Welcome to the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight, curated by HackerNoon’s editors to showcase noteworthy tech solutions to real-world problems. Whether you’re a solopreneur, part of an early-stage startup, or a developer building something that truly matters, the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon is your chance to test your product’s utility, get featured on HackerNoon, and compete for $150k+ in prizes. Submit your project to get started! Welcome to the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight, curated by HackerNoon’s editors to showcase noteworthy tech solutions to real-world problems. Whether you’re a solopreneur, part of an early-stage startup, or a developer building something that truly matters, the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon is your chance to test your product’s utility, get featured on HackerNoon, and compete for $150k+ in prizes. Submit your project to get started! Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight Proof of Usefulness Hackathon Proof of Usefulness Hackathon $150k+ Submit your project to get started Submit your project to get started This is an interview with Kuir Arok, the creator of Black Market SSP. Black Market SSP is a mobile and web application designed to track real-time parallel market currency rates and petroleum production data in South Sudan. Black Market SSP What does Black Market SSP do? And why is now the time for it to exist? BlackMarket SSP tracks black market and official currency exchange rates, plus daily petroleum production in South Sudan. Available on web, Android, and iOS, the app uses React Native for the UI, Node.js/Express.js for the backend, and Firebase Realtime Database. Features include real-time data, social interaction (voting/commenting), and accurate rate estimations. Now’s a good time for Black Market SSP to exist because currency instability and the gap between official and parallel rates in South Sudan create an urgent need for transparent, real-time financial information for everyday citizens. What is your traction to date? How many people does Black Market SSP reach? Over 200 people Who does your project serve? What’s exciting about your users and customers? This project targets currency exchange traders and everyday citizens interested in monitoring daily currency fluctuations. What technologies were used in the making of Black Market SSP? And why did you choose ones most essential to your techstack? The application leverages React Native to deliver a consistent user interface across mobile platforms, while Node.js and Express.js manage the backend logic. Firebase Realtime Database was chosen as a critical component to ensure that volatile exchange rates and user votes are synchronized instantly across all devices. What is the traction to date for Black Market SSP? Around the web, who’s been noticing? The project is currently live on the Google Play Store, where it has secured over 100 downloads, validating its initial utility in the mobile space. While web and iOS presence are part of the roadmap, the current traction highlights a focused adoption among Android users looking for immediate access to market data. Black Market SSP scored a 60 proof of usefulness score (https://proofofusefulness.com/report/black-market-ssp) Black Market SSP scored a 60 proof of usefulness score (https://proofofusefulness.com/report/black-market-ssp) https://proofofusefulness.com/report/black-market-ssp What excites you about this project's potential usefulness? This project has the potential to become a daily-use product for checking parallel market currency rates, which are frequently used in everyday transactions. Meet our sponsors Meet our sponsors Meet our sponsors Bright Data: Bright Data is the leading web data infrastructure company, empowering over 20,000 organizations with ethical, scalable access to real-time public web information. From startups to industry leaders, we deliver the datasets that fuel AI innovation and real-world impact. Ready to unlock the web? Learn more at brightdata.com. Bright Data: Bright Data is the leading web data infrastructure company, empowering over 20,000 organizations with ethical, scalable access to real-time public web information. From startups to industry leaders, we deliver the datasets that fuel AI innovation and real-world impact. Ready to unlock the web? Learn more at brightdata.com. Bright Data: brightdata.com Neo4j: GraphRAG combines retrieval-augmented generation with graph-native context, allowing LLMs to reason over structured relationships instead of just documents. With Neo4j, you can build GraphRAG pipelines that connect your data and surface clearer insights. Learn more. Neo4j: GraphRAG combines retrieval-augmented generation with graph-native context, allowing LLMs to reason over structured relationships instead of just documents. With Neo4j, you can build GraphRAG pipelines that connect your data and surface clearer insights. Learn more. Neo4j: more Storyblok: Storyblok is a headless CMS built for developers who want clean architecture and full control. Structure your content once, connect it anywhere, and keep your front end truly independent. API-first. AI-ready. Framework-agnostic. Future-proof. Start for free. Storyblok: Storyblok is a headless CMS built for developers who want clean architecture and full control. Structure your content once, connect it anywhere, and keep your front end truly independent. API-first. AI-ready. Framework-agnostic. Future-proof. Start for free. 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