Last weekend I participated in the Mobil3 Monad Hackathon in Mexico City. And somehow, I won.

But the most surprising part: I connected a smart contract to the front end. Yeeei.

This hackathon had something special, maybe the friends, the motivation after ETHGlobal, the desire to keep improving. Or maybe it was just that I felt confident. Whatever the reason, my dopamine and adrenaline levels pumped hard during the almost 44 hours of competition.

Special thanks to Erik, Mel, Artur, Jaz, and Ana, who provided valuable feedback during the hackathon.

On this occasion I hacked with Jorge, my cofounder at Kairos Research. We built Loanad, a micro lending app based on a mechanism where a participant can ask for a small debt without providing collateral, using only their credit score, bank statements, and KYC. People can collectively support the position.

The idea appeared after discussing prediction markets with Fitz & Harpal from Monad. We started Friday with a few goals: test the Reown integration, build the first version of the smart contract, integrate zkPassport, and set the foundation of the frontend. Jorge took charge of the first tasks using some vibecoding apps, while I tried to accomplish the others.

The first day was great. I figured out how to integrate Reown into ScaffoldETH, remove RainbowKit, build the smart contract, and test it. Jorge created the first screens of the app and came up with the project’s name. We went to sleep proud of our efforts but with one big question hanging over us:

“How to avoid default from borrowers?” Of course, we didn’t have the answer to the non-collateral markets problem, but we would try to figure it out.

Saturday was challenging. I began the day realizing that getting access to the Beta Paymaster of Reown would be impossible, so I had to figure out how to create a gasless experience. My first option was to use an EIP, but it required a smart account and I had never tried it, so I discarded it. The second option was to implement a mechanism where every time the app registers a new user, it sends a small amount of gas to cover expenses. I went with the second path, not realizing I’d face some challenges later that night.

We took a break to interview Keone Hon. We spent around 30 minutes talking about principles, ethos, values, ideals, and more. Our goal was to better understand who Keone is, rather than just asking “when TGE?” After the interview we talked with Daniela, who gave us feedback on our progress and suggested some cool features to include in the frontend.

The night was a nightmare. Around 10 pm at the Frutero Hacker House (btw, thank you for letting us crash there), I started integrating Reown into the new frontend. Then came the big question: how do I manage to call the owner address every time a user clicks the verify button? After some doom-brainstorming with ChatGPT, I realized that a backend could control the owner address and “approve” every verify. While this isn’t secure for production, it satisfied the scratch implementation of a paymaster.

At 2 am, Jistro gave me the most valuable advice: “Use wagmi, it’s easier.” Damn. I had spent the last 4 hours trying to figure out how to integrate the backend, contracts, and frontend, and the answer was so clear. (In retrospect, everything seems obvious, but I won’t fall into that fallacy, I really had no idea how to do it. Thanks again, Jistro.)

• Reown integrated

• Contracts working

• UX/UI polished

• Backend ready

• Submit, 8:03. We were done.

Around 11 am we pitched in front of Anthony Chavez from Uniswap and Fritz from Monad. They were surprised that the contracts were working and custom-made.

At 3 o’clock we were notified that we were finalists and would pitch in front of the judges. In the end, we got 2nd place in the consumer fintech track and brought home $6,000. And something even more special: the glory.

I enjoyed hacking with Jorge. He has this ability to ship things quickly, even if he doesn’t fully know how to do them yet, and that energy pushed me forward. We complement each other in ways that make me confident Kairos Research can build more than just reports and analysis, we can actually ship products.

After this hackathon I’m starting to see what a real workflow looks like for me as a builder. It’s not just about hacking until something works, but about creating a repeatable process: sketching diagrams, building a smart contract, testing it with ScaffoldETH, integrating the wallet into the frontend, and then connecting contracts smoothly with wagmi.

That sequence felt like a small roadmap, one I can use in future projects and improve every time.

Next week, I’ll focus on sharpening my Solidity skills and finally learning wagmi in detail. I want to understand it not only as a tool but as part of a larger developer toolkit that connects smart contracts with user experience. Probably I’ll peek into Rust too, or maybe spend the next weekend at the Aleph Hackathon. I’m leaving space for spontaneity, because sometimes the best breakthroughs happen when you don’t over-plan.

More than anything, this hackathon reminded me why I keep doing this: the mix of adrenaline, late-night problem-solving, the frustration that turns into breakthroughs, and the small victories you celebrate with friends. The $6,000 is nice, but the real prize is knowing that step by step, I’m becoming the kind of builder I want to be.

See you next time.

Last weekend I participated in the Mobil3 Monad Hackathon in Mexico City. And somehow, I won.

But the most surprising part: I connected a smart contract to the front end. Yeeei.

This hackathon had something special, maybe the friends, the motivation after ETHGlobal, the desire to keep improving. Or maybe it was just that I felt confident. Whatever the reason, my dopamine and adrenaline levels pumped hard during the almost 44 hours of competition.

Special thanks to Erik, Mel, Artur, Jaz, and Ana, who provided valuable feedback during the hackathon.

On this occasion I hacked with Jorge, my cofounder at Kairos Research. We built Loanad, a micro lending app based on a mechanism where a participant can ask for a small debt without providing collateral, using only their credit score, bank statements, and KYC. People can collectively support the position.

The idea appeared after discussing prediction markets with Fitz & Harpal from Monad. We started Friday with a few goals: test the Reown integration, build the first version of the smart contract, integrate zkPassport, and set the foundation of the frontend. Jorge took charge of the first tasks using some vibecoding apps, while I tried to accomplish the others.

The first day was great. I figured out how to integrate Reown into ScaffoldETH, remove RainbowKit, build the smart contract, and test it. Jorge created the first screens of the app and came up with the project’s name. We went to sleep proud of our efforts but with one big question hanging over us:

“How to avoid default from borrowers?” Of course, we didn’t have the answer to the non-collateral markets problem, but we would try to figure it out.

Saturday was challenging. I began the day realizing that getting access to the Beta Paymaster of Reown would be impossible, so I had to figure out how to create a gasless experience. My first option was to use an EIP, but it required a smart account and I had never tried it, so I discarded it. The second option was to implement a mechanism where every time the app registers a new user, it sends a small amount of gas to cover expenses. I went with the second path, not realizing I’d face some challenges later that night.

We took a break to interview Keone Hon. We spent around 30 minutes talking about principles, ethos, values, ideals, and more. Our goal was to better understand who Keone is, rather than just asking “when TGE?” After the interview we talked with Daniela, who gave us feedback on our progress and suggested some cool features to include in the frontend.

The night was a nightmare. Around 10 pm at the Frutero Hacker House (btw, thank you for letting us crash there), I started integrating Reown into the new frontend. Then came the big question: how do I manage to call the owner address every time a user clicks the verify button? After some doom-brainstorming with ChatGPT, I realized that a backend could control the owner address and “approve” every verify. While this isn’t secure for production, it satisfied the scratch implementation of a paymaster.

At 2 am, Jistro gave me the most valuable advice: “Use wagmi, it’s easier.” Damn. I had spent the last 4 hours trying to figure out how to integrate the backend, contracts, and frontend, and the answer was so clear. (In retrospect, everything seems obvious, but I won’t fall into that fallacy, I really had no idea how to do it. Thanks again, Jistro.)

• Reown integrated

• Contracts working

• UX/UI polished

• Backend ready

• Submit, 8:03. We were done.

Around 11 am we pitched in front of Anthony Chavez from Uniswap and Fritz from Monad. They were surprised that the contracts were working and custom-made.

At 3 o’clock we were notified that we were finalists and would pitch in front of the judges. In the end, we got 2nd place in the consumer fintech track and brought home $6,000. And something even more special: the glory.

I enjoyed hacking with Jorge. He has this ability to ship things quickly, even if he doesn’t fully know how to do them yet, and that energy pushed me forward. We complement each other in ways that make me confident Kairos Research can build more than just reports and analysis, we can actually ship products.

After this hackathon I’m starting to see what a real workflow looks like for me as a builder. It’s not just about hacking until something works, but about creating a repeatable process: sketching diagrams, building a smart contract, testing it with ScaffoldETH, integrating the wallet into the frontend, and then connecting contracts smoothly with wagmi.

That sequence felt like a small roadmap, one I can use in future projects and improve every time.

Next week, I’ll focus on sharpening my Solidity skills and finally learning wagmi in detail. I want to understand it not only as a tool but as part of a larger developer toolkit that connects smart contracts with user experience. Probably I’ll peek into Rust too, or maybe spend the next weekend at the Aleph Hackathon. I’m leaving space for spontaneity, because sometimes the best breakthroughs happen when you don’t over-plan.

More than anything, this hackathon reminded me why I keep doing this: the mix of adrenaline, late-night problem-solving, the frustration that turns into breakthroughs, and the small victories you celebrate with friends. The $6,000 is nice, but the real prize is knowing that step by step, I’m becoming the kind of builder I want to be.

See you next time.