$1.2M Bitcoin Buildathon Aims to Mint Next Wave of Crypto Devs—Because Wall Street Sure Isn’t Funding Them
The Core Foundation just dropped a seven-figure gauntlet to turbocharge Bitcoin’s developer pipeline. Their $1.2M global buildathon isn’t just another hackathon—it’s a talent funnel for the OG blockchain, and the timing couldn’t be sharper.
While TradFi VCs keep writing checks to AI startups that hallucinate better than they code, this play puts real money behind Bitcoin’s often-overlooked builder ecosystem. No ‘disruptive fintech’ buzzwords—just raw incentives to ship.
Let’s see if the suits chasing tokenized RWAs notice the irony when the next Satoshi cashes their check.
From Berlin to Buenos Aires, and Online Everywhere
The buildathon blends an online competition with IRL meetups across 12 cities, targeting top emerging ecosystems inregions. Regional events, focused on ideation, mentorship, and co-building, will be co-hosted with leading dev communities like.
Developers can submit projects virtually via, with finalist teams selected to present at thestage at Token2049. At the Global Finale, the top finalists will pitch live to CORE Ventures and a panel of investors and protocol contributors.
A Bitcoin Ecosystem With a Builder Bias
Core is purpose-built for. It is the first blockchain to enable, allowing BTC holders to earn CORE token rewards while helping secure the network. This model powers Core’smechanism — recently integrated by institutional players like— offering bitcoin stakers who also stake CORE tokens access to higher tiers of yield..
Core’s network already supports a DeFi ecosystem with ~$500and ~1M weekly active users. The Core Connect Global Buildathon is an initiative designed to convert that demand into new apps across BTCfi, DeFi, Gaming, SocialFi, and AI.
What You Can Win
- Up to $500K in equity funding from Core Ventures
- Up to $400K in CORE tokens to support the growth of your project
- Up to $200K in exclusive dev tools, resources, credits, and much more
- Up to $100K in AWS Activate Credits to build and scale your project
- Up to 6 months of fee rebates on Core Mainnet
Meetup Dates
| Month | City | Region | Date |
| June | Bangalore, Islamabad Delhi | Asia | June 4,18, 28 |
| June | Berlin, Istanbul, Cannes | Europe | June 16–30 |
| July | Lagos, Nairobi | Africa | July 2, 5 |
| July | São Paulo, Buenos Aires | LatAm | July 11, 16 |
| July | Manila | Asia | July 26 |
| August | Hanoi | Asia | August 1 |
Regional winners from five regions will be invited to the VIRTUAL semi-final in September. The top teams from there will advance to the global finale in October, with travel covered by Core.
Why It Matters
The Bitcoin ecosystem is at a tipping point. With ETFs opening institutional doors and Core unlocking trustless and sustainable yield through Dual Staking, the next wave of innovation needs infrastructure — and talent. Core Connect Global Buildathon aims to onboardand high-quality, venture-scale projects with strong product-market fit through this global buildathon.
About Core
Core is the leading Bitcoin scaling solution, transforming idle Bitcoin into a productive, yield-generating asset that powers Bitcoin DeFi at scale. Core’s Self-Custodial Bitcoin Staking allows holders to timelock Bitcoin directly on the Bitcoin blockchain to earn rewards—without taking on new risk. This trustless yield mechanism helps to secure the high-performance, EVM-compatible Core blockchain, where users can access an expanding universe of Bitcoin-focused decentralized applications.
Core powers first-of-their-kind products like Valour’s yield-bearing Bitcoin ETP and lstBTC—the first liquid, yield-generating Bitcoin asset. The network supports over $500M in DeFi TVL, backed by 7,000+ timelocked Bitcoin and ~75% of Bitcoin mining hash power.
