RankProof – When individuals visit a martial arts dojo they have never attended before, there arises a challenge of verifying their skills and validating their claimed belt ranking. Merely displaying a colored piece of cloth may not provide sufficient assurance. Additionally, determining the legitimacy of the instructor and assessing their qualifications can be difficult.
To address these concerns, our platform utilizes Mina’s blockchain technology and Zero Knowledge proofs to establish, verify, and share accurate belt rankings. Through this system, students can be promoted to new ranks, and their martial arts lineage can be visually showcased, enabling practitioners to trace their masters’ lineage at a glance. Moreover, this information remains tamper-proof and certain details are kept confidential to maintain privacy.
By creating a global network of practitioners, our platform revolutionizes the martial arts community, allowing practitioners to connect and learn from each other in unprecedented ways.
Problem Statement: Presently, it is possible for anyone to purchase a black belt online for a mere $19.99, even if they have not earned it under the guidance of a reputable instructor. Existing verification systems rely on paper certificates, verbal confirmations, or closed tracking systems within individual gyms or dojos, making it challenging to establish and share one’s belt rank with trust and credibility. Demonstrating one’s rank often requires relying on outdated paper certificates or even bringing along the instructor for confirmation. Furthermore, valuable knowledge about instructors and students is isolated within specific training centers and documented in physical certificates stored at home. As the number of promoted instructors increases, the ability to trace martial arts lineage back to its origin is gradually diminishing. This issue is particularly prevalent in disciplines like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), a relatively new martial art that traces its roots back to Judo and was founded in 1925. Without a comprehensive lineage record, practitioners struggle to understand the evolution of their lineage over time.
Solution: Our proposed solution is a web-based platform where martial artists from various disciplines can securely prove and share their belt ranks, while instructors can promote and authenticate their students’ achievements. The platform enables all martial artists to access and view their lineage, tracing it back to the earliest available data on practitioners. The entire system is powered by the Mina blockchain and leverages the capabilities of Zero-Knowledge Proofs to ensure data integrity, privacy, and security. By employing these technologies, we aim to revolutionize the way martial artists verify and showcase their accomplishments while preserving the historical lineage of various disciplines.
This project was funded by the Mina Foundation’s, zkIgnite program cohort 1.
Team members
Anand Singh: Discord ID (SmoothDefi#0225)
Seenath Gooding: Discord ID (avi#6922)
