Get ready to dive into the latest and greatest in the decentralized web3 world! EthDenver 2023 has been an electrifying event that brought together innovators, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts from all corners of the globe to push the boundaries of what's possible in blockchain. With a focus on DePin, DID, decentralized social media, and zero knowledge, this event has been a hub of creativity and collaboration. Let's explore the main points of focus and highlight some of the most exciting projects presented at EthDenver 2023.

IoTeX Dev Workshop

The IoTeX dev workshop during #BUIDLWeek was a session that provided developers with the opportunity to learn how to create a decentralized application using the trusted location API built on W3bstream.

During the 90-minute workshop, developers were taught how to use the trusted location API to create an app that would allow users to create NFT airdrops on particular locations. This means that users could create NFTs and drop them in specific locations, and only users who were physically present at those locations during the pre-determined timeframe would be able to claim them.

Allowing developers to incorporate trusted location-based functionality into their decentralized applications is just one example of how W3bstream can be used to create innovative solutions that connect the physical world with blockchain.

DePin

The DePin sector is a fascinating area of blockchain development that aims to connect the blockchain to real-world assets. The implications of this are revolutionizing many industries, from construction to real estate, to infrastructure management, healthcare, and beyond.

IoTeX seeks to provide the underlying infrastructure to enable any DePin project to thrive. This is made possible by IoTeX's Layer-2 infrastructure, W3bstream, which facilitates the interaction, storage and computation of data from smart devices to smart contracts. W3bstream enables developers to create decentralized applications that can interact with the real world while supporting the tokenization of real-world users' behavior.

This opens up a new range of exciting possibilities: A user's heartbeat could influence the creation of an AI-generated NFT, or an energy meter connected to a RaspberryPi could automatically mint "green tokens" for users who have lower energy consumption, and so on. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as the possibilities for DePin projects using W3bstream are practically endless.

Overall, W3bstream represents a significant step forward in the DePin sector and has the potential to enable the creation of groundbreaking decentralized applications that connect the physical world with the blockchain.

SocialFi

One of the biggest points of focus during EthDenver was definitely SocialFi and the creator economy. Lens Protocol is spearheading the charge, allowing devs to leverage an incredibly powerful, composable and decentralized social graph to create social applications. Lens has unveiled a few interesting tools for developers in Denver, such as the LENS widgets that enable developers to easily integrate social features into their web applications with just a few lines of code. BigQuery was also unveiled, a way for devs to query large chunks of data and perform analytics with it, or use ML to run their own recommendations in their apps. This is the first step in allowing devs to build custom features on top of LENS without the API having to do it for them. The new creator economy is here, and creators can now connect with their audiences, monetize their content, and retain ownership and control over their intellectual property.

Zk virtual machines?

Anybody who's in web3 has surely heard of VM's (Virtual Machines). Most commonly the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). In general, a virtual machine (VM) is a software program that simulates a computer system. It emulates the functions of a physical machine, including its hardware, operating system, and applications.

The VM runs on top of a host operating system and allows users to install and run multiple guest operating systems, each with its own set of applications, within a single physical computer. The guest operating systems and their applications operate as if they were running on their own independent physical machines, but they share the same physical resources of the host computer, such as CPU, memory, and storage.

Denver has been a chance for some projects, like Polygon and ZkSync, to unveil their own ZK virtual machines. So what is a ZK virtual machine and how does it differ from a VM?

A zero-knowledge virtual machine (ZKVM) is a type of virtual machine that provides enhanced security and privacy features compared to a regular virtual machine.

The main difference between a ZKVM and a regular virtual machine is that the ZKVM allows the execution of code without revealing any information about the code or the data being processed to the host system. In other words, the ZKVM operates in a "zero-knowledge" environment, where the host system has no knowledge of the inputs, outputs, or computations performed by the virtual machine.

The benefits of a ZKVM include improved privacy, security, and confidentiality for sensitive applications, such as financial transactions, identity management, and private data processing. However, the trade-off is that the computational overhead of the ZKVM is typically higher than that of a regular virtual machine, which may result in slower performance.

Zero-knowledge is definitely a super hot topic in web3 right now and offers developers a chance to build a whole new set of applications. ZK technology will be a huge part of any DePin application as it provides privacy, security, efficiency, and scalability benefits that are necessary for building trustless systems.

Not your keys, not you!

Decentralized Identity (DID) is a concept that refers to the use of blockchain to provide individuals with ownership and control over their own digital identity. In a decentralized identity system, individuals can create, store, and manage their identity information without the need for a central authority or intermediary.

DID offers several benefits over traditional identity systems such as privacy and security, interoperability, trust and inclusion.

Users can maintain control over their own identity information and only share the minimum amount of information necessary for a specific use case, while also using their identity across multiple platforms and services without the need for additional verification.

As we tie this back to the DePin sector, the first question is: can machines also have an identity? The answer is yes! Machine identity refers to the digital identity of a machine, device, or application that is used to secure and authenticate the communication and transactions between machines in a network. It involves the use of digital certificates, public and private keys, and other security mechanisms to verify the identity of a machine or application and ensure secure communication.

As we move toward a machine economy where machine work is financialized, e.g. using machine work as collateral in a DeFi setting, these concepts become more and more useful.

What is account abstraction?

Account abstraction refers to the way smart contracts interact with the blockchain, and it's surely one of the best improvements in user experience for any account interacting with a dApp.

Smart contracts have been executed by sending transactions that were associated with a specific account on-chain. The account would hold the smart contract code and also the balance required to pay for gas fees.

With account abstraction, the goal is to separate the contract code from the account that executes it. This allows a smart contract to be executed by any account that has enough funds to pay for gas fees, rather than requiring a specific account to hold the contract code.

Account abstraction allows for more flexibility in the way smart contracts are designed and executed. For example, it enables the creation of smart contracts that are executed by multiple accounts, or that can be paid for by a third party.

Own your data forever with decentralized storage!

Decentralized storage platforms represent a revolutionary new approach to data storage, leveraging the power of blockchain technology to provide a more secure, reliable, and resilient storage infrastructure.

IPFS, Arweave, and Filecoin and Bundlr are among the most popular decentralized storage platforms in use today, each with its own unique strengths and features. IPFS provides a content-addressable system that enables easy access and sharing of files, while Arweave uses a blockchain-based consensus mechanism to ensure permanent, tamper-proof storage. Filecoin, on the other hand, uses a token-based incentive mechanism to incentivize nodes to store and retrieve data, providing a more scalable and cost-effective solution for decentralized storage. Bundlr is a decentralized storage scaling platform powered by Arweave.

Decentralized storage is particularly important in DePin applications because it allows for secure, tamper-proof, and censorship-resistant storage of important data, and provides several key benefits that are essential for secure and reliable real-world applications, including:

1. Security: Decentralized storage platforms use advanced encryption and security mechanisms to protect data from unauthorized access or tampering, ensuring the security and privacy of sensitive financial data.
2. Resilience: Decentralized storage platforms distribute data across a network of nodes, providing redundancy and resilience against data loss or corruption. This helps ensure the reliability and availability of data, even in the event of a network outage or other disruption.
3. Censorship resistance: Decentralized storage platforms enable secure storage of data without the need for a centralized authority or intermediary, reducing the risk of censorship or other forms of interference.

Conclusions

Attending every project that came to Denver was a daunting task, but nonetheless, the space showcased some key areas of focus that were truly noteworthy. It's truly inspiring to see this new era of innovation and user empowerment unfold before our eyes. With each iteration, the new dApps are getting closer and closer to delivering an experience that is on par with their web2 counterparts, while also adding the unique flavors of web3. In the new decentralized world, data providers and content creators are finally in the driver's seat, and developers are once again at the forefront of innovation.