# Building on Ethereum Human vs AI β€” Who Wins I Kevin Jones - Speakers: Kevin Jones - Channel: [ETHGlobal](https://streameth.org/ethglobal) - Date: 2026-05-09 - Duration: 1:00:07 - Topics: Ethereum, Scaffold ETH, Solidity, smart contracts, hackathon, AI, OpenClaw, Cursor, Hardhat, Foundry, Base, IPFS, Vercel, ETH Skills, auction, DApp, TypeScript, Next.js, ERC20, NFT, deploy, verify, DevRel, Speedrun Ethereum, Build Guild, OneClaw, secrets management, MCP, prompt engineering, Claude, Opus, Web3, DeFi, open source, ECC, blockchain, developer tools, front end, debugging, wallet - Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-7a8-nHLCgKc - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a8-nHLCgKc ## Description In this workshop, Kevin Jones, a developer relations engineer with seven years in the Ethereum ecosystem, demonstrates building a decentralized auction application using two approaches: hands-on development with Scaffold ETH and AI-assisted coding with OpenClaw. He walks through the full Scaffold ETH workflow β€” scaffolding a project, deploying a smart contract to a local chain and then to Base, verifying the contract on-chain, and publishing the front end to IPFS and Vercel. The session highlights the practical tradeoffs between manual and AI-driven development, showcasing ETH Skills as a set of guardrails for AI agents building on Ethereum. Kevin also covers Speedrun Ethereum's educational challenges, prompt engineering best practices for tools like Cursor and Claude, and introduces OneClaw, a secrets management tool for AI agents. The live demo candidly reveals both the power and pitfalls of AI coding tools, with OpenClaw crashing mid-demo while the manual Scaffold ETH approach succeeds. 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Workshop Overview: Human vs AI Building 02:23 What Is Scaffold ETH 03:13 Introduction to ETH Skills 04:21 Setting Up OpenClaw with ETH Skills 04:57 Prompting Strategy: Claude to OpenClaw 05:42 Scaffolding a Project with Create ETH 07:05 Project Structure Walkthrough 08:56 Next.js Front End and Scaffold Hooks 11:09 ABI and TypeScript Type Generation 13:01 Checking on OpenClaw Progress 14:06 Running the Local Chain and Deploying 15:24 Scaffold ETH UI and Burner Wallet 17:30 AI Builds the Auction Contract 18:54 AI Mistakes: Foundry vs Hardhat 22:20 Deploying the Auction Contract to Base 25:21 Generating and Funding a Deployer Key 27:25 Verifying the Contract on Base 29:04 Fixing the AI-Generated Front End 30:20 Publishing to IPFS and Vercel 34:53 Speedrun Ethereum Overview 38:45 Synthesis Hackathon and Bonfires 40:27 OpenClaw Status Check 43:33 Q&A: Reverting vs Fixing AI Mistakes 46:08 Live Demo: Creating an Auction on Base 52:04 Q&A: Cursor vs VS Code Workflow 56:30 Q&A: When Not to Use Scaffold ETH 57:33 OneClaw: Secrets Management for AI Agents 1:00:08 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ πŸ‡«πŸ‡· *ETHGlobal Cannes 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes 2026, a 3-day hackathon held April 3-5 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5YrcvSj6KSTztLMy58d7d4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ βœ… *Follow Kevin Jones* X: https://x.com/cryptomastery_ βœ… *Follow 1Claw* X: https://x.com/1clawAI βœ… *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ πŸ‘‰ Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus πŸ“£ Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _