BEN India Spotlight: Winners Of The 2020 MIT Bitcoin Expo Hackathon
One of the missions of BEN is to help international students travel to blockchain conferences and hackathons to learn, network, and grow. In 2018, BEN and one of its clubs, the MIT Bitcoin Club, worked together to bring 5 students from BEN India to the US for the first time to attend the 2018 MIT Bitcoin Expo. BEN covered partial flights, visa applications, and full housing costs for these students, who then went back and became blockchain advocates on their campuses.
In 2020, Manish Kumar from BEN went back to India to meet with students from different universities. After interviewing dozens of students, four were selected to be brought to the 2020 MIT Bitcoin Expo and participate in the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon this past March.
The BEN India students had a great time at the Expo. They submitted a project called ZK-Box, which makes it easy for anyone to integrate zero-knowledge proofs into their application without needing to build a ZK framework from scratch. Using this, developers can create trustless logins, age proofs, and even complex operations like proving eligibility in an election without revealing voter ID.
Their project won the Infrastructure track prize at the 2020 MIT Bitcoin Hackathon, and the students had a great experience overall. We interviewed them on their experience and are excited to share with you their responses and insights.
1) How were you selected to represent India at the MIT Bitcoin Expo?
Sarang — I got to know about the MIT Bitcoin Expo and it got me really excited with the lineup of amazing speakers and the opportunity to hack with the best minds across the world. I was interviewed by Manish. He even came down to India to meet me and other folks. His interview questions were very relevant and he wanted to make sure that the team was a mix of all individuals and skillsets.
Akash — The selection was mostly based on our resumes, our past experience in blockchain hackathons, and our passion to build something great. Manish came to India and met all of us personally before finalizing the selection.
Somesh — My friend Akash referred me as a designer to Manish (The awesome man!) for his new cool project Aptava. If I remember right, we met at this Indian cafe called Haldiram’s. It was so amazing to try their elite edition of Indian food. We got into talking about design, technology, my interests, style of working, and later that night we got into this awesome place at Gurugram (Delhi NCR, India) called DLF Cybercity. We got into a nice Green-themed nightlife hotspot micro-brewery, honestly, it was dope! I mean it was so coool to hang out with these folks and have fun! I almost forgot the actual fun part :D. It was 1 AM in the night/morning and we were searching for food XD and finally found a kind of a mini-store to grab some food and chill. That was a fun experience. I think somewhere in the middle of this whole experience, Manish mentioned about this amazing opportunity for me at MIT! And, it was all the experience and talking we got into.
Riya — I heard about the ongoing search for members for the Indian travel group to the MIT Bitcoin Expo on a Telegram group and applied for it. My resume got shortlisted, and after an interview with Mr Manish Kumar, a member of the organising committee, I got selected as a part of the team.
2) When did you first hear about blockchain? What got you excited about it?
Sarang — I first heard about blockchain in early 2017 when I was working in the field of Cyber Security. Interest in Blockchain came innately to me due to my passion for Cyber Security. I started diving deep in the Blockchain/Bitcoin framework and architecture. Bitcoin was the solution to most of the problems I had personally faced in life. It looked like the perfect amalgamation of Cryptography, Networking and Game Theory.
Akash — I first heard about blockchain back in the summer of 2018. I started reading about the architecture design, consensus mechanisms, cryptography, etc. used in blockchain. I was already a developer at that point, and I loved cryptography and math, and blockchain was like a perfect combination of these 2. That’s what got me excited about blockchain, a perfect mix of development, networking, game theory, cryptography, economics, etc.
Somesh — Blockchain…I think it’s when I first heard about Bitcoin being a super cool currency in fact digital currency which you can use online just like your credit card. And, later during my college days, it was Ethereum’s solidity which caught my attention as a peer to many developers from my college. I think it’s nice to see the concept of cryptography evolve into something this cool & safe!
Riya — I first learned of Blockchain 2 years ago from Medium posts when I began reading articles on it out of curiosity. I really liked the idea of leveraging cryptography to build a democratized system not only for controlling monetary assets, but for so many applications. I built some projects with my friends with Blockchain components. I learned a lot working at my winter internship at Cypherock. Cypherock is a blockchain startup building a highly secure hardware wallet using Shamir’s Secret Sharing Algorithm. I worked at coin support for the desktop app and got motivated to pursue a career in Blockchain.
3) What was it like to travel to MIT, how was the experience and stay?
Sarang — Traveling to MIT was a dream come true, as it’s the best technical institute in the world. We interacted with a lot of students and faculties from MIT, the bitcoin club, MIT Media Labs e.t.c. The place of stay was phenomenal and couldn’t be any better. All credit goes to Manish.
Akash — Traveling to MIT was amazing, it being the best technical institute in the world. It was more like a dream coming true for some of us. We interacted with a lot of students from MIT, the bitcoin club, etc. We also visited the MIT Media Lab, which was a great experience. Stay was great, a big thanks to Manish for that. We also went around to see Boston after the hackathon was over. Without a doubt, this was the best trip of my life.
Somesh — TRAVEL TO MIT was faaaantastic, and during the pandemic made this trip close to my heart. I mean it’s pretty normal to pump a lot of adrenaline during the hack, but for me, it was during my whole 26-hour flight journey being cautious until I met Manish at the Airport XD. It was the best possible experience any student could get! Everything I literally mean everything was taken care for us, I felt Manish’s home like my own. Manish’s kids, Boston & MIT vibes, the whole American feel was the best experience of my life. It felt like I was in a friction-less world of possibilities and joy :D
Riya — Travel to MIT was indeed a dream come true. We got to meet and interact with many world-renowned blockchain researchers. The event was very well-organized and we had an amazing learning experience throughout the hackathon. We stayed at the home of Mr Manish Kumar, and the amazing hospitality we received made the experience memorable.
4) How did the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon go and what was your hack?
Sarang — Our hack was called ZK-Box which helps anyone to leverage the power of Zero Knowledge without worrying about it’s specific nuances. We created a Universal Wallet that works across all devices and ZK-Lib that is a SDK to build apps on top of our platform.
Akash — Our hack consisted of 2 parts — the first one was a universal wallet, which can work with browsers, desktop apps and terminal simultaneously. It can also support signatures for multiple blockchains along with encryption functionalities. the second part was a zk-box, using which developers can create trustless logins, age proofs, and even complex ones like proving eligibility in an election without revealing voter ID. It was a great experience building it out along with great guidance from mentors at the Hack. We ended up winning the Infrastructure track prize at the hackathon.
Somesh — TBH, I was a bit anxious to compete with so many talented kids from MIT and around North America. But, Manish was always there for us to support :)
The hack was amazing! I got to meet so many talented minds I’ve never met at allllll. We initially had an idea, and later slightly modified it to make the best use case solver. We did a pretty nice job as a team at MIT. It was the best!
Riya — For our hack, we built a privacy preserving cross-platform login application and a voting Dapp leveraging Zero Knowledge. We also built a blockchain agnostic wallet SDK as a part of our hack. I built the front-end components for the hack. It was a really cool learning experience and we were able to secure first prize in the Infrastructure track.
5) What did you learn from the hackathon?
Sarang — Right off the bat, cooperation is extremely significant. we had only 24 hours to fabricate the entire thing and without an incredible group who is enthusiastic to manufacture something extraordinary, it is hard to accomplish the goal. Next thing was that we despite everything need to become familiar with a great deal on the specialized front. What’s more, it was an incredible encounter cooperating with all the MIT undergrad and graduate understudies, individuals from the Bitcoin club, and so forth.
Akash — Firstly, teamwork is really important. we had just 24 hours to build the whole thing and without a great team who is passionate to build something great, it is difficult to achieve the goal. Next thing was that we still need to learn a lot on the technical front. And it was a great experience interacting with all the MIT undergrads and graduate students, members of the Bitcoin club, etc.
Somesh — 1.There’s a loooooot of things to learn. I would say, constant learning is the only key. I was there with Manish all the time, and I could see how fascinated he is about technology and giving his best to learn & understand new stuff.
2. You will always get the best out of best when you push yourself out of your comfort zone. For me, it was my travel decision via Italy which made this possible.
3. Always see the world from a new perspective to keep going and to have fun in life.
Riya — Through the hack, I got to learn about using zk-snarks for selective data sharing, which was both challenging and highly exciting. We also got to interact with many notable blockchain researchers and it was amazing to hear about their ideas and work.
6) Would you recommend BEN trips like yours to other students in India and around the world?
Sarang — Yes Absolutely. Opportunities like these are an extraordinary chance and I will strongly prescribe it to different understudies. We meet a ton of shrewd individuals at such gatherings and exhibitions, it’s consistently an extraordinary encounter to collaborate with them.
Akash — Ya sure. Trips like these are a great opportunity and I will highly recommend it to other students. We meet a lot of smart people at such conferences and expos and its always a great experience to interact with them.
Somesh — I would totally 200% including my extra 100% recommend every kid out there to grab this life-time opportunity and experience this journey.
Riya — I would definitely recommend similar trips to other students interested in the field of Blockchain. It is a great opportunity to build cool stuff and meet other blockchain enthusiasts.
7) What’s next for you?
Sarang — With the experience gained during the conference I worked towards making cryptography and blockchain like magic for non-crypto users. So that the can truly realize and take benefit of what has been created for them in this ecosystem.
Akash — I am interested in cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs in general. I will mostly continue following that topic and getting good at it. I will also try to explore bitcoin and the lightning network on the side.
Somesh — I have my Master’s in Human-Computer Interaction lined-up very soon. And, I would be really happy to be a part of this journey again as a participant and as a volunteer :)
Riya — I am working on independent projects and developing my skills further in Bitcoin Core Development and zk-snarks.
Our students had an incredible experience at the Expo. Throughout the rest of 2020, we hope to provide more unforgettable experiences for our students across the world. BEN prides itself in finding the students who care the most about blockchain and giving them the tools they need to succeed, no matter where they are in the world or what their economic background is.
In 2021 and beyond, we hope to help more students travel internationally to different blockchain conferences and hackathons to meet new people, learn, and build.
