Developers looking to launch their career building on the BSV blockchain should take a look at the latest sCrypt Hackathon, which is accepting applications now. The sCrypt Hackathon is a two-part event with a face-to-face introduction segment running from March 16 to 17 in San Francisco and the main online component from March 18 to April 18, 2024.
The sCrypt Hackathon’s theme will be smart contracts (using sCrypt’s environment) and token development using Ordinals. This follows the recent addition of support for Ordinals on sCrypt’s platform, completing the vision for contracts and tokens all running on the Bitcoin network.
Calling all Builders! sCrypt 2024 Hackathon is ON! Come hack with top bitcoin coders and win prizes. Register for free now at https://t.co/7RAZWDCFcT. More details coming SOON™️. pic.twitter.com/thXNysUUC4
— xhliu (@sinoTrinity) February 21, 2024
Speaking to CoinGeek, sCrypt CEO Xiaohui Liu said he wants the hackathon to become a regular event on the BSV blockchain calendar, giving budding developers the chance to focus on the exciting new technology.
The June 2023 sCrypt Hackathon at the University of Exeter drew some 80 students, followed by a Chinese-language event at the University of Fudan. Then, the Zero Knowledge Proof online hackathon had close to 1,000 participants.
“I want this to become a recurring event for Bitcoin developers and make building on Bitcoin fun,” Liu said. “It aims to create an environment that allows builders to experiment with new technologies, collaborate with peers, and share building experience. COPA and
NAR are interesting to discuss, but technology will still be the #1 factor for Bitcoin to succeed at the end of day, IMO.”
“I expect to see all kinds of apps that combine sCrypt and Ordinals, which were impossible before,” he added.
There’s an evening meetup for participants on March 15, just before the two-day in-person conference event, which will be live-streamed. The second, longer segment, running from March to April, will be online (hosted at DEVPOST, like the previous event) and is open to everyone.
To register, just fill out an application here.
Liu said competition for developers in the BSV blockchain space is heating up, with talent becoming “several orders of magnitudes easier to find,” thanks to sCrypt moving to TypeScript/Javascript. This means Web2 developers from any background can now program Bitcoin-based smart contracts with the knowledge and tools they already have without learning a new programming language.
He added that he’s particularly interested in projects that tokenize assets of real (rather than just speculative) value and control their transfers with smart contracts.
The event at the University of Exeter last year was a broader exploration of what’s possible with smart contracts on the blockchain, looking at issues including selective disclosure using encrypted data and making the most of sCrypt’s development tools combined with BSV blockchain’s speed and scalability.
Projects were judged on how close they came to producing a working product and front-end, how well they utilized BSV blockchain and sCrypt capabilities, and how professionally they presented their ideas.
The sCrypt Hackathon produced blockchain-based car rental platform DriveOnChain, solar energy trading marketplace SolarBitTrade, and a tracker to prevent misuse of government grants and allowance funds called SVer.
Aside from the opportunity to build and receive feedback on real projects, sCrypt Hackathon winners will also receive prizes to assist them in turning their ideas into full-time, money-earning careers that benefit real people in the real world. As always, BSV blockchain’s scalability, affordability, security, and speed are all available to help create the kind of digital economy Bitcoin promised all those years ago—without unnecessary hindrances and artificially set limits.
Watch: sCrypt Hackathon at University of Exeter—Building smart contracts with blockchain
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