Blind Spot Auction

We have been working on creating a first-price sealed-bid auction, specifically for ART NFT is a focal point for us. We believe that the fair pricing of lots, without the possibility of bid manipulation, is particularly crucial in the NFT art space.

A first-price sealed-bid auction (FPSBA) is a widely used auction format, also known as a blind auction. In this type of auction, all participants submit sealed bids simultaneously, ensuring that no bidder is aware of the bids submitted by others. The highest bidder pays the price they submitted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-price_sealed-bid_auction

Instructions for users:

Registration: Register by Web3 on the platform by entering the required details and creating your account to participate in auctions.

View Auctions: View current and upcoming auctions, where each NFT lot is presented with a description and images of the artwork. Transaction Formation:

Form transactions via digital wallets, but remember that these transactions will remain invisible in the smart contract until the auction ends, eliminating the possibility of price manipulation.

Participate in the auction: Participate in the auction by placing bids on the items you are interested in. Your BID will only become visible after the auction ends.

Winner Display: Once the auction is complete, the winner's address becomes visible, preventing price manipulation during the auction. If you win the auction, you can claim your LOT of NFT artwork, which is instantly transferred to your wallet address.

Objective NFT evaluation: The project not only prevents price manipulation but also promotes objective valuation of NFT artworks, ensuring fair bidding and the true value of each artwork.

The "Blind Auction of NFT Art on Blockchain" project - is an innovative platform that not only prevents undesirable practices but also creates a fair and objective space for the valuation and trading of digital artworks.

The development of this auction project involved a meticulous process, with a focus on incorporating cutting-edge technologies to enhance security and transparency. The project utilized a combination of technologies to achieve its goals.

Notable Hacky Techniques:

At first, I attempted to use Zokartes to develop a zero-knowledge proof system for creating identities and addresses within an English auction contract. However, it didn't work with ZK, making it impractical for the project. After further research, I opted for the blind auction principle and decided to implement a batching approach for bids. I employed the Semaphore identity commitment process, where each user pays 1 ETH to create an identity. During the reveal time, users disclose each identity, and bids are based on the sum of these identities.

I encountered an issue with confirming the identities, prompting additional research. Eventually, I discovered that a commitment scheme could address this problem. Still, there remains a significant challenge for users to create multiple addresses, and I may explore ways to make it anonymous and ZK-based in the future.

After working on the Solidity code and conducting tests, I realized that I could apply the same process to a similar contract involving collateral. In this case, if a user wins, they must make the payment within a specified timeframe; otherwise, they lose their collateral. I then developed a generator for these contracts and deployed it on Scroll.

Cryptographic approach: To realize the solution to our business problem we applied Commitment Schemes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w_b8Msxy14

Technologies Used: Solidity, Scroll

Smart Contract Solidity: The foundation of the project relies on the solidity programming language to develop robust and secure smart contracts. These contracts govern the rules and operations of the auction, ensuring a trustless and decentralized environment.

Contract in Scroll: https://sepolia.scrollscan.com/tx/0xf918fa2b6ba16ec948eb668026b212390669350de03aa0231f8c13b0f94769b3

Presentations https://www.canva.com/design/DAF89U7DUI4/FbekbHdGF_Dj8ppsygXIxg/view?utm_content=DAF89U7DUI4&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=viewer

Slide 5: Users create multiple addresses, each with a certain amount of ether. User 1 creates 1 main address and 3 mock addresses, sending 1 ether to each mock address. User 2 does the same with 2 addresses. User 1 would be the winner of the auction after the revealing phase.

Slide 6: The Auction generator constructor has 5 parameters: Batch value: Specifies how much each mock address should send ether to the auction contract. Auction duration (in minutes). Auction reveal time (in minutes) during which users reveal their commitments. Token ID. NFT contract address.

Slide 7: The auction contract begins with the approval of the NFT to the auction contract. Users pay 1 ether with each of their addresses to create commitments. The startRevealTime function is called to initiate the revealing phase.

Slide 8: During the reveal time, users reveal their commitments to show their bids. After the end of the auction, anyone can call the end Auction function to mark it as ended. The highest bidder receives the NFT, and the NFT owner receives the amount of the highest bid from the contract. Losers can refund their bids and get their ether back.

Slide 10: Thanking the audience for listening and encouraging them to use the scaffold branch for checking the project.

This summary provides an overview of the blind auction DApp's flow and the interactions users have with it at different stages of the auction process.