The first-ever summer hackathon presented by ABCDE Capital officially kicked off on August 14, 2023. Co-hosted by zkSync and Taiko, the hackathon aimed at supporting zero-knowledge (ZK) builders and projects in their early growth. The competition covers three categories: ZK infrastructure and tools, ZK applications and other ZK-related themes. The total prize pool has reached $65,000, and the final results will be announced during the Demo Day both online and offline on September 15.
Introduction
The hackathon is a four-week global online hackathon centered around building zero-knowledge applications. Our mission is to provide the best resources to early ZK adopters and find the world’s next game-changing ZK startups. Over the past month, we have invited mentors, including Jason Morton, Shumo, Leo Fan, Sun Yi, Jiaheng Zhang and others to assist developers in gaining a deep understanding of ZK and its related applications. For more details: ZK curriculum.
Upon finishing the ZK curriculum, developers will form teams and proceed with project development. Exceptional teams or projects will be able to win competition prizes, and ABCDE Capital will offer comprehensive ecosystem support, including marketing and fundraising.
In collaboration with sponsors such as zkSync, Taiko, GSR Market, Celestia, ODA, OtterSec, Aleo and platform supporter BeWater, the ABCDE ZK Hackathon will offer a prize pool of $65,000 or more (with the prize pool amount continuously increasing) for developers. Winning teams will have the opportunity to receive investment from ABCDE Capital. Register now: https://build.bewater.xyz/en/campaigns/29.
Timeline
- Registration: August 14 to September 9
- Shortlisting: September 9 to September 14
- Demo Day: September 15
Why participate?
- Access to ZK developer workshops, office hours, technical support and mentoring with top ZK teams, like zkSync, Taiko, Celestia, etc.
- Total Prize Pool: $65,000 (the prize pool is continuously increasing).
- Receive support from other hackathon partners and supporters, such as complimentary ZK security consultation from OtterSec.
- Business development, fundraising workshops, incubation-focused sessions, one-on-one mentoring and the possibility of joining the incubator program by ABCDE Capital.
- Co-marketing activities and exposure within ABCDE’s portfolio ecosystem.
- Early access and deployment on zkSync and Taiko.
Other important notice
- The event will have three primary stages: registration, shortlisting and demo day.
- The hackathon format will be primarily online, while the demo day will be both online and offline.
- Join the demo day on-site session at the ABCDE Singapore Office or the online session via video conference.
- Teams will compete for 1) ZK Infra and Tooling, 2) ZK Application, and 3) Other ZK-related Topics.
Tracks
We want to allow participants maximum freedom in building something they want and can be proud of. So there will be no specific hackathon bounties but only contest categories that cover most applications, aiming to encourage developers to unleash their genius creativity to the fullest during this hackathon. While we won’t impose specific themes, we hope the creative ideas revolve around ZK.
To facilitate categories, we have divided related project ideas into three tracks:
1. ZK Infra and Tooling:
In this track, we encourage you to freely create ZK infrastructure and tooling to make ZK technology more user-friendly and adaptable to various scenarios. Topics include but are not limited to: novel ZK middleware design, ZK compilers, ZK domain-specific language (DSL), etc.
2. ZK Application:
In this track, we encourage you to utilize existing ZK technologies/frameworks to implement innovative creations, such as privacy-preserving based on ZK, on-chain games based on ZK, etc.
3. Other ZK-related Topics:
Apart from the above two tracks, we encourage you to fully unleash your imagination and utilize ZK technology to create more fascinating and enjoyable projects.If your project is a DApp based on zkVM or zkEVM, we hope you can deploy it on zkSync and other ABCDE ZK partners.
Rubrics
Regarding the evaluation criteria, we will consider several granular indicators, with the three most significant aspects as follows: innovation, completeness and relevance.
Innovation
ABCDE ZK Hackathon provides an excellent platform to showcase your brilliance and imaginative ideas. Novel and intriguing creations always capture attention quickly.
Completeness
“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Innovative ideas are best realized through practical implementation. We encourage you to complete as much as possible within the given time.
Relevance
While creativity knows no bounds, for this event, we hope your creations predominantly revolve around ZK technology.
The project submission channel is now open and buzzing with excitement!
Registration Link
https://build.bewater.xyz/en/campaigns/29
About ABCDE Capital
ABCDE is a 400M Crypto fund focused on lead-investing in top Crypto Builders. It is co-founded by Du Jun, co-founder of Huobi, and BMAN, former Internet & crypto founder. The team includes entrepreneurs, CEOs of listed companies, and top researchers in the Crypto industry for 10 years. They have built multi-billion dollar companies in Crypto from the ground up, including HongKong listed companies with crypto licenses (01611.HK), exchanges (Huobi), SAAS companies (ChainUP.com), media (CoinTime.com), and developers platforms (BeWater.xyz).