Bringing the cutting edge of blockchain to your region
The highly anticipated second hackathon in the Polkadot Global Series has arrived! In association with AngelHack, this all-virtual six-week hackathon is your chance to join fellow developers to build, break, and experiment with blockchain to your heart’s content! This event may be focused on North America, but is open to all. Whether you’re an experienced blockchain dev, want to learn more about building on Polkadot, or are new to the ecosystem, a range of activities and a US$560,000+ prize pool are on offer.
Enter the Polkadot Universe
This North America hackathon is the second in a series of events that brings the cutting edge of blockchain to a global community. The first Asia Pacific hackathon of the Polkadot Global Series in October 2021 was an overwhelming success. Developers from over 100 countries came together to get hands-on with the tools that are powering innovation across the Polkadot ecosystem, with over US $30,000 of prizes awarded.
These Polkadot hackathons aim to reach the developer community in all corners of the globe. Plans are in motion for upcoming events in Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), and Middle East and North Africa (MENA). These will be announced individually later, so stay tuned!
Focusing on Substrate, Polkadot, and Kusama, the hackathons are open to both individuals and teams anywhere in the world. As well as blockchain building, participants can take advantage of mentoring hours and networking opportunities that can be invaluable for starting new projects or building teams.
How to Participate
Follow the three steps outlined below to get the most out of the event:
- Register for the hackathon
- Join the Polkadot Discord
- Attend pre-hackathon events
The hackathon officially begins on May 30th, 2022 and is open for submissions until July 11th, 2022. During the hackathon, you can participate in office hours to get your questions answered as well as attend weekly workshops that will cover specific topics.
Categories
Submissions for the Polkadot Hackathon North America are invited in five categories. More information on challenges and prizes can be found here.
Category 1: Interfaces & Experiences
This track is dedicated to building your understanding of UI and UX fundamentals, including best practices specifically for blockchain development. Gain experience in building a wide variety of interfaces and user experiences that chains can adopt.
Category 2: DAO & Governance
Discover the breadth of DAO functionality and governance mechanisms in this track. Get the opportunity to explore ideas, including the creation of new DAOs and the necessary tooling involved in this development process, as well as new governance mechanisms and pallets.
Category 3: Web3 & Tooling
A diverse track focused on all kinds of tooling and applications that can be used to expand Web3. Those interested in building a better web can explore the use cases for open-source technologies for a society run on peer-to-peer networks.
Category 4: DeFi
Builders can make use of this track for the multitude of DeFi-related solutions, including DEXs, AMMs, and stablecoins. Learn how to not only develop new financial primitives, but also work towards the integration of existing ones, such as breaking the barriers of assets between blockchains. This all contributes to helping build wider adoption of DeFi.
Category 5: NFT
This track for developers interested in the use cases for NFTs will explore the scope for their creation across multiple industries, including gaming, art, real estate, logistics, and general collectibles. The scope includes exploring the importance of optimizing for complex NFT use cases, and blockchain-agnostic NFT platforms that enable cross-chain functionality.
Community Mentors
Community Mentors represent a crucial part of the Polkadot Hackathon Global Series. An open invitation is extended to any member of the Polkadot community with experience across the ecosystem to act as knowledgeable figureheads for participants throughout the event. The role is diverse, and can include a number of responsibilities, including knowledge sharing, participating in office hours, mentoring, as well as potentially community management.
If this sounds like an exciting prospect, please submit an application here.
FAQ
What is Polkadot?
Polkadot is a sharded, multichain network that allows multiple different blockchains to run in parallel (as parachains), connected to its Relay Chain. Polkadot’s infrastructure enables the transactions from the blockchains to be processed in parallel, also allowing the parachains to communicate and exchange assets between each other via cross-chain messaging, and with external blockchains through bridges.
What is Substrate?
Substrate is a fast, easy, and future-proof modular framework to build a blockchain optimized for your use case.
What is Kusama?
Kusama is a fast-moving, risk-taking scalable blockchain network built using almost the same codebase as its “cousin”, Polkadot Network.
Where do I start?
You can start by registering here to participate in the hackathon and join the Polkadot Discord to get connected to others. You will receive all necessary information about resources, guides and important events after registering via email.
I need help building
No worries, there is plenty of help available. The best starting point for understanding Polkadot is the Wiki. On the Substrate side, a good place to start is diving into the Substrate Developer Hub, where you can explore the Documentation, Tutorials, How-to-Guides and other valuable resources. Make sure to register for the hackathon, participate in the upcoming office hours and workshops, and take advantage of having access to some of the most knowledgeable Substrate mentors out there. There are also special learning and development challenges that will help you get started as well as win some swag!
AngelHack is a global innovation organization, founded on the idea of bringing creators together. Companies from all over the world have chosen them as their partner to engage developers with their technologies through hackathons and events. AngelHack has created an incredibly diverse and global community of change makers and developers.
Polkadot is a next-generation blockchain protocol that is designed to support multiple specialized blockchains with security and interoperability. Polkadot is designed as part of a broad vision for the next generation of the internet that returns control to individuals over internet monopolies. Keep up to date with developments in the Polkadot ecosystem by following us on Twitter or joining in the conversation on Reddit.
