Welcome to the Bitcoin++ Scaling Edition Hackathon!
This is the hackathon site for the bitcoin++ scaling edition hackathon in Istanbul, Turkiye.
The main hackathon competition will be open ended (overall 1st, 2nd, 3rd). Anything involving bitcoin is fair game. Bonus points for scaling related projects.
There are optional challenges that hackers may create projects around. Submitting for a challenge is optional, and ALL projects will be considered for the main competition.
Logistics
Thursday (9/4/25)
Kickoff Presentation: 12:30 PM (GMT+03:00)
Hacking Begins: 1:30 PM
Submission Deadline: 4:30 PM - On Devpost
Report for Judging Expo: 5:30 PM
Judging Expo: 5:45 PM - 7:45 PM - MAX 3 minutes (practice & time yourself)
Friday (9/5/25)
Finalist Presentations: 5:00 PM - 5:45 PM - 5 minutes per team (main stage)
Awards & Closing: 6:30 PM
Requirements
Project Submission
All teams must submit their projects on Devpost (this site). Do this early so you don't forget.
Judges will primarily use the presentations to select winners. They may reference your Devpost sumbissions as well.
This event will judged using a science fair expo format. Judges will walk around and adjudicate projects in parallel.
Finalists will present on stage.
Judging Criteria
To judge hackathon projects, we follow the global standard for performance-based judging: the Olympics Women’s Gymnastics Rubric. Judges will be evaluating each hackathon team’s performance based on the following criteria:
- Routine Difficulty: Project idea, Potential impact of project, ambition
- Routine Execution: Project achievement, What you actually built, Does it work
- General Effect: Swag Factor, Presentation, Applicability to theme
Prizes
1st Overall
2.5 Million Satoshis + Tickets AND FLIGHTS to future Bitcoin++ event (Berlin) + Trophy
2nd Overall
1.5 Million Satoshis + Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event + Trophy
3rd Overall
1 Million Satoshis + Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event + Trophy
Best Design
Blockstream Jade Hardware Wallet - For the project with the most intuitive, polished, and visually appealing user experience.
Powered by the Bitcoin Design Foundation.
Best Privacy Hack
Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - For the project that best protects privacy, evades censorship, or empowers free expression in hostile environments.
Reality Check Award
Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - For the team whose project could realistically launch and attract users on mainnnet soon™.
Moon Math Award
Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - For the team with the boldest or most novel exploration into cryptography.
Best Beginner Hack
Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - Only eligible to teams where EVERY member is a high-school/undergraduate student OR a first-time contributor to open-source bitcoin.
Best use of STARKs
2 Million Satoshis - Build projects that leverage STARKs (Scalable Transparent Arguments of Knowledge) for Bitcoin or its ecosystem (Lightning, Nostr, Cashu, Ark, Liquid, etc.).
Given the 3-hour time constraint, implementing logic in Cairo and running Cairo programs is sufficient—full proof generation and verification is optional but welcome. Use STWO WASM verifier for browser verification or Scarb CLI for command-line. Be creative and explore the power of zero-knowledge proofs for Bitcoin scaling!
Prize Pool: 2,000,000 sats (distribution based on participation and project quality) Resources: Cairo Book, Scarb Documentation, STWO Book, STWO Cairo View full track details and resources → https://github.com/AbdelStark/btcplusplus-istanbul-hackathon-starks-x-bitcoin
Powered by Starkware.
Honorable Mentions
Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - Awarded to up to 6 "honorable mentions"
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
niftynei
Base58
Super Testnet
Independent
Steven Roose
Second
Liam Eagen
Alpen Labs
Sam Parker
Independent
Johan T. Halseth
NYDIG
Basak H
Blockstream | Bitcoin Design Foundation
Judging Criteria
-
Routine Difficulty
Quality of your Project Idea. Potential impact of your idea. Ambition/scope of the project (given the 2 hour deadline). -
Routine Execution
Project achievement. What you actually built. Does it work? Were you able to solve the problem you set out to solve? -
General Effect
Swag Factor, Presentation, Applicability to theme (scaling)
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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