CHAINS
Chains is a decentralized venture capital platform that enables users to invest in startup ideas using crypto & NFTs, removes intermediaries and ensures secure, trustless transactions via EduChain.
About
The problem it solves 1. Limited Access to Startup Funding Problem: Traditional venture capital is hard to access, favoring well-connected entrepreneurs and excluding small-scale innovators. Solution: Chains allows anyone to request funding from global investors, removing geographic & financial barriers. 2. High Entry Barriers for Investors Problem: Investing in startups usually requires large capital & legal paperwork. Solution: Chains enables fractional investments using crypto & NFTs, allowing small investors to support startups. 3. Lack of Trust in Crowdfunding Problem: Many crowdfunding platforms rely on centralized intermediaries, leading to fraud risks & mismanaged funds. Solution: Chains locks funds in smart contracts & releases them only when milestones are met, ensuring transparency & accountability. 4. No Proof of Investment Problem: Investors in early-stage startups often lack legal proof of their contributions. Solution: Chains issues on-chain NFT receipts to investors, serving as immutable proof of investment.
How it's made
Challenges we ran into 1. Smart Contract Deployment Issues Problem: Initially, our funding smart contract failed to deploy due to constructor argument mismatches in OpenZeppelin’s Ownable contract. Solution: We explicitly passed the initial owner in the constructor, resolving the error and ensuring proper ownership management. 2. Connecting Frontend to Blockchain Problem: The frontend failed to interact with the deployed smart contract due to incorrect ABI imports and provider configurations. Solution: We updated the ABI and switched from window.ethereum to ethers.js' BrowserProvider, ensuring smooth Web3 integration. 3. Handling Dynamic Project Listings Problem: Projects weren’t updating dynamically on the frontend after creation or funding. Solution: We implemented event listeners in the smart contract and real-time state updates in React, ensuring instant UI refresh. 4. EduChain Compatibility & Gas Fees Problem: Deploying on EduChain required adapting to its specific APIs and gas optimizations. Solution: We optimized contract storage to reduce gas costs and used EduChain’s tools for smooth deployment. 5. UI & UX Challenges Problem: The profile and project pages needed a better layout and seamless navigation. Solution: We used Tailwind CSS for responsive design and optimized routing for a better user experience.