• 

  Wick

Wick

Wick is a non-custodial Auction platform for ERC721 tokens that introduces a novel approach to conducting auctions. This solution addresses the challenges of front-running and sniping, offers early price discovery, and incorporates Chainlink's VRF (Verifiable Random Function) for simulating customizable probability distributions. The design of this smart contract is inspired by the research papers "Front-Running, Smart Contracts, and Candle Auctions" and "Sudden Termination Auctions: An Experimental Study."

Key Features:

Front-Running and Sniping Resistance:

The smart contract ensures that the exact end time of the auctions remain unknown until the end of the auction, where the actual auction end time is retroactively calculated. In doing so, we can leverage the transparency and immutability of the blockchain, while reducing the risk of bidders to be front-run or sniped towards the end of the auction.

Early Price Discovery:

Recent research has shown that a byproduct to candle auctions is early bidding. The unknown end time incentivizes bidders to bid early causing an earlier price discover and a more accurate tell of value.

Chainlink VRF Integration:

A notable highlight of this smart contract is the integration of Chainlink's VRF, which acts as a tool for retroactively determine the end time of an auction according to some probability distribution. Moreover, Wick introduces a simple and fast approach for using a single VRF request to simulate a series of random coin flips and in effect largely customizable probability distributions.

How we built it

Wick set of smart contracts that introduces two auctions platforms for running candle auctions:

• Candle Auctions via a uniform distribution
• Candle Auctions via customizable probability distributions (simulated via random coin flips)
  Both set of contracts are written in Solidity and incorporates the necessary logic and mechanisms to support front-running and sniping resistance as well as utilize randomness through Chainlink's VRF. The integration with Chainlink ensures the reliability and integrity of the randomization process.

What's next for Wick

Moving forward, we aim to further refine and optimize the existing suite of smart contracts, while exploring additional auction implementations utilizing zero knowledge proofs and commitments. Additionally, we plan to engage with the community, gather feedback, and explore potential collaborations to enhance the functionality and adoption of Wick in the ERC721 auction ecosystem.

Built With

• chainlink
• foundry
• solidity
• solmate