AI Meets Blockchain: The New Era of Freelancing on Solana

How many people do you truly trust?

Take a moment to count them. That number is probably smaller than you'd like. Not because people are evil, but because trust is fundamentally flawed. It relies on perfect alignment of perspectives, values, and priorities – something that's practically impossible between two different humans.

Think about it: How often have you felt betrayed by someone, only to later discover circumstances that completely changed your perspective? When you later realized that they had good reasons to behave the way they did? Because sometimes people have to do unpopular things to protect, survive, or even be a good friend.

Trust fails because we can never fully understand what drives another person's decisions. We can't see their struggles, their fears, or their priorities. We're all viewing life through different lenses, shaped by different experiences.

But how can we work and live together when we agree that trust has its limitations? Many of you might not know it, but this question is one of the core concepts upon which blockchain technology is built, and today I want to explain this to you with the example of Gigentic, which uses Solana to tackle one of these trust issues.

The Freelance Payment Trap: Work Now, Chase Money Later

As a freelancer, my typical project goes like this: Sign contract. Work for a month. Submit invoice. Then wait... and wait... and wait. With standard 30-day payment terms, I'm essentially giving a two-month interest-free loan to my clients.

Sometimes it gets worse. I've spent more hours chasing overdue payments than actually doing the work. And while I understand clients wanting protection – I've been on that side too as a startup founder – the current system fails both parties. Clients fear paying upfront for work that might never come, while freelancers risk working for free.

Gigentic is a great showcase to show you how a trustless system on Solana works and how they tackle a real world problem by leveraging blockchain technology.

Born in a Solana Hackathon: The Gigentic Story

Do you know what a hackathon is? Well, here's my definition: A hackathon is when motivated people come together, escape their daily distractions, and focus intensely on solving specific problems in a limited timeframe. Within such a hackathon, Gigentic was born.

In August 2024, at the Symmetry Hackathon during Web3Summit, the team asked themselves a burning question: "How will we collaborate as humans in the new age of AI and Web3?"

What happens when you combine two of the most controversial technologies of our time in a hackathon? Before you start imagining doomsday scenarios, let me tell you what happened with Gigentic.

Through intense brainstorming and conversations, the team iteratively shaped their vision: a freelance platform where AI matchmaking helps find the perfect gig, AI agents amplify human capabilities, and blockchain technology eliminates trust issues altogether.

Luckily for all of us, Superteam Germany was amongst the Sponsors and had their army of Zupamentors at this hackathon. This not only helped them to turn their idea into reality, they were able to evaluate different blockchains and pick the one that fits best to their needs. This way they ended up not just building on Solana, they joined the global Solana hackathon and scored amongst the best projects in Germany.

After weeks of grinding together with other founders at Buildstation Berlin they delivered a solution that has the potential to save businesses and freelancers a lot of headache.

Three Problems, One Gigentic Solution

Remember all those freelancing troubles we talked about? Well, Gigentic found a way to solve multiple challenges with one solution. Let's break down what's broken in freelancing today:

Problem 1: The Review Trust Issue

Why? Because on traditional centralized platforms:

• Reviews can be deleted if they're too negative
• Competitors can leave fake bad reviews
• Friends can leave fake good reviews
• Companies can pay for positive reviews
• Platforms themselves can manipulate ratings
• Bad experiences often get buried under newer reviews

It's like reading restaurant reviews where the owner can delete anything negative, the competition can trash-talk anonymously, and you never know if that glowing recommendation came from the owner's cousin. Not very helpful, right?

But what if we could make reviews actually trustworthy? That's where blockchain comes in. When you leave a review on Gigentic, you authenticate with your wallet. For you, it's as simple as sliding a button, but behind the scenes, it verifies that you're a real client who actually paid for work. No more fake reviews from random accounts – the math simply wouldn't add up.

Even better? Once a review is written on the blockchain, it's there to stay. Think of it like permanent ink instead of pencil marks. No one can erase or modify it – not the freelancer, not the client, not even the platform itself. It's set in stone (digitally speaking, of course).

Problem 2: The Payment Security Puzzle

Ever heard of escrow? It's actually a pretty old concept that we still use today. Let me explain how it works in the real world:

Imagine buying a house. You don't just hand over hundreds of thousands of euros to a stranger, right? Instead, you give it to an escrow company - basically a trusted middleman. They hold onto your money until everything checks out: the paperwork is done, the house is inspected, and the keys are handed over. Only then do they release the money to the seller. Pretty smart!

These middlemen are usually banks, law firms, or specialized escrow companies. They need licenses, insurance, and have to follow strict rules about handling other people's money. You'll find them in all sorts of big deals - real estate, international trade, legal settlements, you name it.

But here's the thing: While this system works, it has some drawbacks:

• You're paying these middlemen hefty fees just for holding money
• They're only available during business hours (good luck getting your money on Sunday!)
• The process can take days or even weeks
• You have to trust that they're actually following all the rules
• If they go bankrupt or make mistakes, you could lose your money
• It's not suitable for small or midsize deals because these middlemen are so expensive

Now, imagine the same concept but without any of those drawbacks. That's what Solana enables. Instead of expensive middlemen, Gigentic uses Solana programs with encoded rules that store money in secure vaults on the blockchain. These programs only release the money when specific requirements are met. And the best part? The code is open source – anyone can check exactly how it works. No hidden rules, no surprises.

This is exactly how Gigentic protects both freelancers and clients. When a client hires a freelancer, they transfer the money into an escrow vault on the Solana blockchain. The money stays locked there until the freelancer delivers their work. The client knows their money is safe, and the freelancer knows they'll get paid when they deliver.

Since it's built on Solana, there's no expensive middleman, no business hours to worry about, and no week-long delays. Just automated, transparent, and instant payments when the work is done. Simple as that.

Problem 3: The Reputation Prison

Another extraordinary thing about blockchain technology is that data is publicly available. Think about it: right now, your hard-earned five-star reviews are locked away on each platform's private servers. Want to switch platforms? Start from scratch! Want to show a potential client your complete track record?

Sorry, you'll have to send them to five different websites. But when reviews are written on the blockchain, as Gigentic does it, something magical happens: they become public data that any service can read and display, and any user can verify. No more reputation prisons. No more starting from zero. No more hoping that platforms will play nice and share data.

It's like taking your reviews out of private diaries and putting them in a public library. They're not hidden on some company's server where they decide who gets access or when to delete your hard-earned reputation. They're public data, accessible to anyone - exactly how reviews should be.

So now we've solved the trust issues with payments and made sure your reputation follows you everywhere. But there's still one big challenge in freelancing: finding the right opportunities in the first place. Scrolling through endless job posts, writing countless proposals, trying to guess what clients really want – it's exhausting, right? Well, this is where Gigentic gets really interesting.

The AI Agent That Levels Up The Game

What would you say, if I tell you, you can have an affordable assistant who actually understands what you're good at? That's exactly what Gigentic built. Instead of scrolling through endless job listings hoping to find your perfect match, their AI chat interface does the heavy lifting for you. Think of it as having a really smart friend who knows both what you're great at and what clients are looking for.

And it gets better. It can even handle tedious, repetitive tasks that eat up your valuable time. It's not about replacing humans (they tried that idea - turns out people still want to work with people!). It's more like having a super-efficient personal assistant who helps you deliver better work, faster.

The Road Ahead: What's Next for Gigentic?

Remember how we talked about making payments safer? Well, Gigentic isn't stopping there. They're working on stablecoin support, so you can pay or get paid in Stable coins, which makes payments much easier if you work internationally, in most of the cases you pay less fees and faster.

If you don't know what a stablecoin is, it's basically a coin tied to a real currency. This way the value doesn't go up and down as Bitcoin or Solana does, instead it holds the real value that the currency itself has, so you can actually use it for real world payments.

There are several well-regulated stablecoins out there, with USDC (US Dollar Coin) being one of the most trusted ones. Like many of its competitors, it's backed with real-world dollars, meaning for each coin they have a real dollar saved at the bank. These types of stablecoins are gaining popularity, and many people in the crypto industry already get paid in them.

Another exciting improvement Gigentic is working on is a smart milestone system. Instead of waiting for one big payday, you'll get paid as you complete different parts of the project.

And here's the really exciting part: they're planning to turn the whole platform into what's called a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). In simple terms, that means "the users will own and run the platform and decisions will be made by votes on the blockchain." Imagine if Upwork or Fiverr were owned by the freelancers and clients using it, instead of shareholders who've never done a freelance job in their lives.

Meet the Builders: The Team Behind Gigentic

You might be wondering who is behind all this. Well, it's not some faceless corporation - it's a small team of people who really get it. You've got Marci leading development (the one making sure everything actually works) and Alex handling the business side (because someone needs to make sure the company behind it works so they can continue). While they are a small team, they're supported by a strong network of community contributors and advisors.

And here's something really cool: They're all active members of Superteam Germany, which means they're plugged into the Solana ecosystem in Germany. Think of it as being part of a tech-savvy family where everyone's building the future on Solana together.

This connection gives them direct access to the brightest minds in the Solana ecosystem, early feedback on new features, and the ability to collaborate with other groundbreaking projects in the Solana network.

Want to Discover More Blockchain Innovation?

Gigentic is just one of countless decentralized applications built on Solana. If this article got you excited about what's possible with blockchain technology, you're not alone. This is just one example of how teams are using Solana to solve real-world problems.

Interested in discovering more innovative projects like this, or maybe even building something yourself?

Follow Superteam Germany on X or sign up for the newsletter to stay updated on the latest blockchain innovations, hackathons, and opportunities in the ecosystem. Who knows - maybe you'll be the one building the next solution that changes how we work and live.