The problem Flash Sales and Commerce on Base with Attestations solves

🎯 Problem Statement

In today's digital commerce landscape, merchants face several critical challenges:

1. Rising Customer Acquisition Costs

   • Digital advertising costs have increased by over 60% in the last five years
   • Traditional targeting methods are becoming less effective due to privacy regulations
   • Cookie deprecation and iOS privacy changes have disrupted conventional marketing channels

2. Trust and Verification Challenges

   • Difficulty in verifying customer demographics and eligibility
   • Risk of fraud in promotional campaigns and regional launches
   • Limited ability to offer exclusive deals to verified customer segments

3. Customer Relationship Building

   • Lack of reliable mechanisms to reward loyal customers
   • Limited tools for creating verifiable customer segments
   • Challenge in maintaining long-term customer engagement

💡 Solution

Blockchain attestations are much better than NFTs for creating tailored e-commerce experience for users allowing merchants to do more targetted marketing.

For Merchants

• Targeted Marketing: Leverage Base attestations to precisely target verified customer segments
• Cost Reduction: Dramatically lower customer acquisition costs by reaching pre-verified audiences
• Flash Sale Management: Securely run region-specific flash sales with guaranteed customer verification
• Fraud Prevention: Ensure promotions reach only eligible, verified customers
• Customer Loyalty: Build stronger relationships through verified customer segments

For Customers

• Exclusive Access: Unlock special products and deals through verifiable attestations
• Privacy-Preserving: Prove eligibility without sharing personal data
• Better Deals: Access region-specific offers and flash sales
• Simplified Verification: One-time verification process for ongoing benefits
• Trustless Interaction: No need to trust the merchant with personal information

User Interaction and Data Flow

(1) Merchants encourage customers to verify (only select data is shared preserving privacy). The verification on EAS reveals region and trading approval.

(2) With region information, merchants can provide customers with more relevant products (or unlocked products) for higher conversion rates.

(3) In particular, with regional data, merchants can target customers (advertising) more effectively with flash sales.

(4) Using blockchain technology, payments can be facilitated with minimal payment processing fees

(5) Payouts are made to merchants using this for e-commerce

The project architecture and development process

The project uses EAS attestations on Base to do flash sales to target customers and give customer benefits. This allows customers to do one-time attestations while preserving control of their data and the core functionality is to increase the conversion rate of customers while also providing customers with tailored shopping experiences.

The core functionality is valuable because it marries the power of payments in blockchain (for lower fees) with e-commerce, with privacy/identity for better e-commerce experience for both merchants and customers (higher conversion and more relevant shopping experience for consumers).

The app uses Base Network.

Product Integrations

Technologies & SDKs

OnchainKit Integration

• @coinbase/onchainkit: Comprehensive SDK for building onchain applications
• Features used:
  • Identity components for ENS/Base name resolution
  • Wallet connection components
  • Frame components for social integration
  • Transaction handling utilities

Base Network Integration

• Base Attestation Service:
  • Uses @ethereum-attestation-service/eas-sdk for attestation verification
  • Verifies user region and trading access attestations
  • Implements schema-based attestation validation
  • Handles attestation UIDs and data decoding

Coinbase Commerce

• Coinbase Commerce API Integration:
  • Direct API integration for payment processing
  • Handles both NFT and physical product sales
  • Supports test mode for development
  • Implements webhook handling for order status updates
  • Manages charge creation and verification

Web3 Integration

• wagmi: Ethereum hooks library
  • Wallet connection management
  • Chain management
  • Transaction handling
• viem: Low-level Ethereum interaction
  • Contract interactions
  • RPC provider management
  • Transaction building

Frontend Framework

• Next.js 14
  • App Router for routing
  • Server Components for improved performance
  • API Routes for backend functionality
• React 18
  • Hooks for state management
  • Context for global state
  • Server and Client Components

UI Components

• @headlessui/react: Accessible UI components
• @heroicons/react: Icon set
• Tailwind CSS: Utility-first CSS framework

Development Tools

• TypeScript: Type safety and developer experience
• ESLint: Code quality and consistency
• PostCSS: CSS processing

Key differentiators and uniqueness of the project

In the past, people use NFTs to gate commerce - however, I think this created a lot of friction since it is exclusive and requires first selling/minting the NFT which is very intrusive

Attestations are more broader and are done by trusted issuers and the attestation can be moved from merchant to merchant on Base - making it much more inclusive

🔄 Why Attestations Over NFT-Gating?

Traditional NFT-Gating Limitations

1. High Friction

   • Requires users to purchase/mint NFTs specifically for commerce
   • Each merchant needs their own NFT collection
   • Users must manage multiple NFTs for different merchants
   • High entry barrier for new customers

2. Exclusivity Issues

   • NFTs often create artificial scarcity
   • Limited to users willing to invest in NFTs
   • Focuses on exclusivity rather than verification
   • Can be cost-prohibitive for many users

3. Technical Overhead

   • Merchants must deploy and manage NFT contracts
   • Complex integration with e-commerce systems
   • Additional gas costs for minting and transfers
   • Separate NFT marketplaces needed

Attestation Advantages

1. Inclusive Verification

   • One attestation works across multiple merchants
   • Based on real-world credentials or status
   • No need to purchase special tokens
   • Lower barrier to entry

2. Portable Trust

   • Attestations are reusable across Base ecosystem
   • Verified by trusted issuers (e.g., Coinbase)
   • Maintains value across different platforms
   • Creates network effects

3. Privacy-Preserving

   • Users control what information to share
   • No permanent token ownership required
   • Granular verification without full data exposure
   • Compliant with privacy regulations

4. Cost-Effective

   • No minting costs
   • No marketplace fees
   • Reduced integration complexity

Trade-offs and shortcuts while building

Future improvements into making it easier for merchants to upload their products, order tracking and theme management.

Additional Features

all new