The format
Virtual, 48 continuous hours, first edition. For web3 developers, AI engineers and identity teams building on the native stack — pallets, SDKs, the explorer's playground.
Three objectives: generate real activity on the testnet; validate the developer experience of the SDKs and templates; identify teams for the grants programme.
Tracks
1 — Native DeFi. Use the DEX, lending, MEV-protection, intents or state-rent pallets to build financial protocols without EVM contracts. Bonus for commit–reveal MEV protection. Ideas from the plan: a liquidity aggregator across the testnet pools; a limit-order system on pallet-intents; an MEV monitoring dashboard with webhook alerts.
2 — AI / zkML. Integrate the Ailoos engine and reward pallets or the zkML toolchain (Groth16 on BLS12-381) for verifiable computation. Ideas: inference with an on-chain-verified Groth16 proof; a reputation system for Ailoos nodes from on-chain contributions; a dataset marketplace paid in testnet DMS with zkML integrity proofs.
3 — Identity and privacy. Use the identity, compliance or PQC pallets for credentials, light KYC or post-quantum key management. Ideas: verifiable credentials with on-chain revocation; an identity wallet with N-of-M multisig and recovery guardians; a PQC signature demonstration with ML-DSA on the testnet.
Judging
Innovation 30 % · native pallet use 25 % · code quality 20 % · documentation 15 % · working demo with verifiable testnet transactions 10 %. Scored 1–10 per criterion by a jury of at least three (two core, one external where possible); ties go to innovation.
Prizes
Per track: 50,000 / 25,000 / 10,000 testnet DMS. Best DevX 15,000; best documentation 10,000. Testnet DMS has no value and resets on runtime upgrades. Future considerations (priority for mainnet grants) are explicitly subject to on-chain governance once a mainnet exists — the plan's legal notice says so.
What must exist first
- A public faucet (500 tDMS per request during the event). None deployed.
- A stable explorer with a working indexer. EmpooScan's site is live; its indexer is being repaired.
- dApp templates — React, TypeScript scripts, Rust backend — verified against runtime 220.
The plan's own correction block says the programme cannot be announced until these are real. This page agrees, and will carry a date when there is one.
Based on TESTNET_HACKATHON_PLAN.md.