In-depth analysis of the top ten of ETHGlobal Cannes: how technology solves real pain points from EIP-7702 to privacy pools.

Written by: Oliver, Mars Finance

The ETHGlobal series of hackathons serves as a forefront of innovation in the Ethereum ecosystem, with its winning projects often indicating the future technical focus and application directions of the industry. The 10 finalists of the 2025 Cannes event in France cover multiple key areas, ranging from underlying protocol optimization, decentralized finance (DeFi), integration of artificial intelligence (AI), to user privacy protection. This report aims to conduct a rigorous technical and market potential analysis of these ten projects one by one, in order to provide in-depth references for industry observers, researchers, and investors.

1. BeamPay: A Pioneer of Pragmatism in Account Abstraction

Core Function: By implementing the EIP-7702 protocol, it allows users to complete ERC20 token payments with metadata in a single transaction, simplifying the user operation process.

Pain Point Resolution: Every Web3 user may have experienced this tedious process: when using tokens for payments or interactions, it often requires two steps, "Approve" and "Transfer." This process is not only extremely unfriendly to newcomers, increasing the cost and time of on-chain operations, but also hides security risks arising from unlimited authorization.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: BeamPay's core innovation lies in its pioneering application of EIP-7702. EIP-7702 is a key proposal in the Ethereum account abstraction roadmap, allowing external accounts (EOA) to temporarily "delegate" their control to a piece of code (similar to a mini smart contract) at the transaction level. In this way, BeamPay can bundle the approve and transferFrom operations into a single atomic transaction, completed with a single signature from the user. Unlike EIP-4337, which relies on relayers and complex infrastructure, EIP-7702 offers a more lightweight and less invasive implementation path for account abstraction in the existing wallet ecosystem.

Market Potential and Significance: The significance of BeamPay lies not in creating a new application scenario, but in its positive assault on one of the core barriers to large-scale adoption of Web3—user experience. By significantly simplifying the most common payment processes, it can greatly lower the usage threshold for dApps and improve user retention rates. As an early practical example of EIP-7702, BeamPay demonstrates the immense potential of this proposal to the entire developer community, with the hope of accelerating the smooth and seamless convergence of Web3 payment experiences towards Web2.

2. OnlyDanks: Built on Ethereum's Communication Sovereignty

Core features: a fully decentralized, end-to-end encrypted private communication system, serverless and without intermediaries.

Addressing Pain Points: The instant messaging applications we use daily, even if they claim to offer "end-to-end encryption," still have user identities, friend relationships, and even metadata controlled by centralized servers. This means that our freedom of communication and data privacy ultimately depend on the "goodwill" of a single company, constantly facing threats of censorship, surveillance, and single points of failure.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: The architecture of OnlyDanks is rooted in the core principles of Web3. Its innovations lie in utilizing Ethereum as its underlying infrastructure, potentially achieving this through the following means: 1) Identity system: Directly using Ethereum addresses (ENS domain names) as user identities without the need for registration. 2) Messaging: Utilizing Ethereum's calldata as a low-cost data broadcasting layer, or integrating decentralized peer-to-peer messaging protocols like Waku (derived from the Whisper protocol). 3) Encryption: Ensuring that only the recipient holding the private key can decrypt the information through asymmetric encryption algorithms. The mentioned "data block technology" may refer to chunking messages for encrypted storage, enhancing censorship resistance and data integrity.

Market Potential and Significance: OnlyDanks represents the ultimate pursuit of communication sovereignty. It is not just a chat tool, but a proof of concept that demonstrates the possibility of building complex applications without relying on any centralized entity. Although it is difficult to compete with Web2 applications in terms of performance and cost in the short term, it provides an irreplaceable option for users who require the highest level of security and resistance to censorship (such as journalists, activists, and whistleblowers), and lays the foundation for the communication layer for the future development of decentralized social networks (DeSo).

3. PolyBet: AI-driven prediction market liquidity aggregator

Core functionality: An AI-driven smart routing protocol designed to aggregate liquidity from various prediction markets to optimize betting configurations for users.

Pain Point Resolution: Prediction markets are hailed as the "machines for discovering the future," but user experience is often subpar. Prediction contracts for the same event are scattered across different platforms, leading to severely fragmented liquidity, which forces users to manually compare prices, endure high slippage, and find it difficult to efficiently translate their judgments into optimal returns.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: The innovation of PolyBet lies in its "AI Smart Routing". It is not just a simple aggregator, but: 1) Data Aggregation: Real-time monitoring of odds, depth, and trading volume across all mainstream prediction markets. 2) AI Decision Engine: At its core is an AI model that can calculate the optimal capital allocation scheme across different platforms to maximize returns, taking into account slippage, odds, and transaction fees based on the user's bet amount. 3) One-click Execution: Through smart contracts, the optimized complex trading paths are packaged into a single transaction, allowing users to complete bets on multiple platforms with just one operation.

Market Potential and Significance: PolyBet is expected to become the "1inch" in the prediction market sector, revitalizing the entire field by addressing liquidity issues. For ordinary users, it lowers the barriers to participation; for professional traders and arbitrageurs, it provides efficient execution tools. The deeper significance lies in its demonstration of the immense potential of AI for dynamic optimization at the DeFi protocol layer, paving the way for more complex Autonomous Finance systems in the future.

4. livestakes: A meta-economic model originating from hacker culture.

Core Function: Create parallel betting pools for hackathons, allowing participants and fans to bet on the winners of multiple tracks.

Addressing Pain Points: Hackathons are a melting pot of innovation, but they are also a high-risk gamble. Participants invest tremendous effort, yet only a few can reap rewards; meanwhile, community fans, aside from "powering with love," lack a channel to convert their vision and support into actual returns.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: The model of livestakes is a clever "metagame." It transforms the activity of hackathons into an economic system that can be gambled on. Its innovation lies in: 1) Risk Hedging: Participating teams can bet on themselves or others to hedge against the risk of not winning. 2) Community Participation: Fans and investors can express their support for projects they are optimistic about through betting and monetize their judgment. 3) Incentive Alignment: Through a carefully designed prize pool distribution mechanism, it binds the interests of participants, judges, and the community more closely together, forming a micro-economy centered around innovation incubation.

Market Potential and Significance: Although livestakes is niche, its model is highly replicable. It can be promoted to any form of competition, selection, or creative activity, such as startup competitions, film festival award predictions, etc. It essentially creates an endogenous financial layer with incentive compatibility for specific communities using token economics, representing a imaginative exploration of Web3 in the community economy field.

5. Pace Club: A Web3 Empowered Vertical Social Application

Core features: A running social application focused on women's communities and privacy-first, equipped with a reward mechanism and a trust system.

Pain Point: In mainstream sports apps, scheduling runs or sharing routes poses risks of privacy leaks and even personal safety for many female users. At the same time, the valuable exercise data generated by them is used by the platform for commercial purposes without compensation to the users.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: The innovation of Pace Club lies in applying Web3 technology to address social pain points in the real world. 1) Privacy Protection: It may utilize Stealth Addresses or location proof technology based on zero-knowledge proofs, allowing users to verify their participation in running activities without exposing their exact home address or daily routes. 2) Trust System: Establishing a trust rating among members through an on-chain reputation system (possibly associated with Soulbound Tokens). 3) Reward Mechanism: Tokenizing running mileage or participation in activities to form a "Run-to-Earn" incentive loop, rewarding users for their active participation.

Market Potential and Significance: Pace Club is an excellent example of the transition of Web3 applications from financial tools to lifestyle tools. It demonstrates that crypto technology can not only protect assets but also safeguard personal safety and personal data. By entering a specific vertical, it showcases the immense potential of Web3 in building new communities with stronger trust and better incentive mechanisms.

6. POAPrivacy: A Revolution in the Privacy Paradigm of Social Proof

Core function: Allows users to mint POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol) to a privacy address, protecting their identity while proving participation.

Addressing Pain Points: POAP was originally the "honor badge" of Web3 social interactions, but it is becoming a "digital tracker." Due to its transparency, anyone can analyze the POAPs under your address to piece together your whereabouts, interests, and even social circles, leaving you nowhere to hide in the on-chain world.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: POAPrivacy is one of the most direct applications of Vitalik Buterin's theory of "Privacy Pools." Its technological core is zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs). Users can deposit their POAPs into a "privacy pool" smart contract, after which they can generate a ZK proof that can verify "I have a valid POAP from a specific event," but will not reveal which specific POAP it is (as well as the associated address). This establishes a solid firewall between "proving attendance" and "exposing identity."

Market potential and significance: POAPrivacy aims to address a core contradiction that is increasingly prominent in Web3 social interactions. Its success will greatly advance the development of on-chain identity and reputation systems, allowing users to build and showcase their digital identities without sacrificing privacy. This is a key step toward a more mature and human-centric decentralized society (DeSoc).

7. PrivyCycle: The ultimate fortress of personal health data

Core features: A secure AI menstrual cycle tracking tool that provides encrypted records and private sharing capabilities.

Addressing Pain Points: Women's physiological health data is the most sensitive part of personal privacy. Entrusting it to Web2 applications is akin to handing over a "ticking time bomb" for others to manage. This data is not only at risk of being leaked at any time, but in certain countries or regions, it could even be used in legal proceedings, leading to disastrous consequences.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: PrivyCycle has built a multi-layer defense system. 1) Data Encryption: User data is encrypted on the local device using the user's private key, ensuring that only the user can access the original data. 2) On-chain Proof: The data on the chain may not be the original data, but rather the hash value of the encrypted data, which is used to provide an immutable timestamp and proof of ownership. 3) AI and Privacy Computing: Its AI analysis capabilities may utilize privacy computing technologies, such as running models in a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), or exploring the use of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to perform computational analysis without decrypting the data.

Market Potential and Significance: PrivyCycle directly addresses the core issue of personal data sovereignty in the digital age. It not only provides a much-needed security tool for specific user groups but, more importantly, it offers a viable technical model for how all types of personal sensitive data (such as genetic data and medical records) can interact securely with AI models.

8. ChromaMind: Programmable Sensory Experience NFT

Core function: Guide users into a state of focus or meditation through a personalized audio-visual experience, and forge each unique healing journey into an NFT.

Addressing Pain Points: The NFT market is flooded with a large number of static images (PFPs), whose value heavily relies on community consensus and speculation, lacking intrinsic, personalized experiential value. How can NFTs transcend the category of "small images" and become truly unique, perceivable digital artworks?

Technological Implementation and Innovation: ChromaMind's innovation lies in binding subjective personal experiences to objective on-chain assets. 1) Dynamic Generation: The audiovisual experience may be generated in real-time based on certain input parameters (such as the user's chosen emotion, time, etc.), ensuring that each experience is unique. 2) Experience Dataization: The key parameters that generated this experience and the user's interaction data are hashed as part of the NFT metadata, making it the "digital fingerprint" of this sensory journey. 3) Programmable Art: This NFT is "alive," and its visual presentation or sound effects may change based on external conditions (such as time, weather) or the holder's on-chain behavior.

Market Potential and Significance: ChromaMind expands the boundaries of NFTs, moving from "proof of ownership" to "proof of experience." It opens up new possibilities for digital art and collectibles, where NFTs can serve as containers for personal memories and unique experiences. This has broad application prospects in areas such as digital healing, personalized art, and immersive entertainment.

9. PrivacyLinks: An integrated Web3 privacy browsing solution

Core Features: A browser wallet that integrates various privacy technologies, designed to provide a comprehensive privatized Web3 browsing experience.

Addressing Pain Points: In the Web3 world, your wallet address is like a transparent glass box. Your assets, transaction history, and even activities across different chains can be easily tracked and associated. Using a single privacy tool is like putting a sticker on the glass box, which cannot achieve systemic privacy protection.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: PrivacyLinks is a "culmination of privacy technology." It integrates three key technologies into one wallet: 1) Privacy Pools: Used for the privacy protection of assets, cutting off the direct link between the source and destination of funds. 2) Stealth Addresses: Used for privacy protection when receiving assets, preventing the recipient's address from being publicly exposed. 3) Cross-Chain Session Isolation: This is an important innovation aimed at preventing analytical tools from associating a user's activities on different blockchains with the same identity through heuristic methods based on time, amount, etc.

Market Potential and Significance: PrivacyLinks aims to become the "Brave" or "Tor Browser" of the Web3 era, providing users with a one-stop, default-on privacy protection. By packaging complex underlying technologies into user-friendly products, it significantly lowers the threshold for users to enjoy privacy, serving as an important force in transforming on-chain privacy protection from an "optional feature" to a "fundamental human right."

10. Hashlocked: Exploring New Paths for Bitcoin-EVM Interoperability

Core Function: Achieve trustless two-way atomic swaps between EVM and Bitcoin through the 1inch contract.

Pain Point Resolution: Bitcoin is the anchor of value in the crypto world, but it is like an island, with its huge liquidity difficult to enter the thriving EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) ecosystem to participate in DeFi safely and smoothly. Most existing cross-chain bridges rely on centralized custody, which is not only inefficient but has repeatedly become a "cash machine" for hacker attacks.

Technical Implementation and Innovation: The classic implementation of atomic swaps is the Hash Time-Locked Contract (HTLC). The innovation of Hashlocked may lie in its creative use of the 1inch contract. One possible speculation is that it leverages the Limit Order Protocol of 1inch to create a decentralized cross-chain order book. Users can create an "Intent" on the EVM chain, indicating their willingness to exchange X amount of ETH/USDC for Y amount of BTC, and lock their EVM assets with a hash lock. Bitcoin holders, upon seeing this order, can create the corresponding HTLC transaction on the Bitcoin chain. This method may be more efficient than traditional atomic swap processes in liquidity discovery and price matching.

Market Potential and Significance: Against the backdrop of a trillion-level influx of funds with the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs, any technology that can securely connect BTC liquidity with EVM ecosystem DeFi applications possesses enormous strategic value. The exploration of Hashlocked represents the industry's relentless efforts to solve this "Holy Grail" level problem. If its solution is proven feasible, it will inject unprecedented depth and vitality into the DeFi world.