HackX Buildathon: Participant Directions & Guidelines

The Vision

This isn't just another hackathon. It's a mission: to forge the world's first truly open-source, decentralized hackathon platform where everything lives on IPFS.

We're uniting the top builders in Web3 to co-create a platform that developers actually want to use. This isn’t about competing for short-term prizes. It’s about building something real and lasting—a core piece of infrastructure that will power 100+ hackathons and serve millions of developers globally.

To supercharge this mission, we’ve joined forces with Aethir, the leader in decentralized GPU infrastructure. They are bringing $20,000 in GPU credits to the table, ready to fuel the next wave of AI and compute-intensive projects built by our top teams.

Objective

The HackX Buildathon invites you to build a full-featured, open-source hackathon platform from scratch. This is your chance to not only showcase your skills but to leave a permanent mark on the ecosystem.

This is your chance to:

• 🏆 Win Your Share of $20,000 in Aethir GPU Credits to fuel your most ambitious projects.

• 🏗️ Forge the Official Platform that will run 100+ real-world hackathons, with full credit to you as the core builder.

• 👀 Get Noticed by Industry Leaders like Aethir's own Joe and other top judges who are actively scouting for exceptional talent.

• 🧑‍💼 Land Web3 Internships & Job Referrals through the extensive AthenaX and partner ecosystems.

• 🌱 Get Your Project Incubated by renowned partners like NounsDAO.

• 📦 Ship a Production-Grade Platform and add a truly portfolio-worthy project to your resume.

• 🚀 Become a Core Member of the Web3 builder community.

The top project will not only win—it will become the official AthenaX platform, giving full credit to the builders. Your code will become the foundation for a global community, a testament to your vision.
This is the beginning of something much bigger.

Want to win the $20,000 Aethir GPU Prize and other bounties? Make sure you fill out this form to confirm your eligibility! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeyXU3YpbS0VQdW_3raJOHtY3ALMgqdN_vEEWAAgq_DMXpKEQ/viewform

Project Scope: Key Challenges & Suggested Structure

You're not just building a hackathon platform—you're building a long-term open-source infrastructure that lives on IPFS. This means designing for usability and permanence. Below are the key challenges your project should aim to solve, along with suggested structures to guide your thinking. These are references, not strict rules—we welcome your innovation.

To provide a clearer direction, we've included a suggested structure for each challenge. This is a reference, not a strict requirement. You are encouraged to innovate and improve upon this blueprint.

Challenge: Hackathon Discovery

How can participants easily find, search, and filter active, upcoming, and past hackathons?

Suggested Structure:
Create a Hackathon Discovery Page as the central hub for all events. Include robust search, filter, and sort features. Consider supporting on-chain or IPFS-based metadata to enable decentralized event indexing.

Challenge: Event Details Presentation

What’s the best way to present all critical information about each hackathon?

Suggested Structure:
Design a Hackathon Detail Page with sections like:

• Overview

• Prizes & Judges

• Schedule

• Submitted Projects

Clearly display event tracks, judging criteria, and registration actions.
💡 Bonus: Store all event details (including prizes, timelines, and sponsor info) on IPFS for permanence.

Challenge: Organizer’s Workflow

How can organizers easily create and publish a new hackathon?

Suggested Structure:
Build a multi-step “Create a Hackathon” flow that collects key data: event name, description, prizes, schedule, judges, etc.
🎯 Optional upgrade: Let organizers publish their events with metadata stored on IPFS and track community interactions.

Challenge: Participant Submission Journey

How do participants register, build, and submit their projects?

Suggested Structure:
Provide a seamless “Create & Submit Project” flow, where developers can:

• Register

• Form teams

• Create a project page

• Upload code/demo

• Submit to a specific hackathon

💡 Suggestion: Host project submissions, code repos, demo videos, and team data on IPFS for a fully persistent dev record.

Challenge: Project Showcase & Community Interaction

How do we display submissions and support community engagement?

Suggested Structure: Include a Project Gallery within each Hackathon Detail Page. Projects should be filterable by tags, tech stack, votes, or track.

✨ Optional bonus: Allow viewers (or judges) to leave comments, upvotes, or IPFS-stored feedback on submissions.

Challenge: Judging & Evaluation Workflow

How do we provide a secure and intuitive interface for judges to review and score submissions within a specific timeframe?

Suggested Structure: Develop a dedicated Judge’s Dashboard accessible only to authorized judges. This interface should:

• Clearly display all submitted projects, filterable by track.

• Present each project's details, demo, and code repository alongside the official judging criteria.

• Provide a scoring form for judges to input scores and private feedback for each criterion.

• Enforce the judging period, locking the submission of scores after the deadline has passed. ✨ Enhance with: To ensure transparency and integrity, consider storing the final, timestamped scores and comments on IPFS, potentially signed by the judge's wallet to verify authenticity.

Challenge: User & Admin Management

What tools do participants and admins need to manage their activities?

Suggested Structure:

• User Dashboard for managing profiles, credentials, and submissions

• Admin Panel for moderating events and reviewing entries
  
  🌟 Enhance with: Persistent builder reputation systems and credential verification stored via IPFS.

Bonus Ideas (Optional, but impactful)

• Host your platform live for demo access

• Let judges score projects via UI, with scores/comments saved permanently

• Build in a team discovery feature to match devs pre-event

• Support organizer analytics and simple CMS tools

• Host your version online and make it demo-ready!

Technical Guidelines & Freedom We trust developers to make smart technical choices. Use whatever modern tech stack helps you build quickly and effectively—but please follow these principles to maintain the spirit of a real buildathon:

1. Your submission should be a full-stack web application—frontend, backend, and database (IPFS encouraged).

2. No low-code/no-code platforms or backendless site builders.

3. Build UI components yourself where possible—show off your design skills and product thinking, rather than relying on heavy pre-built kits.

4. Prioritize open-source values: transparency, extensibility, and documentation.
   
   HackX Solution (for inspiration)

   This is not a rulebook, but a vision of what a fully open, IPFS-native hackathon platform might look like:

   All stored on IPFS:

   • Project submissions and code repositories

   • Developer profiles and verified credentials

   • Team formation data

   • Hackathon event details and prize structures

   • Demo videos, decks, and pitch materials

   • Judge feedback and scores

   Key Features to Consider:

   • Permanent public records for every project

   • Developer reputation & history system

   • Team matching & builder network

   • Simple organizer tools with decentralized storage

   • Fully open-sourced and extensible infrastructure

Resources To provide some context, we may offer optional resources. These are for inspiration only and are not required design specifications.

• Reference figma design

Submission Guidelines Your submission must meet the following criteria:

• Must be a functioning full-stack web app.

• Must be open source with a public GitHub repo (MIT or similar license required).

• Must include:

  • A working frontend.

  • A functional backend and database.

  • Clear workflows for project submission and hackathon creation.

  • A README.md file with setup instructions, a description of the tech stack used, and team information.

  • Clean, well-commented code.

  • A working user authentication system.

• Must be deployed to a live URL (Vercel, Netlify, etc.).

Judging Criteria

🤝 Partners Confirmed:

- Partner List order does not imply preference or priority

@athenax_co — Web3 data & research platform

@nounsdao — daily‑minted pixel‑art NFT collection funding decentralized, community‑driven governance initiative

@0G_labs — The largest DeAI L1 ecosystem

@AethirCloud — Powering the Future of AI. Building Decentralised Cloud Compute Infrastructure

@babylonlabs_io — Leading BTCFi

@Bifrost — The Liquid Staking Standard for Any Chain

@billions_ntwk — The Human and AI Network

@BlockSec — Smart Contract Audit | Security Monitoring | AML/CFT (KYA/KYT) | Crypto Investigation

@filecoin — Filecoin ⨎ is the largest decentralized data storage marketplace, protocol, & cryptocurrency

@Gaianet_AI — Decentralizing AI Inferencing. Building a distributed and incentivized GenAI Agent Network

@GlitterProtocol —  A decentralized database

@helloSQD — The Data Lake for AI agents

@injective — The blockchain built for finance

@KaiaChain — Asia’s Gateway to Web3 - building the superapp blockchain designed for massive adoption

@LazAINetwork — Web3-native AI network redefining data for the AI era - making it verifiable, ownable, and composable to ensure human-aligned AI evolution

@LiskHQ — A purpose built L2 for builders in high-growth markets

@MetisL2 — Instant L2. AI Aligned, Human Defined

@SPACE ID — Building your onchain identity. For brands, humans, and AI

📜 Judges Confirmed:

- Judge List order does not imply preference or priority

@0xanmol — DevRel @EclipseFND

@0xbeary — DevRel @helloSQD

@0xgordian — DevRel Engineer & Sentinel @OasisProtocol (ex-Mode Network)

@austingriffith — educator at ethereum foundation, founder of @buidlguidl

@callMeRishhh — Developer Advocate, FILBuilders | Building Filecoin Orbit Community | 19x Global Web3 Hackathon Winner

@chuhanVcrypto — Injective APAC DevRel

@DefiDevrel — Global Builder@base; prev @monad_xyz @alchemylearn

@depindaddy — Founder of @ClusterProtocol

@Ethean_yu — building@OurTinTinLand; ex-@solvprotocol; passionate about AI agents, stablecoins, and RWAs

@fajarr0x — building secure transfer & payment @usestrapt & social savings protocol @goalfinancefun | @arbitrum dev ambassador | @ethjkt dev advocate | @dev3pack fellow

@gathin0x — DevRel @0G_labs, focused on growing the onchain developer ecosystem on the largest AI L1

@Gwenole_M — Web3 Traveler // DevRel@Consensys & @LineaBuild // prev DevRel@OraProtocol // @DevRelUni cohort 5 // Paris

@jasonyapri — @Lisk DevRel Ambassador

@JenksGuo — DevRel at @babylonlabs_io

@JoeDataCap — Aethir CMO

@Nabihas4 — Lead Researcher @LazAINetwork | @MetisL2

@neshtedle — Co-founder of Citadel.one, ex Cosmos Hub / DevRel / Validator expert & Ecosystem Strategist

@ravikantagrawal — Director of Growth and AI partnerships at Billions Network, prev at Polygon Labs

@Unnati_builds24 — DevRel at @LayerEdge; Member Avalanche Team1; Researcher; Passionate about Zk Proofs, Bitcoin and dev tools

@Web3jerry — Global Growth Lead @Bifrost

@weiraolilun — founder of According.work backed by MiraclePlus (formerly YC China)

@William — building@Cwallet Web3 tech expert With deep experience in DAO tooling, HR automation, and PaymentFi systems

Bonus Challenges

Consider implementing these features for extra points:

• Add light/dark mode.

• Add email notifications or webhooks.

• Add voting or leaderboard for projects.

• Implement live updates using sockets.

• Add mobile responsiveness.

Timeline

• July 30: Registration Opens

• August 21: Opening Ceremony / Hack-kickoff

• August 21 – September 20: Competition Period

• September 8 (23:59): Registration Closes

• September 20 (23:59): Submission Deadline

• September 21 – October 20: Judging Period

• October 21: Reward Distribution Begins

Final Submission

Please submit the following:

• GitHub Repo Link

• Live Demo (if deployed)

• 1–3 minute Demo Video (Loom, YouTube, etc.)

• Team member list and roles

Submit via the Hackathon dashboard or [Google Form link].

Prizes

• 1st Place: $1,000 USDC

• 2nd Place: $600 USDC

• 3rd Place: $500 USDC

Internship Opportunity

All Top 3 Winners will receive a fully paid full-time internship at AthenaX. You’ll work on real-world Web3 products, grow with experienced mentors, and help shape our ecosystem.

Official Platform Bonus

The winning project will be adopted as the official AthenaX Hackathon Platform, used to host real events — with your GitHub credited and your repo featured!

📣 Community Support from:

@0G Labs

@Aethir

@aimonetwork

@AutoStaking

@Bifrost_Network

@Bitget Wallet

@BlockSec

@ClusterProtocol

@Injective

@SPACE ID

@Filecoin

@SeeDAO

@CoinRank_io |

@corrai_official

@CwalletOfficial

@DeAgentAI

@DelphinusLab

@openbuildxyz

@OurTinTinLand

@WorkWorkOrg

@youbetdao

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