The 2021 edition of the Africa Blockchain Hackathon, a brainchild of the Africa Blockchain Institute (ABI) is ready for take-off.
The initiative was created to allow young professionals, tech enthusiasts, students and policymakers amongst others to gain exposure to the opportunity of Blockchain/DLT Digital Innovations through mentorship, career and business opportunities.
The Hackathon Program is a product of the partnership with FreeTON Africa (Sub Governance). The Hackathon provides a controlled, structural and sustainable mentorship model as well as a community to nurture and empower developers with potential towards building DLT and blockchain solutions.
Registration for the Hackathon is already underway and the deadline is fixated on August 25, 2021.
The contest is done in collaboration with FREE TON, an Open Source (OS) community project created by developers of the Telegram Open Network (TON).
TON OS has more features than the Ethereum Virtual Machine and is designed as a decentralized operating system capable of handling decentralized applications.
TON OS also has a stack of components that can be used by developers to create powerful applications. By making these components Open Source, anyone or everyone can view and copy fragments of the code.
The contest is open to all Africa Blockchain enthusiasts, newbies, artists, developers, policymakers and students. There is a prize of over 62,000 TONs up for grabs for the winner.
The contest is open to the 54 countries in Africa for participants to build Blockchain Applications on Free TON. The aim is to add value to the FreeTON Network and the continent will equally benefit from the applications.
According to John Kanyiri, FreeTON Africa Representative and the FreeTON Africa Team, “we once again look forward to identifying projects culminating from this hackathon as being not only a showcase of what Africa can offer the global blockchain space but also solutions to the continent’s challenges.
The creativity, ambition and sophistication of our localized developers are quite evident in the Hackathons and this time around we hope to see the same.
Discovery of new talent and exposure of the same from very remote locations of Africa was witnessed in the last Hackathon and we look forward to the same this time too.”
The Hackathon is open to covering aspects of the blockchain that academia needs to know giving ample information about how the blockchain works and the current and future applications needed to change the world from the blockchain Point of View.
The contest is open to both newbies and experienced developers as some of the best technical experts in the blockchain community will be there to aid you. In other words, the event is open to all who seek blockchain knowledge.
The contest will be carried out in three sections: country competition, regional competition, and continental competition.
The country and regional competitions will be held virtually however, winners of the regional competitions will get an all-expense-paid trip to South Africa for the Finals.
The winners will attend the Grand Finale which will be hosted in South Africa. Participants are allowed to work on topics or applications that are peculiar to the needs of the African continent. However, some applications may include:
- National voting platforms
- Fintech infrastructure/Digital Wallets (to help those who do not have access to banking)
- Land ownership and registry
- High tech job creation
- Human rights protections
There are lots of prizes to be won including an all-expense paid trip to South Africa for the winners of the regionals. Other prizes include:
- 1st Prize: 25,000 TONs
- 2nd Prize: 15,000 TONs
- 3rd Prize: 5,000 TONs
- 4th – 20th Prize: 1,000 TONs
Participants will have to follow a simple process leading up to winning amazing prizes. The first step is to submit applications for the hackathon, meet all the requirements and pitch ideas.
Next, participants have to receive Acceptance Confirmation Notification/Onboarding, form a team and then join the opening session. The last part of the process involves building the application and collaborating with team members.
How to apply
You can apply here for the event , theAfrica Blockchain hackathon dates fall between September 6th – 24th 2021. The deadline for application is Wednesday, August 25, 2021.
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