Armada – a team developing a supply-chain decentralized application (dApp) using NKN (NKN) and QuarkChain (QKC)’s software development kit (SDK) – has won Sunday’s BlockchainAwakens Hackathon in Silicon Valley.
Sponsored by the three blockchain-based platforms of QuarkChain, NKN, and Hyperledger, the BlockchainAwakens Hackathon attracted some of the crypto and blockchain space’s most familiar names.
All were there to witness the quality of technical talent on display, for it is these minds who will be leading the next wave of dApps built atop blockchain 3.0-oriented protocols. Per this announcement from crypto startup Distributed Credit Chain (DCC), “hackers registered include[d] engineers from Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Uber, [and] PayPal.”
Organized by ABC Blockchain Community and co-hosted by Cardinal Pitch Club (CPC) and DoraHacks, the stature of the weekend’s keynote speakers and judges was exemplary. Among those featured were Dr. Whitfield Diffie (Chief Scientist, Cryptic Labs) and Prof. Dawn Song (CEO & Co-Founder, Oasis Labs).
Congrats to the 1st place winner of #BlockchainAwakens hackathon, who developed a supply chain dApp on QuarkChain! 👏👏 Thank you @community_abc for organizing this great hackathon in Silicon Valley! We are happy to be one of the three sponsoring platforms 🙌@NKN_ORG @Hyperledger pic.twitter.com/JInu1TlSFy
— QuarkChain (@Quark_Chain) August 6, 2018
The team at Binance Labs, too, were heavily involved at the weekend’s BlockchainAwakens Hackathon. Some of the Binance-owned blockchain technology incubator’s key personnel were in attendance, including Ella Zhang (Head), Teck Chia (Partner), and Christy Choi (Director). Further strengthening Binance’s presence at the hackathon, Yi He – the co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange giant – also stopped by.
As for the victorious Armada, who claim to be the first blockchain solution to feature modularized supply chains – which makes for improved cost efficiency and collaboration between companies – they were rewarded with 0.5 bitcoin (BTC). The team also received a share of the 2 BTC that was to be partitioned between teams based on votes.
Given the top-tier crypto venture capital partners and investors that sponsored and/or attended the BlockchainAwakens Hackathon (e.g., Draper Dragon, DHVC, 8 Decimal Capital), it appears probable that Armada will attract strong interest in the coming weeks.
With blockchain-oriented venture fund Dynamic Fintech Group (DGF) listed as the hackathon’s special partner, one wonders whether they are entitled to approach the Armada team members before any of their competitors – assuming they wish to do so.
Despite not winning, participating hackers from BlockchainAwakens would likely have derived at least some benefit from the weekend’s competition. The chance of mentorships arising from the California-based hackathon are a real possibility, especially given the non-investment-oriented sponsors and partners featured well-regarded crypto projects like DxChain (DX), Elastos (ELA), and Ankr Network (ANKR).
Meet DxChain Chief Scientist Wei Wang in #blockchainawakens hackathon workshop. 💪💪Waiting for talented people to join us. #dxchain #Blockchain pic.twitter.com/wKFy2oufNS
— DxChain Network (@DxChainNetwork) August 5, 2018
