StakED - The On-Chain Confidence Market 🏆

Stake on Performance. Earn on Results.

StakED is a decentralized, gamified platform that lets students stake on academic performance using PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin and earn rewards based on real, verified results. It brings the transparency of Blockscout, the stability of PYUSD, and the reliability of Hardhat 3 into one on-chain ecosystem that rewards learning through incentives.

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🚀 Live Links

• Deployed: [staked.vercel.app]
• Autoscout Explorer: staked.cloud.blockscout.com

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🚨 For Judging Access

For the judging process, we’ve provided verifier access inside the app. One account only provides access to one dashboard. You will need two MetaMask accounts:

• One to log in as a student
• One to log in as a verifier

"Connect with metamask" button grants student access "Verifier access" button grants verifier access

Once logged in this cannot be changed. This ensures safety for the website

ALSO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PYUSD IN YOUR METAMASK ACCOUNT, THIS WILL BE ESSENTIAL IF YOU WANT TO STAKE

A quick-access button for the Verifier Dashboard is available on the landing page for easy testing.

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🧩 Partner Integrations

Below are the hackathon partner tracks StakED integrates with — PayPal (PYUSD), Blockscout, and Hardhat 3

💠 PayPal USD (PYUSD)

Criteria	Description	How StakED Satisfies
About	PayPal USD (PYUSD) is a stablecoin enabling secure digital paymentss.	StakED uses PYUSD as the core staking and reward currency, ensuring stable and transparent academic rewards.
Functionality	How well does the project work technically?	Fully functional staking, claiming, and reward logic using SafeERC20 transfers of PYUSD on Sepolia Testnet.
Payments Applicability	How does it address real-world payment challenges?	PYUSD eliminates volatility, allowing students worldwide to earn real-value incentives for performance, bridging DeFi and education.
Novelty	How unique is the concept?	StakED introduces an on-chain education staking platform that uses a stablecoin (PYUSD) to enable transparent, performance-based academic rewards.
UX	Is the experience intuitive?	Clean ShadCN + Tailwind with a neo-brutalism styled interface with transparent staking flow and Blockscout-linked transaction views.
Open-Source	Public and composable code?	100% open-source on GitHub.
Business Plan	Can this evolve into a viable business?	StakED can scale into a learning incentive platform for schools or edtechs using PYUSD-based micro-rewards to incentivze studying.

🧠 In essence: “PYUSD brings PayPal’s trust and stability into DeFi staking, finally making real-world, dollar-backed incentives possible for education.”

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🟣 Blockscout

Criteria	Description	How StakED Satisfies
Autoscout Use	Did we deploy a custom explorer?	Yes — staked.cloud.blockscout.com on Sepolia, tracking all contract transactions.
SDK Integration	Did the app use Blockscout’s SDK meaningfully?	Yes — real-time transaction history, win-rate tracking, toast notifications, and on-chain analytics powered by the SDK & API (v2).
Transparency	Are transactions verifiable?	All staking, claim, and exam interactions link directly to Blockscout explorer pages.
Originality	How unique is the use case?	Combining education, staking, and on-chain analytics.

🔍 “Blockscout makes StakED fully transparent — users can verify every stake, payout, and result.”

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🛠️ Hardhat 3

Criteria	Description	How StakED Satisfies
Version Compliance	Uses Hardhat 3.0.0+?	Yes — explicitly built with v3 and its new compiler/runtime.
Testing	Are tests implemented with Hardhat 3?	Yes — smart contract deployment and staking flow tested using Solidity test framework.
Performance	Uses Hardhat’s new features?	Verified faster compile & local simulation with Hardhat Network.
Reliability	Is Hardhat integral to the build process?	Entire contract lifecycle — from compilation to testnet deployment — runs through Hardhat scripts.

🧱 “Every contract in StakED was built and validated with Hardhat 3 — ensuring stable, production-grade deployment.”

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🚀 Key Features

Feature	Description	On-Chain/Off-Chain
Self-Staking	Students lock tokens to bet on their own success (e.g., scoring $\ge 75%$ on an exam).	Hybrid (Token Transfer $\rightarrow$ On-Chain Stake)
Peer Staking	Students can stake on the expected performance of their classmates, creating a dynamic, peer-driven confidence market.	Hybrid (Token Transfer $\rightarrow$ On-Chain Stake)
Verifier Integrity	Verifiers can create exams, set deadlines, and manage classes. The platform uses a commit-reveal process for grading to prevent results tampering.	On-Chain (Verifier Registry, Exam Management)
Prediction-Based Payout	Winners are determined by accuracy: actual score $\ge$ predicted score. Forfeited stakes from losers are distributed among winning stakers.	On-Chain
PYUSD as Staking Token	PayPal USD (PYUSD) is used as the base staking and reward token, providing a stable, regulated asset for financial incentives.	On-Chain

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🛠️ Technology Stack

Component	Technology	Description	Partner Integration
Frontend	React, TypeScript, Vite, ShadCN UI	Student and Verifier Dashboards	-
Backend (API)	Node.js, Express, MongoDB	Off-chain data (user profiles, class/exam metadata), and API for the frontend	🤖 Autoscout - Transaction sync
Smart Contracts	Solidity (0.8.28), Hardhat v3	Core logic for staking, prediction-based winner determination, and payout distribution	⚒️ Hardhat - Deployment & testing
Web3 Integration	Ethers.js	Handles wallet connections, transaction signing, and contract calls	-
Analytics	Blockscout SDK	Real-time blockchain analytics and transaction monitoring	🔍 Blockscout - Analytics integration
Payment Token	PayPal USD (PYUSD)	Stable, regulated USD token for all staking and rewards	💰 PayPal PYUSD - Primary token

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🏗️ Smart Contract Architecture

The core functionality is managed by modular Solidity contracts, emphasizing separation of concerns for clarity and security.

Contract	Purpose	Key Roles
ExamStaking.sol	Main interaction point for staking, grading, and reward payout.	Owner, Verifier, Student
VerifierRegistry.sol	Manages the list of authorized teacher/examiner wallet addresses.	onlyAdmin, isVerifier
StudentRegistry.sol	Manages registration of student wallet addresses.	onlyAdmin, isRegistered

Key Functions (in ExamStaking.sol)

Function	Purpose	On-Chain Action
stake(..., uint256 predictedScore)	Transfers PYUSD and records the stake on-chain along with the expected score.	pyusd.safeTransferFrom(msg.sender, address(this), amount)
setStudentScores(..., uint256[] scores)	Verifier submits final scores. The contract determines winners based on actual_score >= predicted_score.	Sets e.actualScores and e.isWinner
distributeRewards(bytes32 examId)	Finalizes the exam and initiates the reward pool distribution logic.	Sets e.finalized = true
claim(bytes32 examId)	Calculates and sends the appropriate reward (original stake + proportional share of loser pool) to the staker.	pyusd.safeTransfer(msg.sender, finalAmount)

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🧑‍💻 Getting Started (Development)

The project is structured into three main directories: contracts, backend, and frontend.

1. Smart Contracts Setup (contracts/)

1. Install Dependencies:

   cd contracts
   npm install

2. Configure: Set up your .env file with your Sepolia RPC URL and private key for deployment.
3. Deployment: Deploy the core contracts, including VerifierRegistry, StudentRegistry, and ExamStaking, to the Sepolia testnet.

   npm run deploy:sepolia 
   # Recommended: npm run deploy:final to use the final prediction-based contract

2. Backend Setup (backend/)

1. Install Dependencies:

   cd backend
   npm install

2. Configure: Create a .env file for MONGO_URI, JWT_SECRET, PORT, and your Sepolia RPC/Private Key.
3. Run: Start the API server.

   npm run dev

3. Frontend Setup (frontend/)

1. Install Dependencies:

   cd frontend
   npm install

2. Configure: Update environment variables (.env file) with deployed contract addresses and the backend API URL.
3. Run: Start the React application.

   npm run dev

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🤖 Use of AI

AI tools played a small but helpful role in building StakED, from improving the overall look and feel of the UI to refining the smart contracts and assisting in their connection.