EasyA Hackathon Offers $250,000 in Prize Money for Developers at Consensus 2024

“Developers, developers, developers!”

You’ve probably heard Steve Ballmer’s famous chant from his 2006 Microsoft Windows speech, in which he exalted how important developers were to the Microsoft ecosystem. In fact, he chanted the word “Developers” almost 14 times without rest, working up a huge sweat as he paced across the stage with excitement.

Ballmer realised how important developers would be to Microsoft’s long-term success. At the time, Microsoft was far from the behemoth it’s become today and Ballmer wanted Microsoft to become the home for developers: no matter what they wanted to build, Ballmer wanted them to build it with Microsoft.

Fast forward to today, and Ballmer’s words ring truer than ever. Blockchains live and die by the developers they attract. Without developers, who’s going to build on all those beautiful Layer 1s or Layer 2s (and even Layer 3s)? And not just any developer. Blockchains need to attract the best developers to thrive.

That’s why for the first time in history, we decided to host an in-person hackathon at Consensus and bring the developers to town.

To bring the best developers to Consensus, CoinDesk teamed up with EasyA, the Web3 learning app with one of the fastest growing developer communities globally. Together, we’ve picked the world’s best developers to hack with us on the world’s leading blockchains for three days.

Hosted right above the Consensus conference itself, the EasyA Consensus Hackathon is a melting pot of the world’s best developers not only across the U.S. but also globally. EasyA have invited their community, known as gigabrains (of which there are nearly 1 million around the world), to apply for the hackathon. And with thousands having already applied to hack in-person at Consensus this year, the gigabrains are certainly excited about the opportunities to build.

The stakes have never been higher. The top 500 developers will compete for over $200,000 in prize money and millions more in grants and VC funding. The ultimate goal? Not just attract the best developers to Consensus but also see them build long-lasting projects across the ecosystems participating.

EasyA alumni have already founded projects valued at over $2.5 billion and won funding from top VCs like a16z, Founders Fund, YC and many more. Just last month, Cognition AI, founded by EasyA hackathon winner Walden Yan, was valued at $2 billion. Walden first pitched his idea for DALLE on the blockchain at an EasyA hackathon at Harvard. Two years later, he’s built a transformative company..

If you’re a developer, don’t miss your chance to be part of Consensus history by participating in our first ever in-person hackathon.

Apply here for your chance to secure one of our remaining spots at our EasyA Consensus hackathon.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.