ETHGlobal Brussels 2024: Recap

ETHGlobal
7 min readAug 6, 2024

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Hey Everyone πŸ‘‹

ETHGlobal Brussels hackathon (July 12–14, 2024) was our biggest event of so far 2024 and one of our top 3 biggest events of all time. It was nothing short of epic! πŸš€

Check out our weekend recap here:

The hackathon concluded with tremendous energy, showcasing the talent and creativity of over 1100 developers from 72 countries. This event set a new benchmark with 355 remarkable project submissions and more than $500,000 in prizes awarded, making it an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.

1100 hackers joined ETHGlobal Brussels from 72 countries

βœ‚οΈ The tl;dr of ETHGlobal Brussels 2024

  • πŸ“£ Attendees: 1500
  • πŸ™‹β€β™‚οΈ Hackers: 1100
  • 🌎 Countries Represented: 71
  • ⏰ Timezones: 21
  • πŸ‘― Mentors & Partner Rep: 318
  • πŸš€ Projects Submitted: 355
  • πŸ† Finalists: 10
  • πŸ’Έ Prizes: $500,000+

ETHGlobal Brussels Cowork & Happy HourπŸ₯‚

Brussels was already buzzing with crypto folks as EthCC had begun earlier in the week. ETHGlobal kicked off with a coworking space, with special access for people who had purchased the Brussels City Pack. It was a sleek, modern space where hackers could meet with team members, make new friends, and get some respite in an otherwise busy crypto-filled week!

Later, we were joined by hundreds of community members at our much-anticipated happy hour, which served as a fun way to relax before the hackathon kickoff the next day.

ETHGlobal Brussels 2024 Kick-off & Summit πŸ₯‚

On July 12, we invited 1500+ attendees and 1100 hackers to begin registration for the hackathon. The energy was electric, and we even had a saxophone player welcoming hackers into the venue πŸ˜‰

Hackers had a chance to grab some snacks and dive into informative workshops to help craft their project ideas and seek support from protocols & partners. Some notable workshops were:

Some notable workshops were:

  • 🎀 Eric Bishard on building with Metamask and Linea
  • 🎀 Kyle on using Fhenix in hackathon projects
  • 🎀 Miroslav Nedelchev on accessing Solana using Neon EVM
  • 🎀 Albert Garreta on exploring zkML with Nethermind
  • 🎀 Kelly Kim on quick starting your dApp with Appkit
  • 🎀 Chef Mist on developing a hook in PancakeSwap v4

Entire set of workshops: ETHGlobal Youtube channel

Later that evening, ETHGlobal Brussels officially began with a high-energy welcome from Kartik Talwar, streamed live on ethglobal.tv.

This was followed by a set informative talks from leaders in the Ethereum ecosystem + a team formation session led by Austin Griffith from Buidl Guidl to help hackers find teams & ideas.

Hackathon Weekend πŸ’»

Starting at 9 pm CET, hackers had 36 hours to craft a submission and compete for a share of the $500K prize pool πŸ™€

Here are some pictures from our Brussels photo album which capture the essence of the those 36 hours:

Highlights from ETHGlobal Brussels Hackathon

ETHGlobal Brussels 2024 Finale πŸŽ‰

After 36 hours of hard work, the hackers submitted their projects for live judging by industry experts. The excitement was palpable as the top 10 finalists out of 355 submissions were announced and had the opportunity to demo their projects live.

Check out the ETHGlobal Brussels finalists and other sponsor prize winners in our Closing Ceremonies:

The Finalists πŸ†

10 standout finalists were chosen to demo their projects on Finale day!

🍌 BananaBets: A betting platform where ETHGlobal attendees can onboard with their NFC wristbands and forecast winners based on showcase data. Built by @nop_sl3d, @paul__dev, @PatrickHacksYou, @lucaorbke

πŸ‘¨β€πŸ³ Cook Some Hooks: Lets users create and deploy Uniswap v4 hooks with generative AI. Users select their DeFi dApp, choose a pair, and use an LLM to generate the hook’s functionality. Built by @0xcleaner, @Tanguyvans, @miqlar, @corotvoid.

⛰️ Zarathustra: A distributed, modular, permissionless AI designed as an open inference network. Specialized models perform off-chain computations and collaborate to answer user questions. Built by @TeamZarathustra

πŸ“± Tap Ether: Allows you to send crypto assets by bringing two phones close together using NFC technology. Fast and secure! Built by @magiziz

πŸ““ Oh Snap!: Provides context about a smart contract before a transaction, using community votes and logic inspired by Vitalik’s blog on the X Community Notes algorithm. Built by @0xjsieth, @arjanjohan, @atsetsoffc

πŸ‘΅ Omma Cash: Allows users to use Whatsapp chat and natural language prompts to send, bridge, and on/off ramp money, so that even your grandma can use it. Built by @isracts, @vicl9403

🐽 Piggy Wallet: A kids’ crypto savings app which includes features like time-locked savings, USDC auto-swaps, goals, task bounties, AI coach, and parental controls. Built by @matut_eth, @marcuspangeth, @SofiaVasquez

🌫️ AdFHE: A fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) based personalized advertising protocol. It displays relevant ads to the user while safeguarding confidentiality. Built by @0xemirsoyturk, @d0x471b, @MehmetGRCAN8

✨ Ephi: Brings web3 to web2 with a browser extension embedding mini context windows on web2 pages. Users can perform web3 actions, like transactions, directly from web2 platforms using IPFS. Built by @0xkocha, @viktorvujke, @bakoekorejia

πŸ“‘ Individuum: An automated market for web tasks that guarantees their completion based on required specifications and ensures transparent and secure payment. Built by @mojomarv, @Flydex0, @marschou2077, @HuixuLiu51103

Major Themes at ETHGlobal Brussels 2024 πŸ’‘

Next Gen DeFi & UX: Omma Cash made DeFi accessible via WhatsApp prompts, Piggy Wallet offered a kid-friendly savings app, and Ephi integrated web3 actions into web2. Individuum ensured secure payments for automated tasks, and Tap Ether provided secure NFC crypto transactions

Prediction Markets: BananaBets gamified the event by allowing users to bet on showcase outcomes using NFC wristbands.

AI: Zarathustra utilized decentralized AI for off-chain computations, demonstrating the potential of AI agents in blockchain solutions

Security and Privacy: Oh Snap! provided smart contract transparency with community input, AdFHE delivered encrypted personalized ads

NFC Wristbands and Pack Announcements πŸ“¦

This hackathon, we also introduced NFC wristbands, allowing attendees to connect seamlessly with each other, participate in workshops, and verify their attendance on-chain ⛓️‍πŸ’₯

We also our new Community Packs, where ETHGlobal hackers automatically receive a set of perks as they progress through hacking with us.

Community Packs

Check out our Packs page, and let us know if you have any feedback on this new product at hello@ethglobal.com.

Celebrating the ETHGlobal Community 🎊

A heartfelt thank you to our incredible partners, mentors, volunteers, and of course, the hackers, who made ETHGlobal Brussels 2024 an event to remember. Special thanks to our partners, and many others for their generous support and contributions.

Up Next: ETHOnline, and Singapore 🌍

We are thrilled to announce our upcoming hackathons!

Save your spot at:

See you soon,

The ETHGlobal Team πŸ’™

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ETHGlobal

Onboarding thousands of developers to the Ethereum ecosystem. Supported by L4, SV Angel, and the Ethereum Foundation.