DEV Community: Ayaan Adil

Building Trust, Preserving Privacy: Introducing Pixel Protocol for Web3 Consumer Finance

Ayaan Adil — Sun, 10 Aug 2025 09:44:49 +0000

Pixel Protocol: Decentralized Reputation for Web3 Consumer Finance

Hey Web3 builders! 👋

Are you excited about the potential of decentralized finance and Web3 for everyday consumers? So are we! But there's a fundamental challenge: trust in an anonymous landscape. How can we build inclusive financial services when user identity and reputation are often shrouded in mystery?

That's where Pixel Protocol comes in. We're building a privacy-first, decentralized reputation infrastructure designed to empower the next generation of consumer finance applications on Web3. Think of us as the missing layer of trust, enabling dApps to move beyond anonymous addresses and engage with users based on their verifiable financial standing, all while preserving user privacy.

We're thrilled to be building Pixel Protocol with a keen eye on the burgeoning Layer-2 ecosystem, particularly platforms like Morph, which are paving the way for scalable and affordable consumer-centric applications.

The Problem: Anonymity vs. Trust in Web3 Finance

Imagine trying to get a loan in the traditional world without a credit score. It's nearly impossible. In Web3, while transactions are transparent, user identity often isn't. This makes it challenging to build crucial financial primitives like:

Undercollateralized Lending: Assessing risk without knowing a user's repayment history is a major hurdle.
Personalized Insurance: Tailoring policies based on a verifiable financial track record is currently difficult.
Fair Credit Scoring: A decentralized, transparent, and privacy-preserving credit scoring system is still largely absent.

Our Solution: Pixel Protocol

Pixel Protocol tackles this challenge with a powerful combination of:

Soulbound Verifiable Credentials (VCs): Non-transferable tokens tied permanently to a user's wallet, representing verified financial achievements and data (e.g., loan repayment history, savings records, payment consistency). Think of them as building blocks of an on-chain financial CV.
Modular Reputation Scoring: Our ReputationCalculator contract allows dApps to define custom algorithms for calculating a user's reputation score based on the VCs they hold.
Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs): Privacy is paramount. Pixel Protocol leverages ZKPs to enable users to prove they meet specific reputation thresholds without revealing sensitive underlying data.

How it Works: A Simplified Flow

Issuance: A verified financial dApp issues a Soulbound VC to a user's wallet upon a verified financial event.
Storage: The VC remains non-transferably linked to the user's wallet on the blockchain.
Scoring: Financial dApps query the ReputationCalculator to get a user's reputation score.
Private Proof: A user generates a ZKP to prove they meet certain financial criteria without revealing details.
Verification: The verifying dApp uses the ZKPVerifier contract to validate the proof on-chain.

Key Features for Developers

Comprehensive SDK: Easy-to-use SDK for interacting with contracts, subgraph, and ZKP functionalities.
Efficient Data Retrieval: Powered by a Subgraph for fast querying of credentials and history.
Privacy by Design: ZKP integration at the core.
Modular & Flexible: Customizable reputation scoring for different dApps.
Built for L2s: Optimized for scalable, affordable consumer-facing applications.

Use Cases in Consumer Finance

Decentralized Lending: Enable undercollateralized loans using ZKP-proven credit scores.
Risk Assessment for Insurance: Personalized premiums based on proven stability.
On-Chain Credit Scoring: Transparent, privacy-preserving credit scores for DeFi.
DeFi Identity & Access Control: Gate access based on verified reputation.
Sybil-Resistant Rewards & Incentives: Reward genuine users with verifiable histories.

Our Vision for the Morph Buildathon

We're excited to participate in the Morph Buildathon, a fantastic initiative focused on blockchain-enabled consumer finance. Morph's scalability and UX align perfectly with our vision of making DeFi accessible and trustworthy for all.

Get Started!

Docs: https://pixel-protocol-2.gitbook.io/pixel-protocol-docs
SDK: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@pixel-protocol/sdk
GitHub: https://github.com/ayaanoski/pixel-protocol

We can't wait to see what you build with Pixel Protocol on Morph! 🚀

Hashtags

Web3 #DeFi #ConsumerFinance #Reputation #Privacy #ZeroKnowledgeProofs #Buildathon #Morph #L2 #Blockchain

From Zero to Global in 5 Minutes: How I Deployed My React AI App with EdgeOne Pages

Ayaan Adil — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 19:53:31 +0000

Hey Dev community!

We've all been there. You've just finished coding a project you're proud of. The UI is slick, the logic is solid, and it's running perfectly on localhost. Now comes the part that can often be a chore: deployment. Setting up servers, configuring build pipelines, managing SSL certificates... it can be a real momentum killer.

For my latest project, Foundry.AI, an AI-powered branding tool built with React, I wanted to find a deployment solution that was as fast and modern as the app itself. I decided to try Tencent Cloud's EdgeOne Pages, and I was genuinely blown away by how incredibly smooth and easy the process was.

Today, I want to walk you through how I took my React application from a GitHub repository to a live, globally-accelerated URL in literally under 5 minutes.

The Project: A Quick Look at Foundry.AI
First, a little context. Foundry.AI is a tool for creators and startups to generate ad copy and brand kits using AI agents from IO.net.

Tech Stack: React.js, Vite, TailwindCSS, Framer Motion

GitHub Repo: https://github.com/ayaanoski/Foundry-AI

It's a standard, modern client-side application—a perfect candidate for a static hosting platform.

The Solution: What is EdgeOne Pages?
EdgeOne Pages is a serverless hosting service designed to deploy web applications directly from a Git repository (like GitHub or GitLab). It handles the entire CI/CD pipeline for you: pulling your code, building it, and deploying it to a powerful global CDN.

The key promises are speed, simplicity, and performance. No servers to manage, no complex configurations. Just connect your repo and go.

Step-by-Step Guide: Deploying Foundry.AI
Here’s the exact process I followed. No steps have been skipped.

Step 1: Log in and Find EdgeOne
First, I logged into my Tencent Cloud account and navigated to the EdgeOne console. From there, I selected "Site Acceleration" and then the "Pages" tab.

Step 2: Create a New Project
This is where the magic begins. I clicked "Create Project" and was presented with the deployment configuration screen.

Step 3: Connect Your GitHub Repository
The first thing to do is connect your source code.

Choose Source: I selected GitHub.

Authorize: A pop-up prompted me to authorize Tencent Cloud to access my repositories. This is a standard OAuth process and only needs to be done once.

Select Repository: After authorization, a list of my repositories appeared. I simply selected ayaanoski/Foundry-AI and chose the main branch.

!(https://i.imgur.com/your-image-placeholder.png) (You can add a screenshot here if you take one)

Step 4: Configure the Build Settings
This is often the part where things can get tricky on other platforms. With EdgeOne Pages, it was shockingly simple. The platform automatically detected that I was using a Vite project and pre-filled most of the settings for me!

Here’s what my configuration looked like:

Framework Preset: Vite (It detected this automatically!)

Build Command: npm run build (This is the standard build command for my Vite project, defined in package.json.)

Output Directory: dist (Vite outputs the static production files to the dist folder by default. EdgeOne knew this.)

Environment Variables: I didn't need any for this project, but there's a simple section to add them if your app requires API keys or other secrets.

That's it. I didn't have to write a single line of YAML or configure a complex build file.

Step 5: Deploy!
I hit the "Save and Deploy" button.

A dashboard immediately appeared showing me the deployment progress in real-time:

Cloning Repository: EdgeOne pulled the latest code from my main branch.

Building: It ran the npm install and npm run build commands in a clean environment.

Deploying: It took the contents of the dist folder and distributed them across its global CDN.

The entire process, from click to "Deployed Successfully," took 1 minute and 22 seconds.

I was immediately given a free .edgeone.app URL: https://foundry-ai.edgeone.app/. My site was live, with a free SSL certificate automatically configured.

Why EdgeOne Pages Was the Perfect Choice
Zero-Friction Deployment: The process was truly effortless. It eliminated all the traditional complexities of web hosting.

Blazing Fast CI/CD: Now, every time I git push a new commit to my main branch, EdgeOne Pages automatically triggers a new build and deployment. My development workflow has become incredibly efficient.

Global Performance Out-of-the-Box: Foundry.AI is for a global audience. With EdgeOne, my app is served from edge nodes close to my users, whether they are in the US, Europe, or Asia. This means low latency and a better user experience without any extra work from me.

It's Free for Small Projects: The generous free tier makes it a no-brainer for personal projects, hackathons, and MVPs.

Conclusion
If you're a developer working with modern frameworks like React, Vue, or Next.js, and you want to spend your time building features instead of managing infrastructure, I can't recommend EdgeOne Pages enough. It has simplified my workflow and delivered a high-performance result with minimal effort.

Give it a try for your next project!

🚀 TubeTutor – Turn Any YouTube Video Into a Learning Playground 📚🎥 Hey devs! 👋

Ayaan Adil — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 07:42:25 +0000

Hey devs! 👋
Ever watched a long tutorial on YouTube and thought "I wish I could extract notes, get summaries, or even quiz myself on this!"?
Well, I built something to fix that.

Introducing TubeTutor – a React web app that transforms any YouTube video into an interactive learning experience.

🧠 What's TubeTutor?
TubeTutor is a tool for students, self-learners, and curious minds that uses YouTube as its knowledge source and wraps AI magic around it. 🪄

Give it a YouTube URL, and it’ll:

🎙️ Transcribe the entire video

✍️ Summarize the key points

📌 Generate bullet-point notes

❓ Create quizzes based on the content

💬 Provide chat-based Q&A from the video

Yup, all in one place. 😎

⚙️ How It Works (a peek under the hood)
Here’s the secret sauce:

🔗 YouTube Video Input

Paste a YouTube video link

App extracts video ID and fetches captions (via YouTube API or custom backend magic)

🧠 AI-Powered Summarization

Transcriptions are sent to a backend using OpenAI (GPT) APIs

Output: neat summaries, structured notes, even multiple-choice questions!

💬 Chat with the Video

A built-in chat interface lets you ask questions about the video

Think of it as a personal tutor trained only on that content

🎨 Built with React

Frontend: React + Tailwind for clean, fast UI

Backend: Node.js + Express + OpenAI

Extras: Firebase for Auth, and maybe MongoDB for saving sessions

🎯 Use Cases
🧑‍🎓 Students: Convert 1-hour lectures into bite-sized notes & quizzes

🧠 Self-Learners: Use chat to clarify concepts from any tutorial

🧑‍🏫 Teachers: Generate study material from YouTube videos automatically

📚 Exam Prep: Use MCQs and notes for quick revision

😄 Why I Built It
I was binge-watching AI tutorials and thought:

“Why can't YouTube videos be as interactive as real classes?”

So, I hacked together a solution.
It started as a weekend project, and now it's a full-fledged tool I (and many others) use daily.

📸 Sneak Peek
Here’s what it looks like:

(Insert screenshots/gif of the interface with the video + notes + chat + quizzes)

🛠️ Tech Stack
Frontend: React, TailwindCSS

Backend: Node.js, Express

APIs: OpenAI (for NLP), YouTube Data API

Database: Firebase/MongoDB

Hosting: Vercel

🌐 Try it Out
Live at: https://tubetutor.vercel.app
Source Code: https://github.com/ayaanoski/tubetutor

💡 Future Ideas
🌎 Multilingual transcript support

📥 Export notes to PDF/Notion

🧠 Personalized learning paths

🎯 Quiz scoring & progress tracker

❤️ Shoutout
Big shoutout to:

OpenAI for their API

React community for being awesome

YouTube devs for making video data accessible

👋 Final Thoughts
TubeTutor is more than just a video summarizer.
It’s a study companion that helps you watch smarter, not harder.

Let me know what you think, or if you’d like to collaborate on taking this to the next level! 🚀