Neo X Grind Hackathon kicks off for EVM innovators with over $22 million in prizes and grants

Neo

Published in

The Neo Pulse

7 min readOct 30, 2024

Co-hosted with IOSG Kickstarter, Web3Labs, Foresight Ventures, and Bitget, featuring exclusive perks for winners

Dear Web3 creators and innovators,

We’re thrilled to launch the Neo X Grind Hackathon in partnership with IOSG Kickstarter, Web3Labs, Foresight Ventures, and Bitget. The competition takes place on Neo’s EVM-compatible sidechain, Neo X. Backed by comprehensive support from industry veterans, the hackathon is designed to kickstart participants’ Web3 journey by offering financial and growth opportunities.

The event features a $70,000 prize pool, the chance to access multiple incubation programs featuring $22 million in grants and investments, and fast-track listing on exchanges, with all benefits provided by Neo and our co-hosts.

We sincerely invite you — those who see the world not for what it is, but for what it can become — to join the Neo X Grind Hackathon and take your ideas from imagination to reality. We’re here to support you with technology, resources, and capital.

Tracks, timeline, and prizes

The Neo X Grind Hackathon features tracks in various areas, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), Infrastructure, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), SocialFi, Real World Assets (RWA), Gaming, and meme-related infrastructure.

This online competition runs from October 30 to December 2. All participating projects must deploy their smart contracts on the Neo X MainNet before the deadline. Following this, there will be a two-week judging period and a community vote. Winners will be announced on December 16th.

Projects will be evaluated based on criteria such as code quality, business strategy, user experience, and user acquisition. Additionally, contract interaction and engagement levels will be considered as metrics for the judges’ scoring. Community votes will also play a role in the selection of the final winners.

For detailed rules and criteria, please visit the Neo X Grind Hackathon Handbook.

In the end, 17 teams will emerge as the ultimate winners and claim the following prizes:

A share of $70,000 in GAS tokens
Access to $20,000,000 Elevate program offered by Neo Foundation
Access to $1,000,000 Web3.0 Global Acceleration Program offered by Web3 Labs and Neo
Access to $1,000,000 IOSG Kickstarter Program and the Program’s Demo Day Pitch Session
Potential investment from Foresight Ventures
Fast-track to the Bitget listing program

Previously, a satellite hackathon round was organized by Neo in collaboration with three developer communities — Encode, RiseIn, and HackQuest — to maximize impact and shortlist projects. The winners from the satellite round are now invited to participate in the global online competition.

A promising arena with industry-leading mentors

The Neo X Grind Hackathon takes place on Neo’s newly launched sidechain, Neo X — a platform that’s inclusive, full of potential, and ready for innovation.

X opens Neo up to EVM innovators

Neo X is compatible with the mainstream Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), making this hackathon a valuable opportunity for anyone exploring the Web3 world. Additionally, Neo X employs a dBFT (delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance) consensus mechanism and features anti-MEV (Maximum Extractable Value) capabilities, providing an efficient and fair developer experience. Combining the best of both worlds, Neo X is the ideal environment to kickstart and practice your Web3 endeavors.

Neo will also host workshops throughout the hackathon to support you with any technical questions that may arise.

Industry mentors supporting your journey

To add to the support provided to our participants, we’re proud to co-host the hackathon with industry leaders, IOSG Kickstarter, Web3Labs, Foresight Ventures, and Bitget, who bring valuable perks to the reward pool. With support from a leading layer 1 blockchain, venture capitals, incubation programs, and an leading exchange, the winners will receive the kind of resources needed to grow from grassroots startups to the next billion dollar project in the Web3 space.

Once again, we’re excited to continue our hackathon journey for the fourth year, offering the largest prize and grant pool we’ve ever assembled to discover and empower talented innovators. With the support of our incredible co-hosts — IOSG, Web3Labs, Foresight Ventures, and Bitget — we’ve made the incentives even more substantial, creating what we believe is one of the most rewarding packages available in any hackathon today. We can’t wait to see the groundbreaking projects you’ll bring to life!
— Da Hongfei, Founder of Neo
“The IOSG Kickstarter Program will provide early-stage builders with the resources, mentorship, and network access they need to accelerate their projects and turn ideas into impactful realities. Through collaboration with Neo X, we’re eager to create more opportunities for developers to showcase their talent and bring new potential to the crypto space.”
— Figo, Incubation Lead from IOSG Kickstarter
“In the digital era, blockchain technology is a driving force for global innovation. At Web3Labs, together with partners like Neo, we anticipate the emergence of new technological solutions that will drive the development and prosperity of our industry.
We invite developers to join us in exploring uncharted territories, accelerating the development of Web3, and advancing the ecosystem. Let’s shape the future of this technological revolution together.”
— Caspar Wong, CEO of Web3Labs
“Foresight Ventures is always looking for opportunities to back the boldest ideas that push the boundaries of what’s possible in crypto. The Neo X Grind Hackathon offers a unique platform for fostering innovation at the intersection of decentralized finance and emerging technologies. We’re excited to partner with Neo and support developers as they build transformative solutions that can accelerate the industry’s growth and drive the next wave of adoption on a global scale.”
— Forest Bai, Co-founder of Foresight Ventures
“At Bitget, we’re excited to empower and support the next generation of Web3 builders through the Neo X Grind Hackathon. Innovation thrives when talented minds are given the right tools and opportunities, and we believe this collaboration will help participants push the boundaries of what’s possible in decentralized finance and beyond. Bitget’s fast-track listing program, combined with Neo X’s advanced tech infrastructure, offers developers a unique opportunity to scale their projects and bring their visions to life.”
— Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget

About Neo

Founded in 2014, Neo is an open-source, community-driven blockchain platform designed to welcome developers into the Smart Economy. By enabling developers to digitize and automate the management of assets through smart contracts, Neo is built to realize the optimized digital world of the future. As the most developer-friendly blockchain, Neo meets developers where they are by integrating seamlessly with the world’s most widely used languages and tools and providing the most feature-complete blockchain platform for building full-stack decentralized applications. With native support for powerful infrastructure including decentralized storage, oracles, and domain name service, Neo is the ideal foundation for developers to build the next generation Internet.

Neo X is Neo’s sidechain. With its MEV resistance and full compatibility with Ethereum tooling, Neo X excels in cross-chain scalability and DeFi applications through its use of the dBFT consensus mechanism and enveloped transactions.

About IOSG Kickstarter

The IOSG Kickstarter Program is a builders program designed to empower early-stage founders in Web3. The program features two core components: IOSG Innovate (Project Discovery and Investment) and IOSG Connect (Network Expansion and Community Building). For founders, it offers up to $100,000 in funding, along with extensive support including mentorship, consulting, partnerships, and more, to help participants elevate their project to the next level.

About Web3Labs

Web3Labs aims to respond to the policy statement from the HKSAR Government on the development of virtual assets in Hong Kong. Through on-the-ground support, investment acceleration, technical collaborations, and compliance assistance, Web3Labs is dedicated to helping global Web3 companies establish their presence in Hong Kong. Its goal is to create a one-stop gateway for Web3 entrepreneurs. As of the end of July 2023, Web3Labs has provided consultation or support for nearly 1,000 Web3 enterprises in terms of advice or on-the-ground services.

In the face of global technological competition, Web3Labs strives to stay at the forefront of the market, understand the needs and challenges of entrepreneurs, and provide a legitimate, comprehensive, professional, and in-depth entrepreneurial environment. Web3Labs aims to foster national and even world-class unicorns, contributing to the steady advancement of the industry.

About Foresight Ventures

Foresight Ventures is the first and only crypto VC bridging East and West. With a research-driven approach and offices in the US and Singapore, we are a powerhouse in crypto investment and incubation. Our premier media network includes The Block, Foresight News, BlockTempo, and Coinness. We aggressively invest in the most daring innovations and are dedicated to partnering with visionary projects and top teams to help them succeed, reshaping the future of digital finance and beyond.

About Bitget

Established in 2018, Bitget is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company. Serving over 45 million users in 150+ countries and regions, Bitget is committed to helping users trade smarter with its pioneering copy trading feature and other trading solutions, while offering real-time access to Bitcoin price, Ethereum price, and other cryptocurrency prices. Formerly known as BitKeep, Bitget Wallet is a world-class multi-chain crypto wallet that offers an array of comprehensive Web3 solutions and features including wallet functionality, token swap, NFT Marketplace, DApp browser, and more.

Bitget is at the forefront of driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships, such as its role as the Official Crypto Partner of the World’s Top Football League, LALIGA, in EASTERN, SEA and LATAM market, as well as a global partner of Turkish National athletes Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (Wrestling world champion), Samet Gümüş (Boxing gold medalist) and İlkin Aydın (Volleyball national team), to inspire the global community to embrace the future of cryptocurrency.

For media inquiries, please contact: media@bitget.com