Announcing the Internet Computer BUIDL Bitcoin Hackathon, powered by Encode Club

We’re excited to announce the Internet Computer BUIDL Bitcoin Hackathon powered by Encode Club, a four-week online event designed for developers to explore the Internet Computer and build on Bitcoin. This global hackathon offers hackers a chance to learn, collaborate, and create groundbreaking projects with a range of prizes available.

How it Works

The hackathon begins with a Launch Event on May 22nd and lasts for four weeks. Registered participants can join workshops, get support, and find team members through dedicated Discord channels.

Following the provided challenges, participants have until June 18th to submit their projects. The best submissions will be invited to pitch live during an online Finale Event in July for a chance to win major prizes.

To participate, simply fill out the registration form, either solo or with a team, and join the IC Dev Community and Encode Club Discord servers for updates and hackathon details.

Hackathon timeline:

April 12th: Registrations open

May 22nd: Hackathon Launch

June 18th: Submission Deadline

June 18th — July 5th: Judging period

July 5th: Hackathon Finale event

Bounties and Prizes

Main Track

Attention all developers, designers, and crypto enthusiasts! Are you ready to take Bitcoin to the next level?

Bitcoin is the king of crypto, but it’s been held back by limited programming capabilities, low speed, and high fees. That’s where the Internet Computer (IC) comes in. With the native Bitcoin integration, you can unleash the full potential of Bitcoin and build innovative DeFi solutions without the need for custodians. Plus, with ckBTC, a smart contract controlled 1:1 Bitcoin-backed IC-native token, you can create low-latency payment solutions with fees of only a fraction of a cent and plug into a growing ecosystem IC native tools and services.

The IC provides the Layer 2 functionality for Bitcoin you’ve been waiting for.

Unleash the power of Bitcoin’s liquidity with the Internet Computer’s superpowers:

• Host websites and interact with canister smart contracts directly from your browser
• Smooth user onboarding with the reverse-gas model — no wallet necessary
• Secure login with a security key or biometrics
• Leverage enormous computational power and storage at low cost
• Call APIs directly from a canister — no oracles required
• Flex your programming muscles with familiar languages like TypeScript, Python, and Rust, or master Motoko, the tailor-made language designed to streamline development on the Internet Computer
• Canister smart contracts are upgradeable and can be community governed. Allowing you to turn your app into a DAO or autonomous open internet service whenever you are ready.

But hold onto your hats, because there’s more! The Internet Computer cannot only integrate with Bitcoin, but it has the ability to interact with many other chains. So, if you’re an Etherean or a Multicoiner, you’ll also have the golden opportunity to explore and build on the first phase of the IC’s Ethereum integration.

The sky’s the limit! Join us to revolutionize the world of DeFi and commerce and unlock the untamed power of Bitcoin!

What you can build

• New kinds of non-custodial Bitcoin wallets with simplified multi-sig processes, advanced policies, or social recovery functionality
• Payment solutions for physical and virtual commerce
• Non-custodial Ordinal marketplaces
• Bitcoin-backed Stablecoins, lending protocols, or other DeFi integrations

Blue Sky Track

Not a Bitcoiner? For all of you, who want to leverage the unique superpowers of the Internet Computer to build an awesome project that’s not related to Bitcoin or want to create infrastructure or tooling to make developing on the Internet Computer simpler or more powerful, we got you covered.

For inspiration, check out the Request for Startups, but don’t feel restricted by our limited imagination.

Don’t miss your chance to shape the future of crypto and create a legacy! Besides that, we also have some nice prizes.

Prizes

Track winners:

• 1st place winner: US$5,000 in ICP + $25,000 DFINITY Developer Grant*
• 2nd place winner: US$3,000 in ICP + $5,000 DFINITY Developer Grant*
• 3rd place winner: US$2,000

*Grants are wholly separate from this hackathon and are subject to DFINITY DEVELOPER GRANT PROGRAM TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Additional prizes:

• Best use of Chain-key signatures (US$1,000 in ICP)
• Best use of HTTPS outcalls (US$1,000 in ICP)
• Best use of Omnic (US$1,000 in ICP)

Resources

• Internet Computer Capabilities
• Internet Computer Developer Docs
• Awesome Internet Computer
• Forum
• Discord — Join #hackathon channel & Office hours (Every Wednesday)
• Twitter for Developers

Hackathon Registration

Fill out the form below to start building!

Don’t miss this opportunity to shape the future of crypto and showcase your talents.

About The Internet Computer

The Internet Computer is the world’s first web-speed, internet-scale public blockchain, developed by the DFINITY Foundation. The Internet Computer overcomes the limitations of traditional blockchains and smart contracts for better speed, storage costs, security, and scalability, offering Web2 performance on an infinite Web3 platform. As a 100% trustless network, the Internet Computer is the only public blockchain in the world that offers end-to-end decentralization and uses no centralized cloud nodes. Furthering its decentralization, the Internet Computer is governed by the Network Nervous System (NNS), a protocol-integrated DAO where token holders have the power to vote on the future of the network. The Internet Computer mainnet was launched in May 2021, following years of strategic research and development, by a team of more than 200 world-renowned cryptographers, distributed systems engineers, and programming language experts at the DFINITY Foundation. Read more here.

About DFINITY Foundation

The DFINITY Foundation is the not-for-profit developing the Internet Computer — the world’s first web-speed, internet-scale public blockchain. DFINITY currently operates research centers in Zurich and California, and remote teams in locations all over the world. It has a global team of more than 200 people, which includes numerous famous computer science researchers, engineers and cryptographers. It runs the largest R&D operation in the crypto industry. Read more here.

About Encode Club

Encode Club is a web3 education community learning and building together through fantastic programmes with the leading protocols in the space. Together we organise programmes like education series, bootcamps, hackathons, and accelerators both online and in person. We then help our community get jobs and funding for projects and startups. Read more here.