Timebox: A Blockchain-Powered Digital Time Capsule

Inspiration

We were inspired by the idea of preserving thoughts, memories, and messages for the future—similar to traditional time capsules but with a modern, digital twist. We wanted to create a way for people to leave behind meaningful messages that could only be accessed at a future date, ensuring authenticity and immutability through blockchain technology.

What it does

Timebox allows users to create digital time capsules containing messages, which are then locked on the blockchain. These capsules remain inaccessible until the specified time has passed. This ensures that messages remain tamper-proof, private, and securely stored until their designated unlocking date.

How we built it

We developed Timebox using:

Frontend: Next.js, React, and Tailwind CSS for an interactive and responsive user experience.
Backend: Python with FastAPI to handle user requests and blockchain interactions.
Blockchain: Unfortunately we weren't able to implement Midnight because there network was down. If we were able to, here's what we would have done. Instead of storing messages directly on a public blockchain, Midnight would allow for confidential transactions, ensuring that only the intended recipient can access the message when the time is up. Midnight supports selective disclosure, meaning the sender could prove they created a time capsule without revealing its content and the recipient could access the message without exposing it publicly. Midnight also offers zero-knowledge proofs which can be used to let a user prove they are the intended recipient without revealing their identify. Midnight's on-chain data services could also serve as an alternative to using a database like SQLite.

Challenges we ran into

The main issue was that the tDust faucet wasn't working, so we couldn't set up the Midnight infrastructure. Unfortunately there wasn't a solution, we joined the Discord and everyone was having the same problem (the network was down).

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We made a pretty website!
We produced a finished project

What we learned

Debugging and problem-solving, unexpected issues arose several times and we needed to adapt our approaches to overcome them.

What's next for Timebox

Blockchain Implementation: Implementation the Midnight infrastructure once their network is functional.
Media Storage: Expanding support for images, videos, and audio messages.
Social Features: Enabling users to create shared capsules for group access.