Every year, Solana hosts a number of hackathons to connect developers and raise money for new initiatives.
Development of the Solana Community
In the competition to become the best Decentralized Finance (DeFi) network, Solana promises unequaled transaction throughput as a low-cost, high-speed challenger to Ethereum. Additionally, its high degree of composability benefits both newcomers and developers with smart contract or Non-Fungible Token (NFT) knowledge.
The Solana ecosystem hosts several hackathons all year round to aid developers in honing their abilities. Solana may also reach a wider audience by doing this by promoting the cryptocurrency sector.
“The hackathon was a fantastic catalyst for our community building, user engagement, and subsequent fundraising. We undoubtedly benefited from the exposure and thoroughly liked the process.” said Ayush Menon, founder and CEO of Katana, the overall winner of the Solana Ignition Hackathon.
During the Solana hackathon, developers will have access to the following:
• A Web3-creating community of enthusiastic individuals
• Industry experts’ lectures and educational events to learn how to construct goods utilizing cutting-edge technology and primitives
• Rewards in money for accomplishments
• Links to investors, analysts, and fund managers on the Web3.
”The hackathons are a focal point to bring everyone together to develop a product and display what they’re working on,” According to Anatoly Yakovenko, a co-founder of Solana Labs, who stated in an interview with Blockworks that “We’ve seen this incredible growth in the Solana ecosystem, and a lot of it doesn’t come from the hackathon.”
Solana has organized the following hackathons over the years:
Inaugural Hackathon
In order to quicken the ecosystem’s already rapid growth, the Solana Foundation held its inaugural online hackathon in November 2020. Industry experts and builders gathered for the two-week event. Even though Wormhole was the main project, builders were urged to create any project that may have an effect on the environment.
Season Hackathon
The season hackathon, which brought together developers and crypto pioneers for three weeks in May and June 2021, operated for three weeks. The hackathon attracted more than 13,000 builders, and 350 teams submitted ideas pertaining to DeFi, NFTs, and Web3. East Asia, India, Eastern Europe, Africa, Vietnam, and Brazil were among the other regional courses.
“We had a terrific time, and the Solana Season hackathon’s top prize win was undoubtedly our genesis moment. Additionally, it was a fantastic chance to assemble a team and create something amazing, as Tristan, the founder and core contributor of Zeta, told the media. We really think that hackathons are an excellent method to launch a community and build an early team.
Ignition Hackathon
From August 31 to October 1 was the Ignition hackathon. 15, 2021. Ignition received 568 final projects from over 6,000 teams all across the world. Additionally, $5 million in prizes and seed investment were provided by Solana Ventures, Microsoft, Jump Crypto, Standard Chartered, Forte, and Metaplex. Later, the hackathon was renamed from Ignition to Solana Summer Camp Hackathon. Recent Summer Camp dates were July 11–August. 16.
“Winning the Solana Hackathon gave us tremendous attention in the cryptocurrency community.” Alvin Lam, the creator of DarleyGo, the Community Choice award winner in the Solana Ignition hackathon, said, “It not only gave us recognition, but it also enhanced our brand exposure, in addition to enabling us grow our networks and form new connections within the blockchain sector.”
Riptide Global Hackathon
At the sixth Solana hackathon, new blockchain applications in the fields of payments, DeFi, gaming, and DAOs were presented. Between February 2 and March 17, almost 7,000 teams took part in Riptide, presenting 550 final proposals for review. Solana Ventures provided awards and initial investment of up to $5 million for the international hackathon in addition to Visa, Jump Crypto, Samsung NEXT, MonkeDAO, and Mango.
Hacker Houses
Solana Hacker Houses are a five-day offline event that will be held in locations all over the world and feature on-site mentorship from Solana Labs engineers and other partners. The most recent occasion occurred in Stockholm, Sweden, during August 24-28.
The event features instructional material that is both interesting and enlightening regarding DeFi, NFTs, and how to use Solana. You can also anticipate help and guidance from the core engineers at Solana Labs as well as a demo day where you may compete for regional funding.
The Solana ecosystem has benefited from hackathons. The hackathons may support new firms, connect talented builders, and create a healthy ecosystem.
