DECENT launches a successful 1st blockchain hackathon in Slovakia

Bratislava, May 28, 2018 – With all the “buzz” around blockchain technology these days, businesses are pushing hard to enter the space and even harder to obtain a viable, real-world ready product. Blockchain is still in the early stages of adoption, mostly driven by startups, although some large companies like IBM, Walmart and Visa have opened research and development operations and are starting to get their feet wet in the innovative tech as well.

Even still, we have yet to see many real-world use cases or actual products using blockchain technology. However, this might change very soon due to a new phenomenon pumping life into accelerated production and developmental efforts, called “hackathons”.

The term is a portmanteau of “hack” and “marathon” (hack as in diving into progressing technologies, not as a criminal act, and marathon as in an endurance style event since they usually last only 1 or 2 days without many breaks). This kind of creative challenge is a powerful way of getting ideas and projects off the ground, in a very short time period.

Hackathons draw in programmers, developers, graphic designers, and other tech savvy professionals from around the world to collaborate together on new projects with a specific industry or goal in mind. Although they aren’t anything new in the technology sector and have been around since Canada circa 1999, some blockchain companies are applying this old school tool to the new technology and it seems to be very advantageous.

DECENT, creators of the proprietary blockchain technology and platform called DCore, just concluded their first hackathon of a global series called the Blockchain Pioneers Hackathon 2018. The event was held in Bratislava, Slovakia and showcased 5 teams of up to 5 tech savvy blockchain enthusiasts each, competing against each other to develop the best viable product running on DCore and a chance to take home 20,000 DCT (DECENT’s own cryptocurrency).

The teams had approximately 25 hours to collaborate and develop their projects. DECENT employees were on site offering assistance where needed to fuel their creativity. The event co-host, 0100 Campus, had meals, snacks and refreshments on standby for all participants. Once the event came to a close, each team pitched what they had created to a panel of DECENT’s leading blockchain developers and a winner was chosen.

The winning project, Werbifi, is a marketing platform designed to sell advertisements on public Wi-Fi captive portals. The majority of the team traveled from Vienna to participate in the hackathon, however, they met and collaborated with a backend developer from Slovakia along with DCore blockchain experts at the event to create the infrastructure for their innovative platform.

“We are thrilled to be the winners of the first hackathon organized by DECENT. Blockchain technology makes perfect sense for our project and, although we had no experience with DCore prior to this event, we found it very user-friendly and are definitely planning to use it in the future.” said Mihajlo Nikodijevic, CEO of Werbifi. The other members from the winning team are Aleksandar Nikodijevic, Gordan Pendic and Marek Krajcovic.

The other 4 teams also developed impressive blockchain projects covering solutions in areas such as fake news, the car sales marketplace, food ingredient tracking services, and academic networking. Any of these ideas can benefit from blockchain technology and hackathons are a great tool to help their potential become reality.

Matej Michalko, Founder, CEO, and President of DECENT, tuned into the live stream of the event while he was handling business affairs in Asia, and his excitement was no less than as if he had been there in person. “The first edition of the Blockchain Pioneers Hackathon 2018 is in the books and I’d like to give a special thank you to all who participated and made it a huge success! Congratulations to Werbifi for their outstanding project and taking home the grand prize! Good job guys!”

The Blockchain Pioneers Hackathon 2018 will continue to Berlin and Shanghai, amongst other cities, over the next few months and the winners of each event will compete again in a grand finale later this year. DECENT is at the forefront of a new era in blockchain adoption, and utilizing tools like hackathons can prove to set them ahead of the pack.

Only time will tell if these projects will achieve their goals, but the potential for success is definitely there. Do not be surprised if more companies follow DECENT’s lead and host their own series of hackathons in order to drive innovation and adoption of the next generation technology that is blockchain.

About DECENT

DECENT is a non-profit foundation that has developed an open source blockchain ecosystem focused on helping businesses adapt to a decentralized future. With their proprietary technology and platform called DCore, DECENT can improve a wide range of real-world applications, especially content distribution networks.

About DCore

DCore is the blockchain you can actually build on. Developed by DECENT, this platform is set to revolutionize the way digital data is exchanged by providing simplified, decentralized and borderless content and data distribution for applications (dApps). DCore is an open-source solution for companies looking to fast-track their own blockchain-based ideas.

About 0100 Campus

0100 Campus is an international co-working space for early stage startups, aspiring entrepreneurs and students, based in Mlynska dolina, Bratislava. We bring principles of sharing and cooperation to the community, introduce the concept of building companies and following an entrepreneurial journey to students and youth, and organise workshops for pre-university individuals to develop their skills.