The African Bitcoin education programme known as Btrust Builders, which recently changed its name from Qala, has organised a new hackathon with a focus on Bitcoin solutions created in Africa.

The “Build for Africa” hackathon, which is being described as a virtual hackathon for ANYONE interested in developing cutting-edge applications and tools to address African problems using Bitcoin and the Lightning network, is being held in conjunction with the Africa Bitcoin Conference 2023. It will act as a launchpad for open innovation and cooperative problem-solving, where builders converge to generate novel ideas through an idea hack aimed at addressing Africa-specific challenges, and ac

The hackathon intends to demonstrate real-world applications of Bitcoin to specifically address African concerns and to inspire more Africans to interact with Bitcoin as PRODUCERS, according to a press statement supplied with BitKE by BTrust.

“We’re not simply searching for developer-generated ideas. Ideas from outside of the Bitcoin environment are also welcome. We will pair you with Bitcoin & Lightning developers who can help you realise your ideas if you lack the skills to do so.

• Btrust Contractors

The following individuals are eligible to apply to the hackathon:

Bitcoin & Lightning developers
Subject matter experts
Generic application developers
Business development & marketing experts
UI/UX designers
Content creators
Bitcoin educators
Data scientists
Simply curious!
Leading up to the hacking phase, a 4-day ideathon will take place during the week of September 26 2023 to brainstorm and crowdsource innovative ideas for Bitcoin products in Africa. During the ideathon, you will be able to collaborate with other builders, refine your concepts, and form teams, laying the groundwork for the subsequent hacking and project development phase.

The hacking phase kicks off on October 16 2023 with a brief opening ceremony that outlines what lies ahead, introduces the prizes, and explains the evaluation criteria.

The hackathon offers prizes of up to $10,000 (in BTC) combined:

1st place: $5,000
2nd place: $2,500
3rd place: $1,500
Best design: $1,000
The developed solutions will be judged by eminent personalities in the Africa bitcoin community which includes:

Erik Hersman (@whiteafrican): The CEO of Gridless, which deploys bitcoin mining on renewable energy mini-grids across rural Africa
Paco De La India (RunWithBitcoin): A Bitcoin believer travelling to 40 countries using Bitcoin
Abubakar Nur Khalil (@ihate1999): A Nigerian Bitcoin Core contributor and CEO of Recursive Capital.