Hey Hackers! Welcome to another edition of HackerNoon Projects of the Week, where we spotlight standout entries from the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon, HackerNoon’s global competition designed to reward what actually matters: real utility, real users, real impact.
This week, we’re looking at three projects solving distinct problems, an AI signal engine for crypto perpetual futures traders, a schema-driven developer toolkit for building internal tools faster, and a programmatic ad exchange that lets businesses trade unused inventory instead of spending cash: Blackperp, TableCraft, and BarterAds.
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Meet the Projects of the Week:
Blackperp
Blackperp is an AI-powered signal engine built specifically for crypto perpetual futures traders, a notoriously noisy, high-stakes market where the information problem is just as hard as the execution problem. Rather than surfacing raw data and leaving traders to synthesize it, Blackperp fuses 173 signals from 11 distinct sources, runs them through a decision engine, and tells traders exactly what to do. The model recalibrates itself daily based on measured outcomes, meaning it isn’t static; it learns from whether its prior calls were right. Blackperp posts autonomous signal calls on X with public timestamps, so prospective users can verify the track record before they ever sign up.
A score of 36 reflects an early-stage but technically complete product from a founder who is clearly a practitioner first, Blackperp’s creator is a crypto derivatives trader turned builder, and that domain depth shows in the architecture.
Proof of Usefulness: +36/1000
TableCraft
TableCraft is an open-source developer toolkit that does something deceptively simple but genuinely time-saving. It takes your existing Drizzle ORM schema and generates production-ready APIs and React data table components directly from it. Any developer who has built admin panels or internal tools from scratch knows the tax. The repetitive boilerplate, the manual wiring between database schema and front-end table state, the weeks that get swallowed by scaffolding that isn’t the actual product. TableCraft collapses that process. It keeps codebases consistent and dramatically cuts the time from database design to working interface by making the schema the source of truth for both the API layer and the UI.
A 59 Proof of Usefulness score puts TableCraft as the top performer in this week’s cohort, reflecting verified traction in a space where developer adoption is the real signal.
Proof of Usefulness: +59/1000
BarterAds
Most companies are sitting on unsold ad inventory, and most companies also need to run ads. BarterAds is rethinking how businesses acquire customers by building a programmatic ad exchange around that observation
Instead of routing both sides through cash transactions, BarterAds lets businesses trade that unused inventory directly to reach new customers, no cash outlay required. It’s a model with precedent in traditional media that has never been properly productized for the programmatic era. BarterAds adds enough intelligence to make inventory matching meaningful rather than arbitrary.
A 45.36 score signals an early but functional product with a genuinely differentiated market angle. The core insight, that idle inventory is a currency, is solid, and the programmatic wrapper makes it scalable in a way that barter arrangements historically haven’t been.
Proof of Usefulness: +45/1000
Want to submit your project to the Proof of Usefulness hackathon?
What is Proof of Usefulness?
It’s our answer to a web drowning in vaporware and empty promises. We evaluate projects based on:
▪️ Real user adoption
▪️ Sustainable revenue
▪️ Technical stability
▪️ Genuine utility
Projects score from -100 to +1000. Top scorers compete for $20K in cash and $130K+ in software credits.
You’ll be in good company. The hackathon is backed by teams who ship production software for a living – Bright Data, Neo4j, Storyblok, Algolia, and HackerNoon.
What happens when you submit:
1. Get your free Proof of Usefulness score instantly
2. Your submission becomes a HackerNoon article (published within days)
3. Compete for monthly prizes
4. All participants get rewards
Complete guide on how to submit here.
That’s all for now.
Until next time, Hackers!