Sub0 Symbiosis - The People's Vote
Overview
At Sub0 Symbiosis — Polkadot's flagship conference in Buenos Aires — we competed in the 72-hour hackathon alongside some of the best builders in the ecosystem. This was the first hackathon where Gil joined the team, forming a trio with Owen and me. Together we built The People's Vote.
The Challenge
People spend significant time, money, and effort travelling to Polkadot events and attending local meetups, yet they have no voice on OpenGov if they don't own DOT. Governance participation remains low because the barrier to entry is token ownership, not community involvement.
The Solution
The People's Vote — a cryptographically anonymous voting protocol that preserves privacy across all technical layers, from theoretical foundations to implementation and networking. The core innovation is a probabilistic proof of personhood based on the number of IRL Polkadot events a person attends. Using Luma QR ticket codes and NFC, we ensure only one account per person. The XX Network mixnet handles metadata privacy, ensuring that vote submissions cannot be traced back to individuals even at the network level.
Technologies Used
Team
This was the first hackathon as a trio — adding Gil to the team alongside Owen brought a new dynamic that proved highly effective. Winning first place in the XX Network bounty validated our approach of using the mixnet to protect voter metadata, ensuring true anonymity at every layer of the protocol.
Running two concurrent hackathons in Buenos Aires that same week — and winning both — was a testament to the team's stamina and creative energy.
Outcome
Won first place in the XX Network bounty ($3,000) for our use of the XX mixnet to protect voter metadata privacy. The project demonstrated that governance participation should reward real community involvement, not just token wealth.