FoB 2 Challenge — Algorand

A
Future of Blockchain Competition
5 min readOct 19, 2019

Future of Blockchain is a 3-month competition for developers in university cities. During the competition, participants can either build a startup or answer a technical challenge. They are rewarded with numerous prizes, both monetary and non-monetary. It is open to anyone who studies/studied or currently lives in the cities of Oxford, Cambridge, London or Berlin.

How it works

Participants can enter (by 1st November) in teams of 1–6. You can either participate by:

  • General Challenge: Building or entering a startup/project of your own design
  • Partner Challenges: Answering a technical challenge

Participants have 3 months (November to mid-February) to complete their project. You must register by 1st November 2019 and submit your project digitally by 15th March 2020.

Timeline

  • w/c 21st October 2019: Launch Events
  • 1st Nov 2019 to 15th March 2020: Build Period
  • 15th March 2020: Submission Date
  • Mon 27th April 2020: Demo Day

Prizes

Open to every participant, there is an overall prize of £10k cash.

For each Partner Challenge (not including the General Challenge), there are set prizes. Below are details of the Algorand Challenge and Prizes

About

Algorand is an open-source public blockchain based on a pure proof-of-stake consensus protocol.

Challenges

  • 1. Asset Creation and Management Platform
  • 2. Metamask like Chrome extension for keeping spending keys secure and using them to sign tx inline on webapp / webpage.
  • 3. TEAL Challenge

1st Challenge — 15,000 Algos (3K pounds)

Short Description

Asset Creation and Management Platform — Build an asset creation and management platform that allows users to specify asset parameters, launch assets via sales, and manage assets on an ongoing basis.

Longer Description

Algorand is preparing to release Algorand Standard Assets which allows anyone to create layer 1 assets with the same security, compatibility and ease of use as the Algo. These assets can be created with a single transaction to the network that sets the parameters of the new asset. This challenge is to create a platform that makes creating, launching, and managing these assets as easy as possible for users. It should include functionality for setting all parameters such as Asset name,Unit name, Maximum issue, Fungible/Non Fungible, Reserve amount, Quantity Issued, Default frozen, Manager address, Reserve address, Freeze address, Clawback address etc. The platform should exhibit security best practices such as the ability to integrate with offline key management. Bonus points for integrating with Coinlist for token sales and/or integrating whitelist and blacklist management.

2nd Challenge — 10,000 Algos (2K pounds)

Short Description

Chrome Extension — Metamask-like chrome extension for keeping spending keys secure and using them to sign transactions inline within web applications.

Longer Description

This challenge involves creating a Chrome extension that securely manages a user’s keys. The extension should allow users to log in, manage seed mnemonics, share public keys through QR codes, buy (through coinlist) and send Algos or named assets. Bonus points for implementing the extension using the Algorand Go SDK and compiling to WASM.

3rd Challenge — 10,000 Algos (2K pounds)

Short Description

TEAL Challenge — Develop template explorer for Algorand’s Transaction Execution Approval Language (TEAL).

Long Description

Algorand is about to release its version of smart contracts — a bytecode based stack language called Transaction Execution Approval Language (TEAL). TEAL executes inside Algorand transactions to check the parameters of the transaction and approve the transaction as if by a signature. This language allows users to create specialized transactions that can be executed by anyone who fulfills the stated conditions within the code. As part of the release, Algorand is working on creating various TEAL templates to get users started, such as how to setup recurring payments, how to handle limit orders, how to handle foreclosures, how to state channels, and how to make atomic swaps. This challenge involves coming up with inventive contracts that could possibly be made into templates for others to use and providing a tool to browse and select specific contracts. The browsing part of the challenge could be an extension to a developer tool such as VS Code or a custom web or native application.

  • The Algo cannot be traded in the United States, Canada, or other jurisdictions listed on the Foundation website. For this reason, to receive an award, participants must provide deposit information with a bank located in Europe.

Registration

Registration is now open, please do so via www.futureofblockchain.co.uk. You can register for the competition anytime before the submission deadline (15th March).

Launch Events

We will have a Launch Event for the competition in each city to provide more information to potential participants in the competition. The dates of which are:

Monday 21st October: Berlin

Tuesday 22nd October: Oxford

Wednesday 23rd October: Cambridge

Thursday 24th October: London

All events will last from 7–10pm. The format will be talks about the Competition and the Challenges, followed by an Information Fair.

Questions?

Email anthony@stakezero.com

Thank you to our Corporate Partners for all their support!

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