chenpilot

Inspiration

What it does## 💡 Our Project: ChenPilot - The AI Co-Pilot for Cross-Chain DeFi

🌟 Inspiration

The inspiration for ChenPilot came from a painful reality in decentralized finance (DeFi): complexity kills adoption. As experienced crypto users, we constantly struggled with the fragmented process of moving assets, swapping tokens, and executing multi-step yield strategies across different blockchains (e.g., Bitcoin, Starknet). Each action requires switching wallets, navigating bridges, and approving transactions on separate, confusing interfaces.

We realized that this friction is the single biggest barrier preventing mainstream users from accessing the powerful opportunities in DeFi. Our vision was to create a solution where managing a diverse, cross-chain portfolio is as simple as asking a question. We wanted to eliminate the dashboard and replace it with dialogue—the ultimate user interface.

📚 What We Learned

Building ChenPilot taught us critical lessons in two major areas:

1. AI Intent Parsing: We learned how challenging yet rewarding it is to build a robust model capable of transforming highly specific, natural language commands (like "Swap 100k sats to STRK and lend it on Vesu") into a structured, executable transaction sequence. This involves identifying the Action (Swap, Lend), the Assets (sats, STRK), the Protocols (Vesu), and the Chains involved.
2. Cross-Chain Transaction Orchestration: We gained deep knowledge of the underlying mechanics required to execute atomic or near-atomic transactions across heterogeneous chains. This involved mastering the use of Starknet's account abstraction, Bitcoin layer-2 solutions, and securely managing the bridge transactions that link them together. The non-custodial design mandated zero-trust principles in every interaction.

🛠️ How We Built It

We utilized a modern, full-stack approach focusing on speed and security:

• Frontend: The client application was built using React and Next.js, prioritizing a clean, conversational UI that mimics a chat interface.
• AI Engine (The 'Pilot'): This is the core logic. It was developed using a combination of a fine-tuned Large Language Model (LLM) for initial intent recognition, followed by a proprietary validation and structuring layer built in Typescript. This layer outputs a standardized JSON transaction object, ensuring that the AI's "creativity" doesn't compromise execution security.
• Execution Layer: This custom layer handles the secure, non-custodial interaction with the blockchains. It translates the structured JSON command into a sequence of signed transactions using web3 libraries for Starknet and appropriate SDKs for Bitcoin integration. The layer employs smart routing logic to find the most efficient (lowest fee/fastest) path for bridging and swapping assets.

🚧 Challenges We Faced

We encountered several significant hurdles during the development sprint:

1. Latency of Cross-Chain Calls: The biggest challenge was minimizing the time required to execute operations involving multiple chains, which inherently involves block finality delays. Our solution was to implement proactive asset routing and pre-signed transaction bundles where possible to achieve the advertised sub-2-second execution for simple operations.
2. Handling Ambiguity in Natural Language: Users don't always use precise terminology. For instance, 'sats' vs. 'BTC' or 'lend' vs. 'deposit.' We spent significant time refining the AI parsing layer to map diverse financial terminology to specific protocol function calls, mitigating the risk of incorrect execution.
3. Security and Zero-Trust Compliance: Ensuring the AI layer could never gain custody of user funds was paramount. This meant structuring every output command such that the user's local wallet must sign the final transaction, turning the AI into a powerful suggestion engine rather than an executor. This strict non-custodial requirement added complexity to the transaction signing flow.

ChenPilot is a powerful proof-of-concept demonstrating that AI can be the key to unlocking true cross-chain DeFi accessibility.

How we built it

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for chenpilot

Built With

• anthropic
• next.js
• postgress
• typescript