# Hackathon Introduction Join our Discord: https://taraxa.io/hack/discord for updates, workshops, office hours & discussions! The Taraxa Protocol Foundation is proud to partner with DoraHacks to launch Taraxa TinkerFest, Taraxa’s first global hackathon, with $30k in combined prizes plus follow-up grants from the $10 million Taraxa Grant Program! We invite all dApp developers from around the world to build their favorite startup ideas on Taraxa’s EVM-compatible Layer-1 powered by the blockDAG architecture. Building on Taraxa’s next-gen Layer-1 is not only fast and low-cost, it’s also an opportunity to be among the first to build on the revolutionary blockDAG technology that’s the next evolutionary step from block-chain. Taraxa’s native EVM-compatibility means there’s nothing new to learn, just keep using your favorite tools and frameworks from the ETH ecosystem and they all just work on Taraxa! Pre-registration starts on March 18, 2024, with the hackathon lasting from April 3 through May 17, 2024. This is an opportunity not just for Taraxa to expand its ecosystem, but to spread the word about the blockDAG architecture and its true potential. Join us and be the first to build on blockDAG! # About Taraxa Taraxa is an EVM-compatible smart contract platform based on t-Graph consensus utilizing blockDAG, with many world-first technical innovations. Founded by two Stanford Engineers in 2018, Taraxa launched its mainnet on April 3, 2023 and has since consistently built up awareness and market traction, gaining widespread recognition for its innovations on top of the next-gen blockDAG architecture. Building on Taraxa presents a unique opportunity for developers to experience the benefits of the world’s first and only native EVM-compatible decentralized network built with the blockDAG architecture. Here are just a few of the reasons why builders should consider building the next big idea on Taraxa, - **An Unique Opportunity to Build on blockDAG**: blockDAG is the next evolutionary step up from block-chain, able to achieve stunning throughput and low latency without sacrificing security and decentralization by enabling parallel block processing on the network instead of just one block at a time. - **True EVM Compatibility**: any dApp that works on Ethereum just works on Taraxa, no need to learn new languages, frameworks, or tooling. - **Fast & Low-Cost**: with peak throughput of 5k TPS, sub-second block times, instant block inclusion, and under 4-second finalization, working on Taraxa is fast & smooth, with each transaction costing next to nothing. - **True Finality**: zero risk of transactions being reversed, Taraxa’s True Finality guarantees that when a transaction is finalized (under 4 seconds), it is finalized forever. - **Front-Running Prevention**: Taraxa’s architecture and speed minimize and fragment the network’s mem pool, making it almost impossible and definitively unprofitable for DeFi transactions to be targeted for front-running. - **Supportive Community**: Taraxa’s community is highly engaged and the development team is helpful to a fault. Not only will you be building on a network backed by the best technology in the world, but you will receive the full support, attention, and participation from our community! The upcoming Ficus Root Bridge in mid-2024 further strengthens the Taraxa ecosystem’s utility, asset diversity, and cross-chain liquidity. DeFi builders don’t have to worry about fragmented assets or liquidity, since they flow seamlessly between Ethereum and Taraxa. The bridge, coupled with Taraxa’s fast, low-cost and natively EVM-compatibility, make Taraxa a natural Layer-2 solution for dApps or consensus layer for rollups. # Key Dates - Registration: March 18 - April 18, 2024 - Workshops - Opening Ceremony (Taraxa + DoraHacks): April 3, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/DaMVBmh8Fr - Building on Taraxa with Hardhat & Foundry: April 4, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/3yxmhJsGvD - Building on Taraxa with Echo Social: April 5, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/S8HWfvZuTW - Building on Taraxa - Deploying NFT: April 8, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/uv5AbU9WEK - Running a node on Taraxa: April 9, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/Xr3pSFT73U - Taraxa Consensus presentation: April 10, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/WegsxF5Ua4 - Office Hours: https://discord.gg/rfQQsZdZ3g - Tuesdays: 12PM-2PM UTC - Thursdays: 12PM-2PM UTC - Demo day - cancelled due to general lack of comfort with presenting in English amongst the participants - Judging Period: May 4 - May 16, 2024 - Winners Announcement: May 17, 2024 / 10AM UTC # Tracks These are just some ideas sourced from the Taraxa community, you’re completely free to come up with your ideas! The prize pool is not separated by track. - DeFi - DEX with transaction fees that scale with impermanent loss to discourage excessively large trades - Trade stETH yields for Taraxa ecosystem project tokens / yields - Collateralized lending with staked TARA as collateral - Fair market value oracle for less-liquid real world assets (RWA) - e.g., residential real estate - AI w/ Telegram Social Data - Adaptive spam and spammer identification - Conversation parsing in Telegram groups - Influence power quantification based on social conversation data - Topical expertise badges based on social conversation data - Bid to talk / airdrop to someone with influence / expertise - Trading signal generation based on social chatter - Gaming - Loot discovery based on network usage to incentivize on-chain activity - Do (X) to earn # Prize Pool Allocation Prizes are given to the top 5 winning projects and are not locked into Tracks. All participants are welcome and encouraged to apply to the Taraxa Grant Program: https://www.taraxa.io/grant. - 1st place: $10k - 2nd place: $8k - 3rd place: $6k - 4th place: $4k - 5th place: $2k # Submission Requirements - All projects must be deployed onto Taraxa’s testnet - [Testnet RPC connection](https://docs.taraxa.io/wallet/taraxas-network-connection-details#taraxa-testnet-connection-details) - [Testnet faucet](https://testnet.explorer.taraxa.io/faucet) # Developer Resources - Deploy a contract via Remix: https://docs.taraxa.io/develop/smart-contracts/remix - Wallet setup: https://docs.taraxa.io/wallet - Deploy a node: https://docs.taraxa.io/node-setup/testnet_node_setup - Connecting to Taraxa: https://docs.taraxa.io/develop/connecting-to-taraxa - RPC connections: https://docs.taraxa.io/wallet/taraxas-network-connection-details - Testnet faucet: https://docs.taraxa.io/develop/testnet-faucet - Video tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8zG3pFXCwijZ5NBVUPezzhzTPM8642kc # Workshop and Office Hours - Hackathon discussions: https://discord.gg/Dke7eRCWZE - Hackathon office hours: https://discord.gg/rfQQsZdZ3g Workshops & Office Hours - Workshops - Opening Ceremony (Taraxa + DoraHacks): April 3, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/DaMVBmh8Fr - Building on Taraxa with Hardhat & Foundry: April 4, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/S8HWfvZuTW - Building on Taraxa with Echo Social: April 5, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/S8HWfvZuTW - Building on Taraxa - Deploying NFT: April 8, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/uv5AbU9WEK - Running a node on Taraxa: April 9, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/Xr3pSFT73U - Taraxa Consensus presentation: April 10, 2024 / 10AM UTC / https://discord.gg/WegsxF5Ua4 - Office Hours: https://discord.gg/rfQQsZdZ3g - Tuesdays: 12PM-2PM UTC - Thursdays: 12PM-2PM UTC # Judging Criteria - **Implementation (1-5)**: does it work? Does it work well? - **Potential impact (1-5)**: does this bring something new & necessary to Taraxa? To the crypto industry? How many users would want this? - **Innovation (1-5)**: how innovative is this? Technically, business model wise, or otherwise?