# Introduction With the public code release for Balancer v3 now realized, are you ready to dive deep into our new simplified DX-centric architecture and unleash your creativity? The Balancer v3 Hookathon is here, inviting developers from across DeFi to explore and innovate with the cutting-edge hooks framework. This event is a unique opportunity to experiment, collaborate, and contribute to AMM innovation alongside Balancer’s core devs and vibrant community. **Why Hooks in Balancer v3?** The hooks framework in Balancer v3 is a game-changing feature that provides unprecedented flexibility in designing Automated Market Makers (AMMs). It allows developers to: 1. **Customize Pool Behavior:** Hooks enable the customization of pool logic at various stages of the pool lifecycle, offering the ability to create specialized AMM strategies. 2. **Enhance Liquidity Management:** With hooks, you can implement dynamic fee structures, innovative yield strategies, and more, optimizing liquidity for different use cases. 3. **Expand the Design Space:** Whether it's integrating new financial mechanisms or creating unique user experiences, hooks open up a vast design space for experimentation and innovation. **What to Expect from the Hackathon** The Balancer v3 Hooks Hackathon is focused exclusively on exploring the potential of hooks. Participants will have the chance to: - Develop Innovative Hook Implementations: Use the hooks framework to create new features, from custom fee mechanisms to advanced liquidity management tools that could grow into a highly profitable financial product - Collaborate and Learn: Work alongside a community of talented developers, exchange ideas, and receive support from Balancer's team of experts. - Showcase Your Creativity: Present your unique hook-based projects and gain recognition in the DeFi community. # **Project Ideas** For some more inspiration, visit the [Balancer Hook Directory's Ideas page](https://hooks.balancer.fi/ideas.html). # Prizes and Opportunities The most creative and impactful projects will be rewarded with $BAL prizes plus the chance to gain visibility within the DeFi space and the possibility of scaling up to a fully functional, audited product. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your skills and leave your mark on the future expansion of the Balancer ecosystem. | Hook Development | Educational content | | :------ | :------ | | 1st Prize: $7k USD<br>2nd Prize: $5k USD<br>3rd Prize: $3k USD | 2 x Prizes: $1k each | *All prizes paid in $BAL equivalent* # Timeline - **Hookathon kick-off** - September 9th, 2024 - **Office Hours (Discord)** - Weekly Thursday @ 1pm UTC - **Final Submissions Close** - 11:59pm UTC October 20th, 2024 # Rules - Teams can have a maximum of 4 contributors. - All submissions must be submitted by the deadline. - **All submissions must be built during the hackathon**. Projects built before the hackathon started are not valid. - Teams can enter multiple submissions. - Assistance can be sought through the [**v3 Hooks Channel on Balancer Discord**](https://discord.balancer.fi/), but judges and those providing technical assistance will not give advice on which hook to build in order to win. - Wallet addresses must be supplied with submissions for screening purposes. Flagged addresses or those from sanctioned countries will not be accepted. - Each team must complete a feedback survey to qualify for judging. # Judges - **Jeff** - Balancer Labs - **Juani** - Balancer Labs - **Matt** - Balancer Labs - **Mike** - Balancer Maxi - **Tritium** - Balancer Maxi # About Balancer and V3 Three years ago, we launched Balancer v2, a permissionless DeFi infrastructure to empower Automated Market Maker (AMM) innovation. While v2’s versatility has been a success, its unopinionated architecture has resulted in complex custom pools that inconsistently reimplement core design patterns, posing challenges for developers, integrators, and off-chain tooling. Balancer v3’s architecture focuses on simplicity, flexibility, and extensibility at its core. The v3 vault more formally defines the requirements of a custom pool, allowing us to shift core design patterns out of the pool and into the vault. Additionally, we’ve implemented a “transient accounting” system leveraging EIP-1153, re-entrant pool lifecycle hooks to enable unprecedented flexibility, native support for yield-bearing tokens, 100% boosted pools, and a flexible router design pattern to facilitate complex interactions with the Balancer protocol. As v3 approaches feature completion, we are releasing the codebase to allow the broader ecosystem to provide feedback and make contributions before the code is frozen for audits. You can find the current state of Balancer v3 here, and the accompanying documentation here. As in v2, the v3 codebase will be licensed under GPL 3.0, reinforcing our dedication to transparency, collaboration, and the open-source community.