Welcome to the Ready Layer 2: Bitcoin Builder Competition!

We're thrilled to announce the Ready Layer 2 Bitcoin Builder Competition! A two-week virtual hackathon building on the leading Bitcoin Layer 2, Stacks blockchain. The competition begins March 8th and consists of three tracks: DeFi, Bitcoin + AI, and General Pitch. Propel yourself into the world of building on Bitcoin with great prizes and mentorship, while mingling with some heavy hitters in the industry.

During this virtual hackathon, you will connect with some of the brightest minds building on Bitcoin, showcase your innovative projects to an esteemed panel of judges, compete for several prizes, and get further exposure throughout the Stacks ecosystem.

This hackathon will let you experiment, familiarize, or further advance yourself with the Stacks blockchain, sBTC, and Clarity, the smart contract language to build decentralized applications on Bitcoin.

Why participate?

$17,000 Prize Pool
NFT Prizes: Get a chance to win exclusive NFT prizes and POAPs for all participants.
In-kind prizes: N21, BTC StartupLab, exclusive 1:1s. Get support with your go-to-market efforts and earn introductions to investors, PR resources, growth partners, and more.

Cheers to building on Bitcoin!

OFFICE HOURS:

View this table for the full schedule for Office Hours with Mentors.

Office hours will be held at mutlion March 13th, March 14th, March 16th, March 17th, March 20th, March 23rd, and March 24th. These office hours are open to all participants to answer any questions you have for the hackathon in the private hackathon Discord channel, shared via email once registered and leading up to the event.

TRACKS + CHALLENGES:

There will be three tracks during this hackathon! You can pursue any track you're interested in and compete for multiple tracks. The prize pool is for the three tracks laid out below:

DeFi Track
Bitcoin + AI Track
General Pitch Track

Your submission must include at least one Clarity smart contract and/or a use-case of sBTC. The project should be open source and posted on GitHub.

When thinking of your submission, remember that it's more important to have something with a smaller scope that is complete, functional, and secure, rather than a larger idea that is incomplete or of lower quality. You can always take your submission idea and expand on it after the hackathon. Your submission will be judged on a combination of factors including uniqueness, code quality, execution, and documentation. Try to create something that is a basic version of a contract that could later be expanded to build a real tool or product.

WORKSHOPS:

To support your builder's journey during this hackathon, there will be several workshops held throughout the competition. These Workshops are designed to help you learn existing technologies and platforms utilizing Stacks and Bitcoin. Attend Workshops, learn new skills to add into your project, and win your track!

The Workshop schedule is as follows:

Fundamentals of Building on Bitcoin - March 8, 2:30pm EST. Bitcoin layers are gaining momentum, but understanding their significance and functionality is crucial. This workshop will cover the fundamentals of building with Bitcoin layers, particularly focusing on Stacks L2.
Xverse Workshop - March 8, 4:00pm EST. Discover the power of Xverse and Sats Connect in simplifying Bitcoin app development at the Xverse Workshop led by Founder & Ceo, Ken Liao. Dive into how Sats Connect, a JavaScript library, seamlessly connects apps to Bitcoin wallets like Xverse, enabling retrieval of user wallet addresses and transaction signing into your project.
NoCodeClarity Workshop - March 11, 1:00pm EST. Embark on a journey into the intersection of AI, NoCode, and Bitcoin development with the NoCodeClarity Workshop, led by Christopher Perceptions, CEO of NoCodeClarity.
Bitcoin + AI Working Group - March 11, 2:30pm EST. Join the Bitcoin x AI Working Group to explore the intersection of Bitcoin and AI, discover recent developments, and unlock new possibilities with Bitcoin L2 integration.
ALEX Workshop - March 12, 2:30pm EST. Unlock the potential of Bitcoin DeFi with ALEX: Seamlessly merge L1 assets with L2 solutions, empowering builders with composable code blocks, unified liquidity, and a vision for a thriving ecosystem.

Requirements

For all Submissions:

All projects must be submitted by midnight (11:59pm EST) on Sunday, March 24th.
You must build and submit a new project to be eligible.
You must provide your Stacks wallet address with your project submission. If you do not have a Stacks wallet, you can download Xverse using this link.
The Hackathon is open to U.S. legal residents and residents of any other jurisdiction where the Hackathon is not prohibited or restricted by law. The Hackathon is not open to residents of Brazil, Quebec, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, Syria, or and any jurisdiction where the Hackathon would be restricted or prohibited by law. Participants, including individual participants and members of a team, must be at least 18 years of age (or the local age of majority where they live, if older) at the time of registration.

DeFi Track

Use of Technology: Did you take advantage of the unique technology of Stacks (Proof of Transfer, Clarity, and/or sBTC), ALEX, or Xverse in a way that would be difficult using any other technology?
Functionality: How well does your project work?
Security: Is your code well-tested? Are there any security holes or vulnerabilities?
User Experience: Is your project well-designed and easy to use?
Feasibility: How realistic is it to turn your project into a production-ready product?
Potential Impact: What kind of an impact could this have in the world of DeFi on Bitcoin?

Bitcoin + AI Track

Effectively demonstrate how to utilize and leverage Bitcoin’s programmability via Proof of Transfer, Clarity, and/or sBTC
Idea should clearly demonstrate the feasibility within the constraints of existing technology
Promote a decentralized economy and align with Bitcoin ethos by maintaining decentralization, security, censorship resistance, and self-sovereignty
You must scope your submission to reflect a fully functioning MVP, even if it is a part of a larger project.
It will be at the discretion of Stacks Foundation if it is suspected someone is trying to game the system by trying to make slight changes to existing contracts for the reward.

For General Pitch Tracks:

Develop your pitch deck using your preferred slide deck tool.
Create a recorded video/screen share going over your pitch deck presentation.
The presentation should not exceed 4 minutes.
Effectively demonstrate how to utilize and leverage Bitcoin’s programmability via Proof of Transfer, Clarity, and/or sBTC
The idea should:
- Clearly demonstrate the feasibility within the constraints of existing technology.
- Promote a decentralized economy and align with Bitcoin ethos by maintaining decentralization, security, censorship resistance, and self-sovereignty.
- Clearly define the problem your idea solves.
- Clearly define your solution to the identified problem.
What is the value and/or monetary value your idea creates for the Bitcoin ecosystem?
A demo is not required for General Pitch but it absolutely helps!

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$17,000 in prizes

DeFi Track: 1st Place

1 winner

1st place: One (1) prize of five thousand U.S. dollars (USD $5,000) paid out in STX.

DeFi Track: 2nd Place

1 winner

2nd Place: One (1) prize of two thousand U.S. dollars (USD $2,000) paid out in STX.

DeFi Track: 3rd Place

1 winner

3rd Place: One (1) prize of one thousand U.S. dollars (USD $1,000) paid out in STX.

Bitcoin + AI: 1st Place

1 winner

1st Place: One (1) prize of four thousand five hundred U.S. dollars (USD $4,500) paid out in STX.

Bitcoin + AI: 2nd Place

1 winner

2nd Place: One (1) prize of two thousand U.S. dollars ($2,000) paid out in STX

Bitcoin + AI: 3rd Place

1 winner

3rd Place: One (1) prize of five hundred U.S. dollars ($500) paid out in STX.

General Pitch: 1st Place

1 winner

1st Place: One (1) prize of one thousand two hundred fifty U.S. dollars (USD $1,250) paid out in STX.

General Pitch: 2nd Place

1 winner

2nd Place: One (1) prize of five hundred U.S. dollars ($500) paid out in STX.

General Pitch: 3rd Place

1 winner

3rd Place: One (1) prize of two hundred fifty U.S. dollars ($250) paid out in STX.

Judges

Trevor Owens
Director, Bitcoin Frontier Fund

Rachel Yu
COO, ALEX

Kyle Ellicot
Program Manager, N21

Jacob Brown
Sourcing Partner, Bitcoin Frontier Fund

Tycho Onnasch
CEO, Zest Protocol

Ken Liao
CEO, Xverse

Jason Schrader
Lead, Bitcoin + AI Working Group

Kenny Rogers
Developer Advocate, Stacks Foundation

Ryan Waits
Hiro Systems

Judging Criteria

Use of Technology
Does your project use Stacks (sBTC and/or Clarity)? Did you take advantage of the unique technology of Stacks, proof of transfer, sBTC, etc in a way that would be difficult using any other technology?
Functionality
How well does your project work? Are there any bugs? Did you write clean, efficient code?
Security
- Is your code well-tested? - Are there any security holes or vulnerabilities?
User Experience
Is your project well-designed and easy to use?
Feasibility
How realistic is it to turn your project into a production-ready product?
Potential Impact
What kind of an impact could this have on the industry and the world of Bitcoin?