A hackathon is an event in which computer programmers come together to build things, often in teams. Hackathons are generally 24 hours long or longer, and they sometimes have a specific focus. Bitcoin is often used in hackathons, such as at Money20/20’s hackathon which focused on finance, where a few Bitcoin companies offered their APIs to hackers for projects. From January 9th to 11th, a Hackathon will focus on Bitcoin: the Miami Bitcoin Hackathon.
Also read: Bitcoin Found Its Way to McDonald’s London Hackathon
The Hackathon will take place from January 9th to 11th in Miami, and is organized by Blockchain Beach, a “group of educators, entrepreneurs, colleagues and enthusiasts who all share a common passion for blockchain technology and decentralized cryptocurrency.” The exact location of the event is yet to be announced. Judging will be entrepreneurs Peter Martinez, Doug Carrillo, and Thomas Lackner. The top three places (named Satoshi, Finney, and Dorian, in homage to Satoshi Nakamoto, Hal Finney, and Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto) will win cash prizes of $10,000, $3,500, and $1,000 respectively, paid in bitcoins. They will also win other prizes such as a Trezor Hardware Bitcoin Wallet . The hackathon will occur two weeks after the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl , and a week before the North American Bitcoin Conference , both of which are also in Florida. In a post on reddit , Blockchain Beach explains that the date is “strategically planned” around these events.
The event is sponsored by many companies, including Alarm Grid and the Digital Currency Council. A full list of sponsors is viewable at the hackathon’s website . The website explains that the hackathon is focused on Bitcoin development because “[t]he technology of Bitcoin is revolutionary because it allows anyone to create digital scarcity without need for trusted third parties”, and “this provides exceptional potential and opportunities for so many revolutionary applications.”
It will be exciting to see what people build at this hackathon. Bitcoin is still such a young idea, and Blockchain technology can be used for so many things, such as lotteries and banking.
What do you think about this hackathon? Comment below!
Image of downtown Miami from Wikimedia Commons.