New Arweave Devs Are Aiming To Refine On-chain Transactions UX

For many people coming into the Arweave ecosystem newly, whether they are familiar with blockchain technology or not, one issue that is quickly noticed is owners of Arweave wallet not getting notifications when on-chain transactions involving their wallet occurs.

This could be a turn-off for users, many of whom are used to a Web2 system where they get notifications by emails and even phone numbers when actions involving their registered accounts occur.

This feature which is common in Web2 but rarely exists on the blockchain, the technology that powers Web3, could serve as one of the hurdles the latter would need to overcome if it would be a worthy alternative to the former.

While to tech savvy people, an application that sends alerts about on-chain transactions may not be necessary, for people who are new to blockchain technology or who are too busy to monitor their wallets for a token they are expecting, on-chain transaction notification would offer convenience and save time.

It appeared that the need for on-chain transaction notification got the attention of the organisers of the Arweave Community Hackathon who made the innovation one of the hackathon ideas for contestants. Eight projects were shortlisted for the Permaweb Mail category where contestants were required to build a protocol that will send an email to a Web email account when an on-chain transaction occurs involving a user’s wallet address. It was  sponsored by Community Labs with a prize of $3,000.

Sambit Sargam Ekalabya, a freelance blockchain developer and web developer based in India, won the Permaweb Mail challenge with his project, ArTrackrHub. He told this reporter that ArTrackrHub was developed in response to the demand for a complete solution that could deliver alerts of transactions on the Arweave Blockchain in real time.

“When it comes to tracking users’ digital assets and the actions on the blockchain, the motivation is to improve user efficiency and experience,” Ekalabya said, adding that the project also stands out because it could also be used to upload data to Arweave, although the feature is yet to be functional. He also noted that users can track and retrieve transactions linked to ArNS registered names using the project.

The hackathon which was held between in early August and  had more than 275 applicants was organised by Only Arweave and had partners such as Community Labs, Arweave-focused software development company; Kwil, a decentralised SQL database for decentralised application data storage and retrieval; Forward Research, the research and development arm of Arweave among others.

Ekalabya said the hackathon was his first Arweave-related hackathon and that his passion for technology led him to explore various domains and contribute to technology ecosystems. Narrating his journey into technology, he said he began venturing into software development during his first year in tertiary education. In 2021, he began exploring Web3 and by 2022, he started participating in hackathons.

“As I progressed, my curiosity led me to explore various facets of technology…This journey has been a continuous learning experience, shaping my passion for innovation and pushing me to constantly evolve in the tech landscape,”  Ekalabya said.

Some of the applications and protocols he created cut across the intersection of technology and judiciary; funding and  innovations; best practices and climate. Ekalabya created ‘Judge on the Chain’ where he built a decentralised judicial system that comes with a notification feature. He built ‘AlgoPatron’, a project that helps innovators get crowdfunded on the Algorand chain.  He developed ‘Green Chain’ which rewards sustainable practices for a greener future.

“These projects exemplify my commitment to developing impactful solutions,” he said.

Ekalabya described Arweave’s hackathon as a remarkable experience and the challenges pushed him to work fast to deliver results.

“The challenge of developing ArTrackrHub within a limited timeframe pushed us to innovate and optimize the platform's functionality,” Ekalabya said.

On plans for the future of the project he said effort would go into enhancing user experience by adding new features, improving performance  and polishing existing functionalities  based on user feedback and needs.

“I believe that building a strong foundation for the application's functionality and user experience is essential before ramping up promotion efforts.,” he said .

Revealing his plans to promote ArTrackrHub, Ekalabya said he would engage with the Arweave community, encourage open-source collaboration and  participate in blockchain -related events.

“By aligning my efforts with the project's growth and readiness, I intend to ensure that ArTrackrHub gains traction and becomes a valuable tool for users seeking reliable on-chain transaction notifications and data management on the Arweave blockchain,” he said.

Other shortlisted projects in the Permaweb  Mail challenge category include Notifier,  built by Shivam Verma, Lalit Sharma, Aditya Sharma and Omkar Darde with ArweaveKit, GraphQL, Nodemailer and Warp Contract SDK and it says its future plans with regards to feature is to customize alerts; ArNotify, which was built by the trio of Isioma Light, Max Zvarich and an anonymous individual with Chakra UI, Figma and React and plans to integrate with other protocols and enable notification via SMS, Telegram ; Arweave  Mailer, built by Yinka Adedokun with ReactJS, Express JS and MySQL for database;  ArSubscribe, built by Mehul Kumar Nirala  using  Arweave JS, CSS, GraphQL among others; Weave Watch,  built by Dougpfeffer Pfeffer using Nuxt, Ruby-on-rails and vue.

These projects by  developers new to the  Arweave ecosystem will not only make using the blockweave more user friendly, they could serve as bridges to link Web2 and Web3 users and help create an environment similar to Web2 but better in overall offering for new Arweave users. Beyond the hackathon, developers  whose projects won and those that did not win prizes will need to be carried along and groomed by experienced Arweave developers so that they do not stop building. Indeed, the growth of Arweave and its adoption is  dependent on both the sophistication of the infrastructure and relevance in making life easy for users.

“With my skill set and dedication, I am on a trajectory to make a notable impact on the blockchain industry, ensuring innovative solutions for the future,” Ekalabaya said.