Recently, we reported on 1776’s look at how Brooklyn’s tech scene might take a page from Dubai’s. Now, it looks like more links are being forged between the two.

The government of the United Arab Emirates is sponsoring a virtual hackathon, which is open to participants worldwide, that focuses on blockchain. Look on the registration page and you’ll see a familiar name from Brooklyn’s tech scene: Bushwick blockchain studio ConsenSys, which is providing educational resources and developer support for participants. The company also provided input in formulating the challenges for the hackathon, Rahilla Zafar, ConsenSys’ director of strategic research, told Technical.ly. The challenges include developing an alternative to national IDs, combating online fraud and streamlining health services.

“The UAE [has] set the most ambitious goals in terms of blockchain adoption of any country in the world,” Zafar, who has previously written about the country’s blockchain initiatives, stated in an email. (The Crown Prince of Dubai has set a goal for the emirate to conduct all its transactions via blockchain by 2020.)

Under the directives of @HHShkMohd,Dubai will become the first government in the world to execute all its transactions on Blockchain by2020 pic.twitter.com/mEIP0M5Xmm — Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) October 5, 2016

Winners of the hackathon will receive up to $100,000, in addition to an all-expenses-paid trip to the World Government Summit, which will be held in Dubai in February and is dedicated to addressing global governance challenges. President Barack Obama, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Ban Ki-Moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations, are among the summit’s previous speakers.


Act fast and there might still time to enter the hackathon: Registration closes on Monday.

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