While the hackathon helped to bring out the full potential and the promise of both DAOs and DeFI, the æternity ecosystem is richer for three quite promising projects that perfectly encapsulate the overlap of these two cutting-edge technological concepts.
Let’s take a look at the three top submissions!
DPAY, a DAO Platform on the æternity Blockchain, emerged as a standout project during the hackathon. The team behind DPAY recognized the need for efficient and transparent fund management within decentralized organizations, and so they developed a solution that empowers organizations to have greater control over their funds by using the æternity Blockchain. DPAY aims to streamline payroll and vesting systems while also providing governance mechanisms, proposal systems, and user-friendly interfaces.
“Developing a comprehensive DAO platform with advanced features required tackling complex technical aspects,” the team added. “We encountered challenges in designing and implementing smart contracts, integrating various functionalities, and ensuring the security and reliability of the system. We addressed these challenges by adopting a systematic approach, conducting thorough testing, and collaborating closely as a team to identify and resolve issues promptly.”
Commenting on the project, one of the DAO-Fi Fusion Code Challenge hackathon judges, the founder of Lexon Henning Diedrich, said that DPAY is refreshingly concrete in its business use case and that it is executed well. “The proposed use cases like vesting or the plan to build in invoicing stick to a grounded business perspective, and the team kept their eyes on the ball of doing the essential thing right within the time constraints of a hackathon,” Diedrich added.
NeuroDAOs, another outstanding project — and the winner of the Community Award for the hackathon — focuses on improving decision-making processes within DAOs and addressing interoperability issues. According to the creator, NeuroDAOs drew inspiration from “Neural Networks and corporate structures,” which allowed for the “exploration of new ways to structure and govern DAOs, leveraging the strengths of both models to create a more streamlined and scalable framework.” The project also aims to enhance interoperability within the DeFi space and has integrated with the Superhero DEX for trading and investing in tokens on the æternity Blockchain.
“An enticing approach to thinking about DAOs in a very welcome and apt new way, with an interesting interface that invites to jump right into the world of the powerful neural networks, the mainstay AI technology that mimics our brains,” judge Diedrich commented. “The background information is captivating and the concept compelling,” but the question remains, will this beautiful concoction work? (We certainly hope so!)
Reflex Protocol, finally, is a DAO creation and management platform on the æternity Blockchain. The project embraces the principles of transparency, inclusivity, and community-driven decision-making and provides users with options for token-based or wallet-based governance systems, incentivizes DAO member participation, and facilitates transparent treasury management. The team encountered time-related challenges but praised the self-explanatory documentation and the support provided by hackathon mentors. They plan to scale and refine the project, gathering user feedback and improving performance, scalability, and security aspects.
“Reflex Protocol highlights all the right things about the big picture motivation and makes a good point already in its name: to think about the DAO space in terms of protocols,” Judge Diedrich stated. While the idea has been “developed only in its initial stages at this point,” Diedrich feels that the project would benefit from a clear development roadmap. “Because of its focus, the Reflex Protocol, at this stage, might see impact substituting as a teaching device: a live tutorial really for beginners to understand how a DAO is programmed.”
Looking at the three best submissions and the entire DAO-Fi Fusion Code Challenge hackathon, the æternity community has many reasons to be excited and hopeful for future things. By bringing together amazingly talented minds from the community and witnessing the participants fully immersing themselves in the interplay between DAO and DeFi, the æcosystem is looking at big, big things to come.
“The DAO-Fi Fusion Code Challenge hackathon proved that the æternity Blockchain is a prime alternative smart contract platform to create advanced decentralized autonomous organizations,” finally added the æternity Blockchain Founder Yanislav Malahov. “I am happy to see so many great submissions and want to congratulate the winning teams!”
Here’s hoping that these amazing new projects will be tested out and put to good use by all! 
Read the full article on the æternity Medium blog: The DAO-Fi Fusion Code Challenge hackathon has ended, and here are the winners! | by æternity | Jun, 2023 | æternity blog