Hello everyone,
We wanted to share a progress update on Speedrun Stylus since our initial launch announcement. Over the past months, we’ve expanded the platform with new challenges, integrated advanced tooling, and continued to support developers entering Web3 through Arbitrum Stylus post-grant.
Platform Growth Overview
Since launch, Speedrun Stylus has seen consistent engagement from the developer community:
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~750 total registered users
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~250 unique “active” builders who have completed challenges
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~810 total challenge submissions across all tracks
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14 live challenges spanning core Stylus development, DeFi integration, and zero-knowledge proofs
Submission Breakdown by Challenge
| Challenge name | Submissions |
|---|---|
| Simple Counter Example | 245 |
| Simple NFT Example | 123 |
| Stylus Foundation (ERC20) | 110 |
| Vending Machine | 106 |
| Multisig Wallet | 77 |
| Uniswap V2 | 73 |
| ZK Challenges (Age, Balance, Password, Location, Model, Public Doc) | 70 |
| Vibekit Challenges (Setup, Basic Agents, Advanced Agents) | 12 |
The data shows strong initial engagement with foundational challenges and growing interest in advanced topics like ZK proofs and AI-powered DeFi agents.
Recent Platform Updates
1. Foundation Challenge: Complete ERC20 Token System
We published a comprehensive Foundation Challenge titled “Build a Complete ERC20 Token System and Mint Your Achievement Certificate.”
What developers build:
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Compile and deploy a Stylus-based ERC20 smart contract in Rust
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Build a full-stack Next.js application for token interaction
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Deploy contracts to Arbitrum Sepolia
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Implement complete token management: minting, transferring, approving, and burning
This challenge serves as a bridge between basic concepts and real-world application development, with 110 submissions to date.
2. DeFi Vibekit Integration (Challenges 11-13)
We introduced three advanced challenges focused on AI-powered DeFi agent workflows using Vibekit:
Challenge 11: Vibekit UI & Agent Integration
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Step-by-step setup guide for the Vibekit interface
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Multi-agent configuration with health checks
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Container startup validation and debugging workflows
Challenge 12: Vibekit Basic Agents
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Lending Agent: AAVE protocol integration for supply and borrow operations
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Swapping Agent: Optimized Camelot DEX trade execution
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Liquidity Agent: LP position management
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Coordination through LLMs via Model Context Protocol (MCP) for transaction planning and execution
Challenge 13: Vibekit Advanced Agents
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Allora Price Prediction Agent: On-chain and market data analysis for BTC/ETH forecasting
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Pendle Yield Strategist: Intelligent yield token optimization
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LangGraph Workflows: AI-driven intent routing and context-aware interactions
These challenges introduce developers to the intersection of AI and DeFi, demonstrating how LLMs can orchestrate complex blockchain interactions.
3. AI-Powered Code Review System
We integrated LLM-based automated code reviews across most challenges.
How it works:
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Developers submit their GitHub repositories with natural language descriptions
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The system performs automated evaluation and provides scoring (0-100)
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Structured feedback is generated covering code quality, security, and best practices
Example Review: Review.
This feature provides immediate, actionable feedback and helps developers improve their skills without waiting for manual reviews.
4. Smart Cache CLI Integration
We added documentation and tooling support for caching deployed contracts on Arbitrum Sepolia using the Smart Cache CLI.
Benefits:
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Automated benchmarking of contract deployments
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Bid placement to prevent cache eviction
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Improved contract access speed
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Reduced interaction costs across development environments
This integration helps developers understand and leverage Arbitrum’s caching mechanisms for more efficient smart contract development.
5. Security Analysis with Radar
We integrated Radar, a specialized tool for identifying vulnerabilities in Rust-based smart contracts.
What Radar detects:
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Unchecked arithmetic operations
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Missing access controls
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Account validation errors
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Other common Rust smart contract vulnerabilities
Output formats:
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Real-time console feedback during development
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Detailed JSON reports for deeper analysis
This ensures developers learn secure coding practices from the beginning of their Web3 journey.
Community Engagement Insights
| Month | Total submissions | Unique users |
|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | 28 | 7 |
| June 2025 | 40 | 16 |
| July 2025 | 127 | 63 |
| August 2025 | 457 | 72 |
| September 2025 | 4 | 2 |
| October 2025 | 31 | 9 |
| November 2025 | 46 | 44 |
| December 2025 | 8 | 8 |
| January 2026 | 75 | 73 |
Key observations:
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Strong peak activity in August 2025 with 457 submissions
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Recent months show renewed engagement with the Foundation Challenge and Vibekit tracks
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Consistent onboarding of new developers throughout the platform’s lifecycle
GitHub Integration Adoption
Out of 756 total users, 221 have connected GitHub (29% conversion rate), representing developers who are actively building and submitting challenges.
What’s Next
We’re committed to continuing platform improvements and expanding learning resources:
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Additional challenges to increase adoption of privacy-preserving development patterns
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Workshop series targeting universities and developer communities in India
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Enhanced documentation for advanced Stylus features
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Community-contributed challenges to expand the curriculum through open collaboration
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Integration examples for real-world DeFi protocols and dApps
Call to the Community
We invite all Arbitrum delegates, builders, educators, and community members to:
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Try the challenges.
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Share Speedrun Stylus with Rust developers, Web2 engineers, or students interested in Web3
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Provide feedback - Help us refine the learning experience and identify new topics to cover
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Contribute challenges - If you have ideas for new learning modules, we’d love to collaborate
Your engagement and outreach help us make Stylus development more accessible to a global developer audience.
Resources
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Platform: Speedrun Stylus
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Documentation: Available on each challenge page
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Support: Join our community on Telegram.
Acknowledgements
We continue to be grateful for the support from:
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The Arbitrum DAO for funding this initiative through the D.A.O Grant Program Season 3
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@SEEDGov - the Education, Community Growth, and Events domain allocator team
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Lampros DAO, especially @Euphoria and @Chain_LChain_LChain_LChain_L, for their ongoing mentorship
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All the developers who have engaged with the platform and provided valuable feedback
From Rust to Stylus, Speedrun Stylus remains the structured starting point for developers entering the Arbitrum ecosystem.
We look forward to your continued support and feedback as we grow this educational resource together.
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If you know someone getting into Web3 with Rust or exploring Arbitrum Stylus, share Speedrun Stylus with them. It’s a practical place to begin building.