im-pact-ful

Concept: "I'm-pact-ful" merges the world of blockchain contracts with personal commitments towards healthier habits, thereby creating a system that offers tangible financial returns on fulfilled promises. It capitalizes on the idea that monetary rewards can serve as a strong motivation to foster and adhere to healthier habits.

Components:

Pacts:

These are predefined or user-defined challenges centered around health and well-being. Examples include fitness routines, diet changes, meditation challenges, reading habits, and digital detox. Each pact has specific criteria like duration, start date, and ante (initial deposit). Participants:

Users join pacts by depositing an 'ante' or an initial amount. This deposit signifies the participant's commitment to the pact. They are bound by smart contract stipulations. Validation:

The completion of a pact might be self-reported or could leverage third-party apps and wearables (like fitness trackers) in future iterations. For transparency and trust, a reputation system or community validation might be considered. Rewards:

Upon successful completion of the pact, participants receive their initial ante back, plus a reward. This reward could come from a pool funded by those who did not complete the pact, or from external sponsors, or interest earned on pooled funds during the pact duration. Blockchain & Smart Contracts:

The project leverages blockchain technology to ensure transparency and trustworthiness. Smart contracts automate the process, ensuring that funds are locked in and then distributed based on pact outcomes. Statuses:

Pacts can have different statuses: Active, Inactive, Completed, or Breached. Participants too have statuses regarding their eligibility and claims.

ETHGlobal NYC example:

ETHNYC, like several other competitive platforms, uses a staking system to ensure commitment from its participants. When a team or individual wants to participate, they're required to "stake" a certain amount of Ether as a sign of their commitment to submitting a project. This ensures a level of seriousness and intent.

However, a critical aspect of this system is that if a participant doesn't follow through with their promise (i.e., doesn't submit a project), they forfeit their stake. This forfeited amount, in traditional models, might return to the event organizers or stay within the platform.

Integrating "I'm-pact-ful" Philosophy:

Imagine a scenario where the forfeited stakes don't just disappear or remain static. Instead, they become dynamic rewards. This means that participants who uphold their pact (submitting their project) not only get their original stake back but also get a share of the stakes forfeited by non-compliant participants.

Benefits:

Greater Incentive: Now, participants have an even bigger incentive to uphold their pact. A positive outcome (submitting a project) doesn't just mean getting back what you put in (net 0 return); it could lead to a net positive return. Rewarding Commitment: This approach rewards those who stay committed and take the process seriously. It fosters a more engaged community where individuals are motivated by both the intrinsic reward (the joy of participation and creation) and the extrinsic reward (potential financial gain). Deterrence for Non-serious Entries: Knowing that their stake might go to others if they don't submit might deter non-serious or tentative participants from blocking slots, ensuring more committed participants get an opportunity. In Essence:

Integrating the "I'm-pact-ful" concept into ETHNYC's staking system could revolutionize how participants view their commitments. It's not just about avoiding a loss; it's about potential gain. Such a system truly captures the essence of "better returns on healthier habits" – in this case, the "healthy habit" being the act of following through on commitments. This elevates the entire ecosystem, making it more engaging, rewarding, and competitive in a healthy way.

Alright, let's expand on the journey of building "I'm-pact-ful" by including the utilization of Scaffold-eth, Polygon, Sepolia, Gnosis, and other integrations:

Kickstarting with Scaffold-eth: Our journey began with Scaffold-eth, a development stack that offers a boilerplate for rapid Ethereum dApp prototyping. Scaffold-eth combines the hardhat environment with a React frontend, which substantially eased the development process. The built-in smart contract templates and hooks allowed us to immediately jump into the project's unique requirements without being bogged down by basic setup procedures.

Testnet Deployments: For initial testing and debugging, we made extensive use of the Polygon, Sepolia, and Gnosis testnets.

Polygon: Known for its fast and low-cost transactions, it was invaluable for iterative deployment and testing. The scalability of Polygon also gave us insights into how our dApp would perform in a more scalable environment.

Sepolia and Gnosis: These platforms allowed for safe and efficient smart contract interactions in a sandboxed environment, mimicking mainnet conditions without the associated costs. These testnets were instrumental in ironing out the kinks before the final deployment.

Proof Submissions through IPFS: One of the unique features of "I'm-pact-ful" is its transparency in pact fulfillment. To achieve this, users submit proofs of their pact completion, which are stored as IPFS hashes. By leveraging the decentralized nature of IPFS, we ensured that these proofs are immutable, tamper-proof, and accessible for public scrutiny. Storing just the hash on-chain, while the actual data resides on IPFS, is also a cost-effective solution.

Dispute Resolution via UMA: Considering the potential for disagreements regarding the validity of check-ins, we integrated UMA's optimistic oracle system for dispute resolution. When there's a contention about a proof's legitimacy, events are emitted, and UMA's oracle is called upon to mediate. This decentralizes the verification process, ensuring fairness and credibility. Additionally, to promote honesty and deter malicious actors, users have skin in the game. This "economic guarantee" means that there are real financial repercussions for dishonesty, which works as an effective mechanism to keep participants honest.

In a nutshell, "I'm-pact-ful" is not just another dApp. It's a meticulously crafted system that amalgamates various technologies and platforms to offer a seamless, transparent, and rewarding experience for users dedicated to fulfilling their pacts.