TrustBloc

Inspiration

Our team noticed a lack of awareness around Web3 and decentralized applications, as well as their real-world uses. Despite the many capabilities in both speed and accessibility of numerous Web3 applications and tools, a majority of popular e-commerce sites, most notably Amazon and Shopify still use slower, less reliable web2 applications. To address this, we set out to develop an application, TrustBloc, that showcases how these web3 technologies can be seamlessly incorporated into an e-commerce platform that is not only user friendly, but also possesses the speed, efficiency, and security of modern web3 tools.

Our inspiration for TrustBloc was to raise awareness around various Web3 platforms and their decentralized applications used in real-world instances. In spite of the preconceived notions that Web3 technologies such as cryptocurrencies, NFT’s, blockchains, etc, are untrustworthy applications, we wanted to prove, with the help of our generous sponsors such as NEAR, that we can build a platform for everyday people to use without having to fear for their personal or financial security.

What It Does

TrustBloc allows users to shop through a catalog of everyday products and purchase these products using NEAR and their blockchain services. Customers can connect TrustBloc to their NEAR wallet, allowing them to purchase products using the NEAR protocol or related cryptocurrencies in their wallets. This will ensure that all the transactions are secured and recorded through the NEAR blockchain, providing an environment that developers can improve and users can trust. Moreover, TrustBloc has been configured in a manner that emphasizes user experience, with the only necessity being a NEAR wallet, making it a straightforward and simple introduction to web3 technologies for the average person.

How We Built It

We built TrustBloc with a combination of technologies. One of our gracious sponsors, NEAR, provided us with a number of web3 tools and resources, the most notable of which is the NEAR API. Using the NEAR API, we were able to create a system that allowed users to access and use their NEAR wallet to purchase products on the store page, which were also configured using NEAR as smart contracts. This ensured not only freedom for the user to use whatever cryptocurrency they’d like, but also security in that each transaction is a smart contract with viewable conditions for all parties. Additionally, TrustBloc uses React.js, a web building library for Javascript, to create its user interface, which was particularly designed to be easy to use for beginners. Of course, Node.js and its built in package manager, npm, was used to handle server side operations and ensure smooth operation between the frontend of TrustBloc and the blockchain of NEAR.

Challenges We Ran Into

Whilst creating TrustBloc, we encountered a number of challenges that tested our technical knowledge and capabilities. For one, understanding NEAR’s API documentation and how to integrate it into our application was a significant challenge. Though the documentation was complete and possessed all necessary tools for our application, our team was unfamiliar with NEAR software and web3 tools. This meant we had to learn the fundamentals of web3 and how NEAR software could be used to achieve the desired availability of cryptocurrency to use for purchases. An additional challenge our team faced was during the implementation of the user login and logout button function with the entire TrustBloc system. To ensure users could sign in and out of TrustBloc to access or lock their funds was an important security feature to have. However, the nature of TrustBloc being a login, browse, purchase, and logout system required multiple pages to be linked and access similar user data and smart contracts to confirm blockchain transactions and smart contract changes.

Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

Given the task at hand and the challenges we faced, our team takes pride in the quality of product we were able to produce. For one, our team successfully learned the fundamentals of web3 applications and the NEAR tools and API required for TrustBloc to seamlessly authenticate users and conduct transactions using the user’s NEAR wallets. Additionally, our team was proud of how effectively React.js was used to simplify the UI and make TrustBloc more beginner friendly. Even with the limited knowledge of web3 and cryptocurrency the entire team possessed prior to the challenge, we can collectively agree that we still would have understood how to work with TrustBloc effectively. 

What We Learned

After creating TrustBloc, our team has gained a far deeper understanding of web3 tools and applications, now being able to name what a blockchain layer is and what applications it is used for. Additionally, our team learned how to use NEAR blockchain and tools on how to manage user accounts and handle blockchain transactions. Our team also greatly improved on their UI designing skills by learning how to use the React.js library for the frontend and routing of TrustBloc. Most of all, our team has a greater appreciation for the importance and value of collaborative learning and problem solving. Given the limited time we had to create TrustBloc, our team worked extensively and effectively together, overcoming technical challenges with each other’s help.