The problem Private blockchain auction solves

Private Auction is a decentralized auction dapp built with React, Solidity, Hardhat, and MetaMask.
We solved the problem of public bidding on blockchain, where everyone can see bid amounts too early. Our app uses a commit-reveal system, so bids stay private during the bidding phase and are only revealed later for fair settlement.
What makes it different is that it combines privacy, on-chain verification, MetaMask wallet support, Sepolia deployment, encrypted reveal data, and a clean marketplace-style user experience.

Challenges we ran into

1. Infura API Key Limit
   Issue: Reached the maximum number of free API keys (3 keys) and couldn’t create a new one.

2. IPFS Shutdown Confusion
   Issue: Saw an IPFS shutdown notification and mistakenly thought it affected Ethereum RPC access.

3. Faucet Requiring Mainnet ETH
   Issue: The faucet asked for 0.001 ETH on Ethereum Mainnet to prove I’m human, which I didn’t have.

4. .env File Not Loading
   Issue: Hardhat couldn’t read the .env file, throwing SEPOLIA_RPC_URL is required error.