Hackathon #1
1st Public Hackathon: Build the Future of Decentralized Inference
We’re excited to launch Cortensor’s 1st Public Hackathon! Following successful internal testing rounds that streamlined our end-to-end (E2E) flow, we're now inviting developers worldwide to build innovative apps using our decentralized inference protocol.
This public hackathon aims to expand Cortensor’s ecosystem, encourage creativity, and showcase the potential of decentralized AI infrastructure.
Objective
Create proof-of-concept (PoC) apps or bots leveraging the Cortensor decentralized inference network, focusing on:
Enhanced usability and real-world application.
Innovation and creative tooling.
Exploration of decentralized AI capabilities.
Prize Pool (in $COR equivalent)
1st Place: $700
2nd Place: $400
3rd Place: $250
4th & 5th Places: $150 each
6th & 7th Places: $100 each
8th to 10th Places: $50 each
Top projects may also qualify for monthly $COR grants for continued maintenance and improvements, similar to our core community tooling and infra contributors.
Important Notice on Prize Payouts
To align incentives with Cortensor’s long-term growth:
Eligibility Condition: If a prize-winning participant is not:
An existing node operator running more than 20 nodes, or
A holder of $500+ $COR prior to the start of the hackathon, or
A participant with active staked tokens,
then their prize will be split as follows:
50% allocated directly to Staking Pool #1 under their address.
50% distributed upfront as liquid $COR.
This ensures that prize rewards not only support winners but also strengthen network security and staking participation.
Project Ideas
Get inspired by these community-requested app concepts or propose your own:
🔹 AI Oracle (The Truth Machine – TaaS)
Web2 & Web3-compatible truth-as-a-service.
Queries are routed through multiple independent miners, verified, and aggregated into trustworthy responses.
Eliminates hallucinations via decentralized consensus.
🔹 Cortensor Community Bot
Community-driven chatbot powered entirely by Cortensor’s decentralized inference network.
Provides grounded, reliable answers sourced from decentralized nodes.
🔹 Basic AI Agent (w/ Function Calls)
A simple yet powerful AI agent that executes basic tasks (e.g., “Bookmark this URL,” “Summarize this tweet”).
🔹 Price & Sentiment Bot
Scrapes and analyzes web pages (e.g., product fees, token prices).
Uses LLM-based inference to provide structured summaries and sentiment analysis.
Also please reference previous internal hackathon ideas: https://docs.cortensor.network/community-and-ecosystem/mini-internal-hackathon#project-ideas
Ongoing Support
Outstanding projects may receive ongoing financial and technical support through monthly $COR grants. Exceptional teams might also earn dedicated roles in Cortensor’s growing developer community.
How to Participate
Join our Discord community to collaborate and get support:
Fork and build your project openly on our community GitHub repository:
Submit your final app with a clear README, demonstrating its functionality and integration with the Cortensor network.
Timeline
Hackathon Duration: 4 Weeks
Kick-off: 8/1/2025
Submission Deadline: 8/30/2025
Evaluation Criteria
Working Demonstrations (Mandatory) Submissions must be fully working applications and demonstrable in public during the hackathon. It is the participant’s responsibility to present their project to Cortensor’s community (Discord/Telegram or other designated channels) so that members can access, test, or view the demo directly.
If a project is not demonstrated to the community during the hackathon period, it will not be considered qualified, regardless of submission status.
No Auto-Generated Submissions Projects that are auto-generated by AI tools without actual implementation or functionality will not qualify. All work must represent genuine development effort.
Cortensor's Full Discretion Cortensor reserves the full right to evaluate, rank, and award prizes based on criteria including:
Functionality and stability
Originality and innovation
Integration with the Cortensor network
Real usability and demonstration quality as shown to community members
This ensures that all participants not only build real applications but also engage directly with the Cortensor community. Without active demonstration to members, projects will be disqualified.
Let’s push the boundaries of decentralized AI, create innovative solutions, and build a vibrant, open community ecosystem together!
Welcome to Cortensor’s next chapter—let’s build!
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