It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come. What once felt like an uncertain, uphill journey now feels like something deeply personal—proof of our growth, our resilience, and our ability to show up for ourselves and each other. Week after week, we’ve learned, built, adapted, and pushed through. And now here we are: Week Eighteen. Still standing, still creating, still evolving. If nothing else, this week reminded me how powerful it is to finish what you started. Exploring Cairo and Zero-Knowledge Development This week, one of the most exciting highlights was continuing our introduction to Cairo, the programming language used for writing provable programs on StarkNet, a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. Cairo is quite different from the languages most of us are used to, but its power and purpose are fascinating—especially for blockchain development. Here are some of the key concepts we explored: Option Types

Starknet BootCamp | OpenBuild Bootcamp Overview This week marked the beginning of our journey into the StarkNet ecosystem through the StarkNet Bootcamp. We're diving into Cairo 1, the programming language powering StarkNet, using interactive tools like Starklings and the official Cairo Book. 🧩 Topics Covered 1. Variables & Mutability Immutable by Default: In Cairo, variables are immutable unless explicitly declared mutable.​​let x = 5; // Immutable ​​let mut y = 10; // Mutable ​​y = 15;

Week 14 at Blockfuse LabsThis week was all about building. Here’s a deep dive into what we worked on: Building a Token Bridge: Lock & Mint Cross-Chain Transfers for ERC-20 Tokens As blockchain ecosystems evolve, interoperability across chains is becoming increasingly important. Token bridges are the infrastructure that enable seamless asset transfers between networks. In this post, I’ll walk through how we implemented a Lock & Mint token bridge for ERC-20 tokens, including the smart contract logic, the relayer role, and how we bridged tokens between Base and Sepolia testnets. Use Case Bridge an ERC-20 token (BBT) from Base to Sepolia, and back.

In distributed systems, oracles are services or entities that bridge the gap between the deterministic, self-contained environment of the system (such as a blockchain) and the external world. They enable interaction with real-world data, allowing smart contracts and decentralized applications to respond to events beyond their native environment. Think of oracles as data gateways—they bring off-chain information on-chain. Key Characteristics of Oracles External Data SourceOracles fetch data from the real world—like stock prices, weather updates, sports scores, or election results. Data TransmissionThey transform real-world data into a format that can be consumed by smart contracts or other components of the distributed system. Trust and VerificationSince oracles operate outside the system’s consensus mechanism, verifying data authenticity and integrity is a core challenge. Different models aim to solve this, as outlined below. Why Are Oracles Important?

In the dynamic world of blockchain technology, the quest for scalable and maintainable smart contracts is ongoing. My recent exploration into the EIP-2535 Diamond pattern, utilizing Foundry and Hardhat, has been both enlightening and transformative. The Diamond Standard, formalized as EIP-2535, introduces a modular and scalable architecture for Ethereum smart contracts. This approach addresses the complexities associated with large, monolithic contracts by enabling developers to decompose functionality into discrete, upgradeable components known as "facets." Core Components of the Diamond Standard: Diamond Contract:Acts as the central hub, delegating function calls to appropriate facets. Utilizes a fallback function to route calls based on function selectors. Facets:

Introduction Smart contracts are the backbone of decentralized applications (dApps) on the Ethereum blockchain. These self-executing contracts run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which ensures their deterministic execution across all network nodes. To build robust smart contracts, developers must understand Solidity’s core concepts, such as: EVM architecture and execution model Solidity data types (storage, memory, variable packing) Mappings, structs, events, and enums Access control mechanisms using modifiers and role-based permissions

Ethereum Clients, Cryptography, and Zero-Knowledge Proofs: A Deep Dive into Blockchain Fundamentals Blockchain technology continues to evolve rapidly, and understanding its underlying components is essential for anyone working with decentralized systems. In this article, we will explore three foundational areas of blockchain technology—Ethereum Clients, Cryptography, and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs)—and how they contribute to the security, efficiency, and scalability of blockchain networks. Ethereum Clients: The Backbone of the Ethereum Network At the core of Ethereum lies the Ethereum client—software that enables a computer to connect to the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum clients implement the Ethereum protocol and allow nodes to interact with the network. To become part of the Ethereum ecosystem, a computer must run an Ethereum client, and these clients are divided into two primary types: Execution Client: This client is responsible for processing transactions and maintaining the state of the blockchain. It executes transactions, updates the ledger, and validates the current status of all accounts, smart contracts, and balances on the network. Consensus Client: The consensus client is responsible for implementing Ethereum’s Proof of Stake mechanism, which is the foundation of Ethereum's consensus algorithm. It ensures that all nodes on the network agree on the validity of the state by verifying the data processed by the execution client. These two clients work in tandem to achieve the network’s goals of decentralization and consensus. While the execution client ensures that transactions are processed and the blockchain state is updated, the consensus client plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of the network by ensuring agreement among all nodes on the correctness of the data.

MERKLE PATRICIA TRIE A Merkle Patricia Trie is a hybrid data structure that combines a Radix Trie and a Merkle Tree. It is designed to store key-value pairs efficiently and ensure data integrity using cryptographic hashes, making it ideal for handling dynamic, frequently changing, or temporary data.The Merkle Patricia Trie combines the space-saving features of a Radix Trie with the cryptographic integrity provided by a Merkle Tree. This makes it an efficient and secure data structure, especially well-suited for environments like Ethereum, where data integrity and memory efficiency are crucial. How It Works The Merkle Patricia Trie merges the benefits of both a Radix Trie and a Merkle Tree: Radix Trie: Efficiently groups similar keys to save memory by merging nodes with a single child. This makes it a more space-efficient data structure compared to regular tries. Merkle Tree: Uses cryptographic hashes at each node to verify the integrity of the stored data. This ensures that the data remains tamper-proof, providing a strong guarantee of consistency and trust. The "PATRICIA" Acronym

Ethereum Basics Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain network, while Ether (ETH) is the cryptocurrency used within this network. This distinction is crucial as Ethereum provides the infrastructure for executing decentralized applications (dApps), and Ether acts as the "fuel" for powering transactions and smart contracts. Understanding Wallets Wallets are essential tools for interacting with Ethereum. They can store and manage Ether and private keys, which are critical for accessing funds and smart contracts. Here’s a breakdown of wallet types: Hot Wallets:Connected to the internet. Suitable for frequent transactions. Examples include mobile and web wallets.

Ethereum Is More Than Cryptocurrency Had a dive into the Ethereum Basics module of the Ethereum handbook today and I discovered that Ethereum is a decentralized world computer powered by the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This global computer runs smart contracts—self-executing programs that live on the blockchain. Ether, the cryptocurrency, serves as "gas" to pay for running these smart contracts. Each node in the Ethereum network runs a copy of the EVM, validating contract execution while the blockchain records the world computer’s state. Understanding Ethereum Accounts I also learned about the two types of accounts in Ethereum: Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs): These are controlled by private keys, like the one created using MetaMask. EOAs are used to hold Ether and initiate transactions. Contract Accounts: These accounts don’t have private keys and can’t initiate transactions. Instead, they are governed by the logic written in their smart contract code. Contracts can react to incoming transactions and even call other contracts to create complex systems.

Data structures are the methods or ways data is stored, organised, managed properly for effective manipulation and retrival. Data structures define how data is arranged and how opertions (e.g search, insertion, deletion) are performed on them.   Types of Data Structures Arrays An array is a linear data structure used to store a fixed size of data belonging to the same data type. Example fruits := [4]string{"Apple", "Orange", "Banana", "Grapes"} Linked List