Introduction to Onchain Credentials

Juggling with paper certificates, online databases, and third-party verifiers becomes tricky and tedious, to say the least — each with its own vulnerabilities and limitations. In such a situation, verifying facts and proving the authenticity of information becomes essential.

Many such scenarios made us realize the importance of verifying facts and establishing the trustworthiness of data on the internet.

To tackle these challenges, we’ve introduced Onchain Credentials on Devfolio, an umbrella of features that add to your digital proof-of-work. Think of them as tools that allow you to take control of your achievements and showcase them seamlessly, securely, and permanently on the blockchain.

As the name goes, they are — Your credentials stored onchain. Always on display. Independently verifiable. Immutable.

Variants of Onchain Credentials

Currently, we’ve introduced three kinds of Onchain Credentials on Devfolio. Stored as attestations and built on top of the Ethereum Attestation Service.

/ˌatɛˈsteɪʃ(ə)n/
Digital records that serve as evidence or confirmation of information made by an entity about anything.

Quadratic Voting

Quadratic Voting is a unique and innovative approach to collective decision-making that goes beyond the traditional binary yes or no vote. This voting method empowers people to choose the intensity of their preferences rather than just expressing a simple opinion. Read more about Quadratic Voting here.

When a builder submits a vote, an attestation is created on their behalf; once the voting period ends, anyone can verify the pool distribution independently using the attestations.

EAS Schema: https://arbitrum.easscan.org/schema/view/0x951fa7e07d6e852eb4535331db373786f5ab7249bb31d94cc4bd05250ebb6500

Crypto Cheer

Cheer is a novel way to express appreciation for the projects by backing them with Stickers, each with their associated ETH value. An attestation is created alongside each cheer. Read more about Cheer on Devfolio here.

EAS Schema:

• Arbitrum → https://arbitrum.easscan.org/schema/view/0x6c8eb2f9520c7bd673bf4bb8ea475114e86a01e80a5d167ebc65a0baea122f9c
• Optimism → https://optimism.easscan.org/schema/view/0xf2d99ea608e73532c496b5e35a743b28fd6793050eb1402d310f9c45f87537ff
• Base → https://base.easscan.org/schema/view/0xf2d99ea608e73532c496b5e35a743b28fd6793050eb1402d310f9c45f87537ff

Soulbound Tokens (SBTs)

Non-transferrable digital identity tokens representing a builder's involvement at a hackathon on the blockchain. The builder earns an SBT as part of participating and/or winning at a hackathon.

EAS Schema: https://arbitrum.easscan.org/schema/view/0x364a59df1d48d4b6c0f8f0c1176504b252bce5ce57e0d1ca75b1bf70c2f0ec14

Now, let's delve deeper into SBTs and explore how they benefit a wide spectrum of individuals, from those seeking opportunities to those seeking talent!

Soulbound Tokens (SBTs)

SBT is an idea proposed in a paper co-authored by Vitalik Buterin in May 2022. They are digital identity tokens representing a person on the blockchain. Think of them as NFTs with a caveat: they represent you, but can't be traded. Therefore, SBTs cannot be bought, sold, or have a monetary market value. They are permanently bound to the person’s “soul”.

Here’s a video walkthrough of how SBTs work on Devfolio 👇🏽

Here’s How SBTs Help You As A Builder & Opportunity Seeker:

• Make your skills more credible through solid proof-of-work for everything you’ve built on Devfolio - visible to the world with just a few clicks.
• Showcase your work publicly and efficiently across platforms.
• Proudly display and cherish a tangible souvenir for events that become a part of you.
• Showcase your proof-of-work onchain as a common standard with verifiable credentials.
• Create your reputation onchain, not just on one particular platform—ensuring that your credentials persist independently of any platform.
• Get global visibility and opportunities, free from information or geographic barriers. Think of SBTs as digital certificates that people can use to verify your accomplishments regardless of time and place.
• Own your data by being the sole custodian of your SBTs.

Find the steps to claim your Onchain Credentials on the Devfolio Guide: https://guide.devfolio.co/hackers/devfolio-profile/claims

How SBTs Help Talent Seekers:

Unlike earlier, when APIs gated the participant's data, SBTs enable anyone on the internet to utilize this information permissionlessly.

This means a lot of good things:

• Developers’ identities are permissionless-ly available onchain.
• Anyone can use the onchain data to verify achievements and skills.
• Anyone can use the SBTs to token gate events and opportunities for the participants for only • specific hackathons/initiatives. For ex. All ETHIndia ‘23 participants can access a closed-gate event, say a Hacker House, upon proving their participation using their ETHIndia ‘23 SBT.
• Stored on the blockchain, SBTs empower builders to build their digital identity and proof-of-work, creating a future rooted in the trustworthiness of data on the internet.

Hackathon Organizers: Create SBTs for your own hackathon!

Yes, it takes seconds for hackathon organizers to create exclusive SBTs for their hackathon and reward all the participants.

Many hackathons on Devfolio, like ETHBarcelona, ETHMunich, ETHIndia ‘23 and more, have already rewarded their participants with SBTs. Check out the steps on the Devolio Guide here, and reach out to us to enable Onchain Credentials for your hackathon.

SBTs for ETHIndia 2023 participants are OUT! 🎉

For ETHIndia ‘23, our fave hackathon (no, we’re not biased at all), we are rewarding all the builders with exclusive SBTs serving as proof-of-work for their commendable building sprint.

These slick SBTs are now out for all 1500+ ETHIndia '23 winners and participants!

If you were there, claim it here: devfolio.co/claims ;)

It’s time you take charge of your digital identity 🙇🏻‍♀️

Onchain credentials do more than showcase qualifications – they're changing how we build trust and value in the digital age. These credentials offer a decentralized, secure, and transparent solution for builders from all backgrounds, opening the door to a future of work filled with endless opportunities.

Our commitment to introducing Onchain Credentials is rooted in helping builders take charge of their digital identities. Think of it as a sneak peek into the future of your Devfolio profile ;)

If you're considering building anything on top of onchain credentials or have any feedback, please reach out to us at [email protected], and we'd love to chat!

Stay tuned for more updates and interact with the Devfolio community at:

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Until then, Never Stop Building 🛠️