NBA Playoffs Prediction Market Hackathon

Hackathon Introduction

Build AI trading automations for NBA Playoffs prediction markets. $1,000 prize. Free workshops. No experience needed.

The DEGA NBA Playoffs Prediction Market Hackathon is a global, fully virtual competition where developers build automated trading strategies for prediction markets — powered by Canon, DEGA's open-source CLI that scaffolds, runs, and monitors prediction market automations from the terminal.

Five free workshops take you from zero to running prediction markets strategies.

Registration opens May 4th and closes May 31st.

🎬 Watch Canon in action

💬 To stay connected and communicate more effectively with other developers in the Hackathon, join the DEGA Discord: https://discord.gg/dega Once inside, head over to the #prediction-markets-hackathons channel where we'll be sharing updates, answering questions, and connecting with the community.

About DEGA

DEGA is building tools and infrastructure to empower developers to launch AI prediction market automation. With a strong focus on developer experience and community-driven innovation, DEGA simplifies prediction market development through Canon — a CLI toolkit that lets developers bootstrap, configure, and deploy trading strategies from the terminal in minutes.

Core Technology

Participants will leverage:

• Canon CLI: The guided entry point for your entire workflow. canon init scaffolds your project from a strategy template, canon start detects your project phase and drives the pipeline automatically — from scaffolding through development to live execution. One command to go from idea to running automations.
• TypeScript Strategy Templates: Pre-built code base with typed interfaces for market data fetching, strategy logic, and execution — ready to customize. Templates cover arbitrage scanning, momentum trading, cross-market analysis, and more. We'll go over eaach one of these in our workshops.
• AI Agent Workflow: Canon includes specialized AI agents — a market analyst to scan opportunities, a strategy architect to design your approach, a developer agent to help implement and iterate, and a QA agent to validate before you go live. Describe what you want in plain language and the agents guide you through building it.
• DEGA Rank Registration: Once your strategy passes quality checks, register it on DEGA Rank for live performance tracking, P&L monitoring, and leaderboard ranking.
• Automation System View: Live terminal dashboard showing each step of your automation (data fetch → analysis → decision → execution), real-time logs, and status monitoring.

Participant Entry Requirements

• Open to global participants.
• Individuals or teams of up to 5 members.
• All experience levels welcome — no prior knowledge of prediction markets required.
• No programming experience needed — Canon's AI agents and workshops guide you through the entire process.
• Workshops and documentation guide you from zero to running automation.
• Registration opens May 4th and closes May 31st.

Key Dates

• April 9th: Workshop 1 — Canon AI Prediction Markets & NBA Playoffs Overview
• April 14th: Workshop 2 — Canon Setup
• April 16th: Workshop 3 — Running Your First Strategy
• April 21st: Workshop 4 — Customizing Your Strategy
• April 23rd: Workshop 5 — AMA & Strategy Review
• May 4th: NBA Playoff Hackathon Registration Opens
• May 31st: NBA Playoff Hackathon Registration Deadline
• June 23rd: Winners Announced

Prize Pool & Distribution

Total Prize Pool: $1,000 in USD Stablecoin

• First Place: $1,000 — Best Performer (highest profit %)

Participants are ranked by the profit % their automation generates during the competition period. Top performer takes the prize.

Prizes will be distributed in USD stablecoin. Winners will be contacted through their registered email to confirm wallet addresses and payment logistics.

Themes

Build AI powered automations focused on prediction market microstructures:

• Arbitrage Detection: Exploit price discrepancies for the same event across different markets or within the same platform.
• Cross-Market Analysis: Correlate positions across related markets — when one moves, capitalize on the lag in another.
• Speed-Based Opportunity: Act on publicly available statistical data (team records, matchups, injury reports) before market prices adjust.

Innovation:

• Innovative: Design your own strategy from scratch. Combine data sources, invent new signals, or create entirely new approaches to prediction market trading that nobody has tried before.

Canon's built-in templates focus on microstructure-based approaches. Participants are free to experiment with any strategy type they want, including news sentiment, opinion-based, or entirely custom approaches.

Submission Requirements

Each submission must include:

• Project Description: Strategy approach and intended automation behavior.
• Source Code: Publicly accessible on GitHub.
• Documentation: Setup instructions and an about section describing the automation's flow.
• Demo Video: 3 to 5 minute presentation of your project.

Developer Resources

Participants will have access to:

• Canon CLI documentation
• TypeScript strategy template and code base
• Pre-built strategy templates (arbitrage, cross-market, speed-based)
• Workshop recordings and code samples
• Mentor-led office hours in the Discord #prediction-markets-hackathons channel

Judging Criteria

• Innovation and Creativity 25% — Originality of your strategy approach and how you apply Canon's tools to solve prediction market problems.
• Technical Execution and Design 30% — Code quality, proper use of Canon's framework and interfaces, test coverage, and clean documentation.
• Real World Utility and Impact 30% — How well your automation performs against live prediction markets, including profit %, risk management, and adaptability to changing conditions.
• Presentation and Demo 15% — Clarity and quality of your demo video and project documentation.

Official Communication Channels

• Discord: https://discord.gg/dega — Join the #prediction-markets-hackathons channel
• X (Twitter): @Dega_org
• YouTube: DEGA Channel — Workshop recordings and updates.

Post-Hackathon

Top performers gain:

• Promotion across DEGA channels.
• Early invite to the upcoming World Cup Prediction Market Hackathon — a larger-scale competition with sponsor backing and a bigger prize pool.

Why Join?

Walk away with a working prediction market automations, new skills in AI automation, and a portfolio project you can show off. The workshops take you from zero to running automation — and what you build here carries directly into the World Cup hackathon. Whether you're here to learn or to win, this is where it starts.