Open Campus, a decentralized education protocol, has recently unveiled a $1 million hackathon aimed at promoting the development of decentralized applications (dApps) on the EDU Chain. According to a report by Worldmetrics, the global blockchain in education market is expected to reach $1.34 billion by 2023, with 59% of higher education institutions considering adopting blockchain technology.
Open Campus’s Codex Hackathon series aims to support dApp development within the education sector using the EDU Chain. The mainnet is scheduled to launch later this year. An Open Campus spokesperson stated that “EDU Chain is the first decentralized blockchain for education built by Open Campus and is designed to drive the democratization of education and empower all participants to contribute to and benefit from the decentralized future of education.”
The hackathon, set to commence on July 8, 2024, is being supported by prominent firms such as Animoca Brands, TinyTap, and ForbesWeb3. It will span three semesters, with the first semester focusing on launching decentralized finance (DeFi) and infrastructure applications. The second semester will concentrate on the development of education dApps, while the third will revolve around creating education finance dApps and on-chain credential applications.
Participants in the hackathon will have the opportunity to win a prize pool of $1 million worth of EDU tokens, the native cryptocurrency of the EDU Chain. Additionally, winners will secure a place in a specialized developers cohort of the Open Campus accelerator program. This not only provides them with an additional $100,000 in funding per project but also offers compliance assistance, marketing support, and developer guidance.
The dApps developed during the hackathon will be accessible to over 500,000 Open Campus ID holders, who possess a decentralized identifier (DID). The spokesperson emphasized that being part of the Open Campus accelerator program and having exposure to Open Campus ID learners will increase the reach and impact of the winning dApps within the education sector, thanks to additional funding and support.
This announcement follows Animoca Brands’ recent plans to acquire more EDU tokens from the open market and Open Campus’s successful $3.15 million funding round led by Binance Labs in November 2023.
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