Announcing Cosmos’s HackATOM Seoul

HackAtom Seoul, Organized by Interchain in collaboration with the talented KryptoSeoul team, will be our first in-person Hackathon since 2019 and the first Cosmos-branded event in the Asian continent since the pandemic began. This HackATOM will not only be the perfect chance for developers to start their journey in our ecosystem with a bang, but it will also be a real moment of sharing and growing for our entire community.

Cosmonauts, it’s been over a year since the Stargate upgrade, the Cosmos Big-Bang that announced the start of the Interchain Era, and since then our ecosystem has faced many challenges but, despite our differing views and opinions, we have always been united in a common front when the moment called for it, acknowledging that our diversities are what make our Interchain Ecosystem thriving.

It is the desire to grow together that inspired HackATOM 2022, which will take place at Dreamplus Startup Building in Seoul, South Korea, on July 29 to 31.

This Cosmos Hackathon will be a temple for devs approaching Cosmos for the first time and their ideas, the launching pad for new and exciting projects, and a valuable moment of sharing for Core Contributors, Validators, Teams, and Community to meet each other. There will be many educational workshops (which will be captured and reposted via our YouTube channel so that they can be easily accessible to all), working sessions with mentors, and an awesome afterparty for all Cosmos & friends attendees.

👉🏻 Register Now 👈🏾

Let’s dive into what makes this event so exciting!

Main Challenges:

🏆 Interchain Price: Interoperability

🏆 Hub Prize: Interchain Security

🏆 Application Price: Cosmos SDK

each of these challenges has these prizes:

• 1st Place USD $50k in ATOM
• 2nd Place USD $30k in ATOM
• 3rd Place USD $10k in ATOM (two winners)

For a total prize pool of USD $300k in ATOM

Sponsor Challenges:

🏆 Osmosis Prize: CosmWasm (Permissioned)

• 1st Place USD $50k in OSMO
• 2nd Place USD $30k in OSMO
• 3rd Place USD $10k in OSMO (two winners)

for a total prize pool of USD $100k in OSMO

🏆 Juno Prize: CosmWasm (Permissionless)

• 1st Place USD $50k in JUNO
• 2nd Place USD $30k in JUNO
• 3rd Place USD $10k in JUNO (two winners)

for a total prize pool of USD $100k in JUNO

🏆 Evmos Prize: Solidity-related challenge

• 1st Place USD $50k in EVMOS
• 2nd Place USD $30k in EVMOS
• 3rd Place USD $10k in EVMOS (two winners)

for a total prize pool of USD $100k in EVMOS

🎖 Critics Prize:

Dreamplus Award: 5 MacBook Pro

5 MacBook Pro will be given by the Dreamplus Team to the 5 individuals who will distinguish themselves the most as per talent and capabilities.
Guidelines and judging criteria about this specific prize will be explained during HackATOM Opening Ceremony.

Persistence Award: USD $5k in USDC

The best CosmWasm project of the whole competition [tracks Juno ~ Osmosis]. The winner will be selected by Ethan Frey

Interchain Award: Speech Slot at Buidl Asia main stage

The best project submitted of the whole HackATOM as per judges’ choice will have the great honor to give a speech at Buidl Asia Main Stage

About Judges:

Our jury is composed of some of the most renowned masterminds from the Interchain:

• Zaki Manian | Co-Founder Sommelier & Iqlusion
• Billy Rennekamp | Board of Management Member & Cosmos Hub Product Lead at Interchain
• Noam Cohen | Developer Relations Lead at Interchain
• Jelena Djuric | Interchain Security Product Manager & Marketing Lead at Informal Systems
• Josh Lee | Co-Founder Osmosis & Chainapsis (Keplr Wallet)
• Ethan Frey | Founder CosmWasm (Confio team)
• Nic Z. | Co-Founder Evmos
• Ismail Khoffi | Co-Founder & CTO Celestia Labs
• Seonung Park | Manager & Blockchain Accelerator at Dreamplus
• Chjango Unchained | Host Interchain.FM

Their diverse backgrounds ensure they are able to evaluate all projects submitted by hackers to their potential fully. At the same time, their experience and talent offer participants the chance to improve their skills and find a place in our ecosystem.

About the Mentors:

Throughout the competition, hackers will be supported by Cosmos Core Contributors, who will be ready to help participants flesh out their ideas and present them effectively:

• Thomas Dekeyser | IBC Team at Interchain
• Rafa Aviles | Interchain Builders Program
• Dean Tribble | Agoric
• Dan | Informal Systems
• Joon | Osmosis
• Matt | Osmosis
• Cosmostation Team
• Crescent Team

…and more!

Since the majority of HackAtom participants are expected to speak Korean as their first language, we have made sure to include mentors from our Korean Community to offer support to hackers in a way that can make them the most comfortable & facilitate communication with the judges.

HackATOM Seoul represents the first step toward the realization of a dream for our hackers, which is why as the setting for this incredible trip we could only have chosen Dreamplus Gangnam, a place that has seen the birth of and is home to some of the most successful startups in all of South Korea.

As the Cosmos Ecosystem expands more and more both in terms of stack and possibilities, we thought of introducing a few workshops that can cover all the skills needed to launch and develop your project and start contributing actively to the Interchain. Here you can read a few of the scheduled workshops, but you can find the full agenda available on the website:

• IBC workshop with Thomas Dekeyser | IBC Team Developer Relations at Interchain
• CosmJS workshop with Noam Cohen | Developer Relations Lead at Interchain
• Interchain Security Workshop with Dan | Informal System
• CosmWasm (Osmosis & Juno) workshops | Confio
• Crescent workshop Hyungyeon Lee | CEO/Co-founder Crescent

Many other things await you, including an exclusive introduction to Cosmos by our very own Ethan Buchman, Cosmos Founder, talks, an afterparty, and more, but if you need another nudge before confirming your participation keep reading…

Devs:

Developers, have you long dreamed of building your project using the Cosmos Stack and working firsthand with Interchain Security? Would you like to present your ideas to the Cosmos OGs and work together on how to make them winning solutions? Are you looking for a stepping stone to the Interchain? Do you want to revamp your project and make it IBC-compatible?

This competition is exactly what you need!

USD $300k in ATOM just for the main challenges, to which you can add the sponsor-supported challenges for a grand total of USD $600k+ in tokens!

Want more? The chance to get to know Core Team members (many of whom are actively hiring) by showcasing your skills and talent, thus providing the best business card for those looking around to find their next opportunity. Winning projects that stand out for usability, potential, and/or value carried to our ecosystem will be brought to the attention of Interchain’s Grant Manager and Ecosystem Manager, who will examine whether there are elements for consideration of a follow-up grant.

And if you are not among the winners? No worries, the Interchain Builders program is looking for promising projects to support from the initial stages to go-to-market.

👉🏻 Register Now 👈🏾

Core Contributors & Cosmos Ecosystem Teams:

So much anticipation for this event!

I know you are looking forward to attending/being present on-site for a chance to see the talent in action to identify those who may fit the vision you have for growing your team. This is our chance to show the world the true colors of the Interchain and the tangible value and innovation it represents.

Nothing is as effective as getting closer to people and giving them a way to experience firsthand what it means to be part of the IBCGang in addition to the whole incredible network of support and sharing that underpins our ecosystem. We would also like to emphasize how important it is for all of us to get together in a place we feel is “home” to strengthen our bonds and, more so, grow by learning from each other, and coordinate on what are the next steps for our beloved ecosystem.

👉🏻 Become a Sponsor 👈🏾

Community:

Cosmonauts, this is our event! HackATOM is the perfect place to see new talent blossom in our ecosystem. Still, it is also, and more importantly, a perfect time to build together the foundation for a future of collaboration and support between our Interchain community. Not only that, this is another important step toward a Cosmos Community taking the reins and getting involved itself. We look forward to your ideas and participation to make this an unforgettable event. I personally look forward to meeting again with our incredible Cosmos Community in Korea.

These years have been trying in many ways, and in many ways continue to be, but your dedication and passion have never failed, and this is clearly visible in the results you have managed to achieve. Regardless of our differences, Cosmos is a family and together we will rise up stronger than before by supporting each other. This is Cosmos, this is us!

👉🏻 Join the Community on Discord 👈🏾

👩🏻‍🚀👨🏾‍🚀 Join us for the first Cosmos Hub Community Call!

Past editions of HackAtom have highlighted and brought closer to our ecosystem some of the most active contributors on Cosmos:

• [HackAtom Berlin 2019] CosmWasm: multi-project collaboration with developers from Regen Network, TruStory, Althea, IOV and WalletConnect
• [HackAtom Berlin 2019] Chorus One + Sikka drafted the first idea of liquid staking for Cosmos
• [HackAtom Berlin 2019] B-harvest proof of concept of what we now know as Decentralized EXchange
• [HackAtom Berlin 2019] Agoric submitted Swingset
• [HackAtom Seoul 2019] laying the groundwork for the Chainapsis team, creators of Keplr wallet, and genesis contributors to Osmosis.
• [HackAtom Seoul 2019] Forbole team presented the first prototype of Desmos
• [HackAtom Seoul 2019] Joe Bowman is now Quicksilver co-founder

just to mention a few of them.

We are confident that this edition will shine the spotlight toward incredible new talents, but it will also be the perfect opportunity for those within the ecosystem who want to reinvent themselves using new solutions such as Interchain Security, expected to land in the Cosmos Hub after the HackATOM, CosmWasm, and all the other incredible opportunity offered by the Cosmos Stack.

Cosmos has made decentralization one of its flagship values, and we believe the Cosmos Hackathon should fully reflect its community. And not only that, a great many participants from past hackathons have brought undeniable value to our ecosystem, and I believe that one of the strongest points of a community is to be able to recognize and value true talent. And support it.

That’s why we thought we’d request the total prizes of the main challenges from the Cosmos Hub community pool. Juno and Osmosis readily offered in turn to be sponsors for the CosmWasm tracks. Many other foundations from across the ecosystem contribute to creating the first true Community HackATOM in Cosmos history. HackATOM is no longer an event organized by one team, instead, it is an event that truly sprang from the coming together of all of us, fully representing the evolution of Cosmos from individual isolated chains to Interchain.

HackATOM is reborn like a phoenix and brings us to once again savor the adrenaline-fueled atmosphere that pervades these in-person competitions. Cosmonauts, get ready to re-experience the magic that only Interchain gatherings like ours can bring!

See U There♥️

Cat 🐾

Do you have any other questions?
Please leave a comment below or join us for the First Cosmos Hub Community Call scheduled for June 29 at 5UTC!

Want to support the event by getting involved and making this HackAtom even more epic?
Write to @catdotfish on Twitter or Telegram!

A big shoutout to our amazing Sponsors & Ecosystem Partners that made this possible:
Interchain Foundation, Informal Systems, Osmosis, Juno, Evmos, Agoric, Confio, Celestia, Stargaze, Crescent, Cosmostation, Provalidator, Dreamplus, Konstellation, Persistence, Citizen Cosmos, Konstellation, Interchain Builders Program, Interchain.fm, and all our Community Partners! (more to come)

Special Thanks to:
Erika Kang, Zoltan, Noam Cohen, Billy Rennekamp, Catherine Akinyele, Alan Traeger, Syed Choudhury, Udit Vira

Announcing Cosmos’s HackATOM Seoul was originally published in Cosmos Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.