TBD, a division of Block, has announced the launch of the TBD Hackathon, a competition designed to address gaps in payment systems across Africa. Held in collaboration with the Africa Bitcoin Conference, the hackathon aims to drive innovation and technological advancement in Africa’s financial sector by leveraging the tbDEX open-source protocol.
The submission period for the hackathon opened on July 31, 2024, and will close on September 15, 2024. The event will culminate in a final competition from December 9-11, 2024, in Nairobi, Kenya, where the Africa Bitcoin Conference will take place.
The hackathon invites African developers and innovators to create payment applications using the tbDEX protocol, which seeks to resolve key challenges in African payment systems, such as limited banking access, high transaction fees, and inefficient cross-border payments. The protocol enables users to connect with wallet providers and financial institutions of their choice, offering competitive exchange rates and fees.
Participants in the hackathon will form teams of up to two people and use the tbDEX SDK to develop their projects. Six finalist teams will be selected and flown to Nairobi to pitch their innovations to a panel of judges. The top three projects will receive prizes in Bitcoin:
- First Prize: $15,000 in BTC
- Second Prize: $10,000 in BTC
- Third Prize: $5,000 in BTC
Angie Jones, Global VP of Developer Relations for TBD, encouraged developers and entrepreneurs across Africa to participate, emphasizing that the hackathon is an opportunity to create the next generation of financial tools for the continent.
For more information and to register for the hackathon, interested participants can visit the official TBD Hackathon page.