Hedera Drops $1M Bomb on Africa’s Tech Scene—50 Partners Rally for Hackathon Gold Rush

Africa’s blockchain devs just hit the jackpot—Hedera’s million-dollar prize pool is luring coders like bees to honey. Who needs VC funding when you’ve got a crypto-powered gladiator arena?

Fifty partners—exchanges, accelerators, and the usual Web3 suspects—are backing this high-stakes innovation showdown. Watch out Silicon Valley: the next fintech unicorn might emerge from a Lagos hacker house instead of Sand Hill Road.

Let’s see if the winners actually get paid in stablecoins—or if ’prize pool’ turns out to be another vaporware promise. (We kid... mostly.)

The Hedera hackathon tracks

Africa leads global mobile-money adoption, with countries like Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia now integrating blockchain technology to create more secure, affordable, and efficient digital payment systems.

Globally, mobile-money platforms serve 1.75 billion registered accounts and process an estimated $1.4 trillion in transactions annually. Sub-Saharan Africa remains at the forefront, accounting for nearly 75 percent of the world’s active mobile-money accounts.

As such, one of the major tracks of the Hedera Africa Hackathon is on-chain finance and RWA tokenization. Other tracks include ESG sustainability and traceability; self-sovereign identity and AI gaming; the metaverse and NFTs; and more.

Global participation is open from August 1st

Global participation is open from August 1st to September 30th, 2025 with the backing of more than 50 global and regional partners, 100 universities and tech hubs such as Tunisian based DAR Blockchain.

Participants will benefit from extensive technical education, certifications, and hands-on support from Hedera certified engineers. Hacking stations to be established in cities such as Lagos, Cairo, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Cape Town, Casablanca, and Tunis for in-person collaboration, alongside a fully VIRTUAL Hackathon track accessible worldwide.

Kamal Youssefi, President of The Hashgraph Association, notes that given Africa is home to one of the youngest, most enthusiastic and dynamic tech communities in the world; its future will depend on digitization. He said:

“By equipping developers and entrepreneurs with Web3 skills and next generation toolkits, we’re not just solving today’s problems, we’re shaping the future of decentralized innovation in one of the world’s most significant growth markets, fostering a digital future for all through financial, identity, and communication inclusion.”

Paulo Tasca, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Exponential Science Foundation adds, “Initiatives such as the Hedera Africa Hackathon encourage the next generation of tech builders, researchers, and entrepreneurs. We encourage anyone with an interest in blockchain technology to sign up and start developing.”

The ultimate aim of the hackathon is to encourage and help fund the next generation of Web3 projects on the continent. Recently Afrik Foundation unveiled a blockchain-based platform, aligning with Africa Day 2025 celebrations, aiming to transform infrastructure financing across the continent. The initiative, now in a public test phase running through June 25, allows Africans and global users to vote on renewable energy and artificial intelligence projects.

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