Ok, The anticipation is over! You can now register to take part in the biggest Hackathon in Cosmos history. Participate in HackAtom VI as an individual or in a team to impress our judges and claim your share in the $1,000,000 ATOM prize pool. HackAtom VI will run for a month online, from Nov 11 through Dec 8. Additional in-person events include a warm-up event in Berlin on October 29, and the official opening ceremony at Lisbon on November 11. Let’s look closer at the details.
HackAtom VI Challenges and Categories
There are multiple challenges provided by HackAtom VI sponsors spread out over seven categories. Participants can either submit individual entries or join a team, but keep in mind that the same project can be submitted to only one category. There is an exception, though. The team or individual who successfully builds an individual project by combining at least two different challenges can submit their project for the Grand Prize award, in addition to submitting it to the challenge of their choice. Keep on reading to discover the categories and challenges that appeal to you most! For full details on each individual challenge, please visit the HackAtom VI official website.
1. Ethereum on Cosmos: Constellation Prize
This exciting category is all about bringing Ethereum projects over to the Cosmos SDK. Smart contracts that currently live on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) are written in Solidity. To get their hands on the Constellation prize, developers will need to explore rewriting an existing Solidity project as a Cosmos SDK blockchain or create any other dedicated solution that can bridge the two ecosystems.
Challenges in this section are brought to you by Silver sponsors BitSong and Evmos and include migrating smart contracts on the popular OpenSea NFT marketplace to Cosmos SDK, and building wallets, NFTs, or DeFi protocols using the application-agnostic Evmos chain.
2. Starport: Starport Prize
The Starport category is all about making improvements to this awesome all-in-one platform to build, launch, and maintain any crypto application on a sovereign and secured blockchain! Starport CLI is a powerful developer tool for scaffolding blockchains, generating code, running a node in development, and much more. Builders will need to implement new scaffolding functionality or improve the functionality, reliability, or flexibility of Starport CLI, or introduce new functionality that is useful for a large number of developers.
All four challenges in this section are brought to you by HackAtom VI’s Platinum sponsor Starport and include reengineering Starport’s code scaffolding to avoid relying on placeholders where possible, improving Starport’s testnet to support multi-node local testnets, enhancing the build process, and developing a flexible plugin system that will allow developers to add functionality to Starport on-the-fly.
3. Interoperability: Interstellar Prize
This important category is all about uncovering further use cases for the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC), the Cosmos standard for interoperability. IBC enables communication and digital asset transfers across an ever-expanding network of interconnected blockchains. Developers will need to create new, innovative ways to highlight the possibilities of blockchain interoperability using the IBC protocol.
Challenges in this category are brought to you by Silver sponsors Akash, Sentinel, Sifchain, and Agoric, as well as gold sponsor Pylons. To be in with a chance of scooping up an Interstellar prize, you’ll need to develop tools to interconnect different ecosystems, improve existing functionality, or build new, innovative ways to further the use of blockchain interoperability with the IBC protocol.
4. End-User Apps: Solar Prize
This category is all about building a user-friendly end-user app. Accessibility is a primary driver to entering the blockchain ecosystem, yet one of the most challenging tasks is to make cryptocurrency and digital asset ownership accessible to end-users. To scoop up a Solar prize, developers will need to build an application that makes features more accessible or provides a more intuitive experience for an end-user.
Challenges in this category are served up by Silver sponsors Nym, Injective, LikeCoin, and Archway, and include developing wallets, UI, DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, and more, that have seamless end-user functionality at their core.
5. DeFi: Galaxy Prize
DeFi is a blockchain-based alternative financial system to the legacy system of banks, exchanges, insurance companies, mortgage providers, etc., but reimagined from the ground up with no intermediaries in the middle. Unlike traditional finance, with no gatekeepers to turn down your application, DeFi lowers the barrier to entry, allowing more people to access financial services, take out a collateralized loan, or earn a yield on their assets. Help expand the capabilities of DeFi by building an app or module with the Cosmos SDK.
In the DeFi category, your challenges, brought to you by Silver sponsor Kava and HackAtom VI organizer Tendermint, involve building a fully autonomous options protocol as a Cosmos SDK module, and building a general tool for loan or insurance modules using Gravity DEX and Cosmos SDK.
6. Gaming: Starship Prize
Blockchain has the potential to completely restructure the gaming industry. Blockchain gaming uses true item ownership from the same technology that lies at the core of cryptocurrencies. Be the game developer that unlocks the potential of gaming with Cosmos! Build the future of gaming with the Cosmos SDK.
In this category, the challenges are brought to you by gold sponsor Pylons and silver sponsor Secret Network. Participants will be required to either build a game with meaningful gameplay behavior mediated through state changes using the Cosmos SDK blockchain framework, a decentralized virtual world with Cosmos network, or a game on Secret Network using CosmWasm, Secret NFTs, and on-chain randomness.
7. Earth: Earth Prize
The seventh and final category is perhaps the most pressing for all of us today as it dives into earth sustainability and ecological regeneration on Cosmos SDK. The ultimate purpose of the Internet of Blockchains is to empower people everywhere with digital technologies that enable communities to prosper. When communities prosper, they can regenerate the planet and respond more effectively to the climate crisis.
Earth challenges are brought to you by Silver sponsors Regen Network, co-Silver sponsors Grant.fish and Juno, and Gold sponsor IXO Foundation. Change the state of the planet by building modules, accessible apps, and integrations for local currencies, self-sovereign identity, non-fungible impact tokens, verification oracles, decentralized impact exchanges, and earth intelligence data.
HackAtom VI Events, Workshops, Mentoring, and More
Registrations for HackAtom VI are now open and we’ll be accepting submissions throughout the entire Hackathon until Dec 8. Throughout the hackathon, we will provide workshops both online and in-person, pre-recorded and live. You’ll have plenty of occasions to ask questions to our seasoned mentors in real-time or go over any materials you missed at your own pace. We’ll also be providing full support, training, and brainstorming sessions with the presence of judges and mentors, as well as daily support via a Discord channel dedicated to the challenges.
To connect with mentors, sponsors, ask questions, find a teammate for your project, or get updates about events and major announcements, make sure you join the HackAtom VI dedicated Discord channel inside Cosmos developers’ Discord.
If you find yourself in Berlin or nearby this Friday, Oct 29, why not join us for the pre-hackathon warm-up at Spielfeld Digital Hub? Kicking off at 17:30 CET, you’ll have the chance to take part in three hands-on workshops, get face-to-face one-on-one mentoring, and network with a growing community of like-minded cosmonauts! Click here for full details of the event which includes food, drink, and socializing. Participation is free of charge, but pre-registration is mandatory.
If you can’t make it to the warm-up event, fear not, you’ll have another chance to meet up with us in person next month on Nov 11 at the official opening ceremony in central Lisbon (details to follow). With the doors opening at 08:30 GMT, participants can expect an action-packed day filled with lively keynotes, interactive workshops, and a stellar Cosmos-style party to mark the official launch of HackAtom VI! Participation is free of charge, but you must pre-register in advance.
HackAtom VI is open to anyone with an internet connection, so the majority of the action will be taking place online. We’ll be updating you on further news and details of key workshops and sessions soon.
Sponsors and Judges
HackAtom VI could not have been possible without the support of our amazing Cosmos network sponsors and judges. With more than 250 blockchain apps and services in our ecosystem, we’re thrilled to be fulfilling our mission together of a sustainable, interoperable future for blockchain technology. For more details about our sponsors and judges, be sure to visit the official HackAtom VI website. May the best cosmonaut win!
