DEV Community: Jun Gong

Hiring | Junior Backend Web Developer

Jun Gong — Wed, 10 May 2023 11:06:48 +0000

We are seeking a Junior Backend Web Developer to join our dynamic development team. The ideal candidate should be highly skilled in backend web development, able to work collaboratively with our senior developer and contribute to the development of web applications. Previous work experience is not as important as the candidate's ability to build something from scratch.

Key Responsibilities:

Design and develop backend systems for web applications
Build and maintain APIs for web applications
Collaborate with front-end developers to integrate user-facing features with server-side logic
Write clean and maintainable code
Develop and maintain database schemas and data models
Debug and troubleshoot production issues
Ensure high performance, scalability, and security of web applications
Stay up-to-date with the latest web development trends and technologies
Write technical documentation for code and APIs

Requirements:

At least 1-2 years of experience in backend web development
Strong experience in at least one of the popular backend programming languages like Typescript, Python, Java or Golang
Familiarity with NoSQL databases
Experience building and maintaining APIs
Familiarity with cloud-based infrastructure like AWS or Azure
Excellent problem-solving skills
Ability to work in a team environment
Good communication skills

If you are passionate about backend web development and have a proven track record of building scalable and reliable systems, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity — please share your resume with your GitHub link to hi@furrend.xyz.

About Furrend

Furrend is the next-gen web3 consumer app built for 10 billion pet lovers. We are a team of world-class builders from leading blockchain projects, top-tier tech companies, and the most prestigious banking firms with expertise across blockchain engineering, smart contract development, consumer product, SaaS, and more.

For more info, please visit https://furrend.xyz/ or check out https://twitter.com/hifurrend on Twitter.

[Dev Meetup] Threshold Signatures for Dapps on Ethereum

Jun Gong — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 10:26:27 +0000

What are threshold signatures? How are they relevant to blockchain applications? Come hang with us and let’s take a deep dive into the cryptography behind threshold signatures and the way they are being applied to Ethereum projects.

Today, we’re very excited to have Ari Rodriguez, the cryptographer from Gelato join us and talk about building blocks of threshold signatures.

📍When & Where

The meetup will be held in the Gelato Zoom on Thursday, February 4, 2021, from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM ET / 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM CET.

Add event to your calendar.

📅Schedule

12:00–12:05 PM: Welcoming address
12:05–12:25 PM: Ari — Building Blocks of Threshold Signatures
12:25–12:30 PM: Q&A

Our Guest Speaker: Ari Rodriguez

Ari is a cryptographer and software engineer based in New York City. He has worked with a number of start-ups on nascent cryptographic technologies including threshold encryption, multi-party computation, and smart contract design and development.

Hope to see you soon!

Gelato is a protocol that automates smart contract executions on Ethereum. We are building the infrastructure of reliable automation on top of Ethereum and with it a key part of the Web3 middleware stack, enabling trustless, automated flows of money between all smart contracts and upcoming Layer 2 networks.

► Check out what we’ve been working on at 🍦 https://gelato.network/🍦

'Bitcoin is now programmable money' | Stacks 2.0 set to Launch on Jan 14

Jun Gong — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 15:11:40 +0000

Blockstack is launching its Stacks 2.0 Blockchain, which uses Bitcoin blockchain as a secure base-layer that brings decentralized apps and smart contracts to Bitcoin through a unique consensus mechanism (Proof-of-Transfer) that runs between the Bitcoin blockchain and the Stacks chain, unlocking new innovation and a new way to earn Bitcoin.

"The first chain to implement PoX (Proof-of-Transfer) is Stacks 2.0, the latest version of the Blockstack chain, which derives its security from Bitcoin. This means that participants in the Stacks 2.0 consensus earn BTC. And Stacks 2.0 has direct access to Bitcoin state and can trigger logic in Clarity smart contracts through changes in Bitcoin state. Clarity itself provides important innovations, such as being decidable for dramatically increased security and assured performance." -- Albert Wenger, managing partner at Union Square Ventures

The launch will be just the beginning of an exciting new era for the Stacks community and for crypto broadly as developers begin to leverage Stacks to build a user-owned internet on Bitcoin.

If you're a developer who is interested in learning more about Stacks 2.0, feel free to register for the Stacks 2.0 Launch Event for free and hear straight from the Stacks crew, featuring leading industry experts: Anthony Pompliano and more.

Cover photo credit: Alex Lee

I Joined the Mine To 1 Million STX Mining Challenge

Jun Gong — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 13:19:24 +0000

I am a super fan of Blockstack - the blockchain protocol that invented Proof-of-Transfer (PoX). And I believe Stacks 2.0 will be the next DeFi powerhouse. So, I signed up for the STX mining challenge and started mining STX from scratch.

The whole process of setting up a node on Stacks testnet and running a miner turned out not to be very complicated as I thought, and I wrote about my process here.

How to Join the Mine To 1 Million STX Competition

Go to the competition page and click "Register"
Fill out the information: Your name, contact email
Input your testnet Bitcoin address and testnet STX address:
If you're using Windows, here is a 5-minute short video of how to get the testnet Bitcoin and STX address;
If you're using Mac, you can check out the step-by-step guild about how to run a tesnet node and mine STX tokens here.

It took me about 30 minutes to set it up, and I'm not that tech-savvy:)

The Mine to 1 Million competition starts on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. So, go sign up now or during your lunch break or coffee break, and start setting up your node!

Happy mining!

[AMA] Ask Ethereum Researcher Aditya Asgaonkar Anything About Ethereum 2.0

Jun Gong — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 07:48:16 +0000

Ethereum 2.0 phase 0 has launched last week. What does it mean to the community and the blockchain world, and what’s next? Any behind the scenes stories? We have so many questions. There’s no better time than now to invite Aditya Asgaonkar, the Ethereum 2.0 researcher at Ethereum Foundation, to join us and talk about everything eth2. Submit your questions now!

AMA Schedule

📅 When & Where: AMA will be held in ETHPlanet Discord Server on Thursday, December 10, 2020, from 7:30 AM to 8:15 AM PST / 4:30 PM to 5:15 PM CET (Check your local time).

💬 How to Submit Your Questions:

Leave your questions in ETHPlanet Discord Server “ama” Channel with #eth2AMA
Comment under the Twitter post with #eth2AMA

Submit question(s) before 11:59 PM PST on Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Aditya will choose quality questions to answer. And Aditya will answer 3–5 additional questions from live audiences if there’s still some time left on the AMA day.

See you on Thursday!

--
Eth2 refers to a set of interconnected upgrades that will make Ethereum more scalable, more secure, and more sustainable. These upgrades are being built by multiple teams from across the Ethereum ecosystem.

What is Ethereum

Running a Stacks Node and Mining STX Tokens for the First Time: A Guide for All the Non-Tech-Savvy People

Jun Gong — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 14:19:02 +0000

For people like me — an absolute noob, with a little help from Docker

Before we get into all the “technical” stuff, a little bit about myself: I’m a tech startup person with a finance / marketing background, I’ve been bullish on DeFi since early 2019, and I’m a proud yield farmer. So, you can tell that I’m NOT tech-savvy and I know ZERO coding stuff.

But why on the earth do I still want to go through all the troubles to set up and run a miner on Stacks 2.0 testnet? Because of my curiosity — what happens if we bring DeFi to the Bitcoin ecosystem? And I believe Stacks 2.0 will be the next DeFi powerhouse, and most importantly, the whole process of setting up a node on Stacks testnet and running a miner, turned out not to be very complicated as I thought.

If you’re naturally curious and not very tech-savvy, but you want to join the DeFi on Bitcoin movement before everyone else does, and earn STX rewards, please keep reading 🙂

Hopefully, after reading this guide, you’ll be able to:

– Run your testnode on the Stacks 2.0 blockchain
– Set up and run a miner on the Stacks 2.0

My Computer Setup

MacBook Air with macOS Catalina, really basic one, nothing fancy.

Running a Testnode

Step 1: Download and Install Docker

Go to Docker and install Docker on your Mac. It’s free, if you have a privacy setting as I do, make sure to manually change Docker as a trusted software so it can run on your Mac.

Step 2: Open Terminal

Open the /Applications/Utilities folder on your Mac, type in a search to find the Terminal then double-click it.

Type the command as below — copy those commands and paste in Terminal and press Enter:

docker run -d \ --name stacks_follower \ --rm \ -e RUST_BACKTRACE="full" \ -e BLOCKSTACK_DEBUG="1" \ -p 20443:20443 \ -p 20444:20444 \ blockstack/stacks-blockchain:latest \ /bin/stacks-node krypton

The installations will process automatically, and once complete you will see a blank command shows up. And then, type command:

docker logs -f stacks_follower

You can see this in Docker:

Looks like the node connects to the Stacks 2.0 testnet now.

Mining Stacks Token on the Testnet

Step 1: Generate keychain

Type:

docker run -i node:14-alpine npx @stacks/cli make_keychain -t 2>/dev/null

and press Enter

Then type:

'replace with btcAddress property from your keychain

curl -XPOST "https://stacks-node-api.blockstack.org/extended/v1/faucets/btc?address=" | json_pp'

and press Enter.

Step 2: Create a config file directory

Type:

mkdir -p $HOME/stacks

and press Enter

After it’s complete and you see the blank command, type:

[node]
working_dir = "/root/stacks-node/current"
rpc_bind = "0.0.0.0:20443"
p2p_bind = "0.0.0.0:20444"'
Enter your private key here!
seed = "replace-with-your-privateKey-from-generate-keychain-step"
miner = true
[burnchain]
chain = "bitcoin"
mode = "krypton"
peer_host = "bitcoind.krypton.blockstack.org"
process_exit_at_block_height = 5340
burnchain_op_tx_fee = 5500
commit_anchor_block_within = 10000
rpc_port = 18443
peer_port = 18444
[[mstx_balance]]
address = "STB44HYPYAT2BB2QE513NSP81HTMYWBJP02HPGK6"
amount = 10000000000000000

[[mstx_balance]]

address = "ST11NJTTKGVT6D1HY4NJRVQWMQM7TVAR091EJ8P2Y"

amount = 10000000000000000

[[mstx_balance]]

address = "ST1HB1T8WRNBYB0Y3T7WXZS38NKKPTBR3EG9EPJKR"

amount = 10000000000000000

[[mstx_balance]]

address = "STRYYQQ9M8KAF4NS7WNZQYY59X93XEKR31JP64CP"

amount = 10000000000000000`

And press Enter

Step 3: Run the miner

Type:

docker run -d \ --name stacks_miner \ --rm \ -e RUST_BACKTRACE="full" \ -e BLOCKSTACK_DEBUG="1" \ -v "$HOME/stacks/Config.toml:/src/stacks-node/Config.toml" \ -p 20443:20443 \ -p 20444:20444 \ blockstack/stacks-blockchain:latest \ /bin/stacks-node start --config /src/stacks-node/Config.toml`

And press Enter.

You will see this “crazy stuff” popping up but don’t panic, it means things are up and running!

Anyway, that’s all I did. I followed the original guide here. Blockstack does recommend a few different ways via Rust and Virtual Machine (Oracle VirtualBox) to help you run a miner on Stacks 2.0 other than Docker.

Also, you can download the pre-made binaries (node) here. Unfortunately, only Docker works on my end. I will ask the community to help me look into it and hopefully, I can set up STX mining before Stacks 2.0 mainnet goes live. If you made it to the end on Rust or VM, please share your tutorial with me!

Oracles on Clarity

Jun Gong — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 12:46:18 +0000

Blockchain oracle is so in right now.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been working on an online hackathon project. Organizing hackathon is always fun — I enjoy things like creating an ultimate platform for hackers, builders, artists, and anyone else from all backgrounds who want to build things together, and of course, I’m inspired by people all the time.

There’s one project caught my attention — VerityNet, fairness apps and architectures for DeFi. Unlike everyone else is building money legos by “adding” a bunch of protocols, VerityNet created a fairness application architectures with the help of multiple components, such as Aave, zkSnarks, zkRollups, and etc. It’s like a different kind of lego building. Among all the “legos”, the team also used fairness oracles, powered by Chainlink VRF. They need oracles to provide financial data inputs from the outside world into smart contracts and only oracles can help with that, “because we believe the concept of fairness and we need fairness financial data feeds”, said the VerityNet team.

The Oracle FOMO

Blockchain oracle is so in right now — thanks to the oracle service providers like Chainlink, Band Protocol and etc.

A blockchain oracle is just like a translator of information. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other public blockchains don’t have the capability to access accurate and reliable data from the real-world because that information is not on the existing blockchain. Oracles provide the data to trigger smart contract to execute when the original terms of the contract are met, for example like VerityNet, oracles can get the financial data that is not on the Ethereum blockchain; or in the supply chain tracking case, oracles can help company send the package information to the smart contracts, and then let contracts do their on-chain work. Oracles are the only way for smart contracts to interact with data outside of the blockchain environment.

Let’s Get Some Clarity and Embrace the Oracle

More and more blockchain projects have adopted and integrated oracles and Blockstack is the latest one — recently, Chainlink has become the oracle service provider for Blockstack and its Stacks 2.0 network. Stacks 2.0 implements Proof-of-Transfer (PoX) mining mechanism that anchors to Bitcoin’s security, with Clarity, a new smart contract language.

But why blockchain developers need a new programming language instead of embracing the existing ones?

Clarity is a new open-source language that helps to reduce the smart contracts’ vulnerability. Clarity will be the one that brings smart contracts and dapps to the Bitcoin network. With the help of Clarity, developers will be to write smart contracts, predict exactly how their smart contracts will be executed, and host secure smart contracts on a decentralized network maintained by developers themselves.

What can oracles bring to the Stacks ecosystem?

Simply put, if developer runs a dapp or DeFi on Stacks and backed by Bitcoin, oracles can help to get access to market data. Also, in order to make data more trustless, instead of relying on a centralized oracle, the smart contracts request data from a decentralized blockchain oracle network — this is where Chainlink comes in, allowing multiple Chainlinks to evaluate the same data before it becomes a trigger. The off-chain data that Chainlink oracles help Clarity smart contracts get access to, it can be separate blockchain or web APIs. So if the dapp is built on other blockchains (like Ethereum), Stacks developers can access that dapp’s data via Chainlink and use it as an oracle.

Without a doubt, the integration of Chainlink’s decentralized oracle on Stacks 2.0 will unlock multiple use cases in the Stacks ecosystem. And I’m sure that the community will make the oracle service more reliable and secure.

Some Useful Resources

Hope you find oracle and Clarity language interesting. If so, here are some useful resources to help you get started:

A final question: Do you think Clarity with the help of oracles will win the hearts of developers and eventually, build the user-own internet?