Congratulations to Joshua Duho Kim, who was named one of the ten finalists at the October ETHGlobal Hackathon in San Francisco. Kim, a Computer Science student, was recognized for his solo development of an app that uses the Story blockchain protocol to mint IP licensing terms for digital content.
Kim has competed in several local hackathons in the past and done well – he and a friend got second place at HackWestern in 2021 – but this was his first time at ETHGlobal. He spontaneously decided to go only a day before the competition, buying a plane ticket using Aeroplan points, staying in “the last available bed” at a local youth hostel, and putting together his entire project alone when he couldn’t find a team that shared his interest in the Story protocol.
“It was one of the highest highs I’ve had in so long,” he says. “I just had a great time, and it was so affirming after I’ve dealt with a lot of imposter syndrome in the past.”
Kim’s app, “VVLDrizzy,” was inspired by a friend’s experience with intellectual property a few years ago. “One of my friends posted a TikTok of a hole in the window of a TTC train, with the Tokyo Drift music in the background, and it went semi-viral,” he says. “News outlets reached out asking to report it, but he didn’t get any profit from that video even though he created it.”
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