TBD hackathon: Block’s TBD launches competition to address Africa’s Payment Systems gaps

TBD, which is part of Block, has launched the TBD Hackathon competition in collaboration with the Africa Bitcoin Conference aimed at developing systems to bridge the African Payment Systems gaps.

The exciting TBD hackathon competition is designed to drive innovation, creativity, and technological advancement of payments in Africa using the tbDEX open-source protocol. The submission of entries for the TBD hackathon opened on 31 July 2024 and will close on 15 September 2024.

The TBD Hackathon initiative is aimed at unleashing the potential of African developers and innovators and will culminate on 9-11 December 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya, at the Africa Bitcoin Conference. The competition will bring together the best builders and entrepreneurs to address issues in payment systems across Africa.

Currently, many African countries face challenges such as limited access to banking services, high transaction fees, and inefficient cross-border payments. TBD’s open-source trust protocol, tbDEX, aims to address these problems by connecting users to wallet providers and financial institutions of their choice, surfacing competitive exchange rates and fees.

Details of the TBD Hackathon Challenge

Developers across Africa will be tasked with developing a payment application that leverages the power of tbDEX.

When developers Join the hackathon, they will be required to develop a wallet application integrated with tbDEX and will be provided with a sandbox of example PFIs (Participating Financial Institutions) to test their applications’ functionality. Participants will work in teams of up to two people and are expected to build their projects using the tbDEX SDK.

Rewards for top innovators in the challenge

Six teams of finalists will be chosen and flown to Nairobi, Kenya to attend the Africa Bitcoin Conference and pitch what they’ve built to our panel of judges. The top three projects will be awarded prizes as follows:

• First Prize: $15,000 in BTC
• Second Prize: $10,000 in BTC
• Third Prize: $5,000 in BTC

“We encourage developers, entrepreneurs, and innovators from all over Africa to participate,” Angie Jones, Global VP of Developer Relations for TBD, said. “Whether you are a seasoned professional or a passionate newcomer, the TBD Hackathon is the perfect platform to build the next generation of financial tools for the continent.”

Click here to sign up for the TBD Hackathon.