented in this edition of the Ethereum monthly hackathon. The number of ETHBerlin developers increased more than 200% compared to last year.
Every month, Ethereum developers form all over the world meet to build a project from scratch. The second edition of ETHBerlin, an Ethereum hackathon in which experiences, workshops and talks were shared, was held from August 21st to 25th in Berlin, Germany. A total of € 60,000 in prize money was distributed among the participants.
This hackathon, whose first issue took place in Berlin last year, aims to act as an educational event, a cultural festival, and “a community initiative to boost the decentralized ecosystem,” as written on its website. The event featured 88 project presentations, 730 developers and 36 jurors.
After the ETHDenver, held in February in the United States, this is the largest number of projects presented in an Ethereum hackathon so far this year. About a quarter of the projects were related to finance. Another category that found many solutions was that of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO).
Among the winners is LSDai, a project that creates a future according to the Dai loan rate based on the Compound Finance model, so lenders can protect themselves from declining interests. Besides, those who want to bet on the fluctuation of the interest rate can also benefit.
Cherry Swap is one of the autonomous open source platforms for interest rate swaps that obtained the first places. The project, inspired by prediction markets, was created using the Compound Finance protocol. It combines swaps of interest rates with predictions based on the crowd, through positions grouped according to market interest rates.
RateLock also creates fixed-rate loans with Compound Finance, but it uses an interest rate swap order book system within the blockchain. Loans are supported by multiple counterparties and, when users agree, lenders receive their share of the guarantee through an ERC20 token. When the loan is repaid, lenders obtain a fixed-rate fee from the borrowers’ collateralized debt, while the rest of the shareholders involved in the loan are paid on the basis of the amount owed at the closing of the loan.
Hotspot me!, in contrast, was not focused on loans with cryptocurrencies, but on the lack of Wi-Fi access at ETHBerlin. With this application, users can access the Internet through nearby anonymous access points (AAP), in exchange for micropayments.
Likewise, a project combining Chainlink with the predictive betting market Augur was awarded. Developers Peter Mitchell and Jasperdg de Gooijer considered that Chainlink oracles were not safe enough, so they could be affected by third parties’ manipulation of the API. Consequently, they built a layer of dispute over Chainlink, which uses Augur’s resolution mechanics, to obtain faster resolutions and a much stronger reserve oracle.
A total of 61 speakers were invited to this month’s event. Among them were Bitcoin developer Udi Wertheimer, Trust Wallet founder Viktor Radchenko, Ethereum developer Afri Schoedon, Althea’s Co-Founder Deborah Simpier, and MakerDAO member Mariano Conti, among others.
The first issue of the Ethereum ETHBerlin hackathon was held from September 7th to 9th, 2018, with a total of 196 participants. On that occasion, participants competed for non-monetary prizes. However, the initial receptivity allowed creating the Decentralization Department, the body responsible for coordinating the series of activities that were part of this year’s event, as well as supporting the projects included in the hackathon and obtaining funds to the awards. Ethereum’s next hackathon, the ETHBoston, will be held from September 6th to 8th.
By Willmen Blanco
