BNB Chain, the world’s largest smart contract blockchain in terms of daily active users, is launching Connected 2023, a Web3 social hackathon in partnership with the decentralized social graph protocol CyberConnect.
With over $50,000 in prizes, seed funding, and mentorship, Connected 2023 will run from Feb 7 – March 13 and is open to hackers around the globe.
“The social media experience has remained essentially unchanged for the past decade. For users and creators, there is little or no incentive to continue producing more content or expand their networks. They know that, ultimately, the platform owns their identity, content, and social graph – all of which can be taken away from them at any time. The cost of switching to another platform and recreating their network or audience is also high because their social data lives behind walled gardens. This walled garden is guarded carefully to prevent platform competitors from building a better service, preventing innovation in this space. Web3 and its composable and interoperable tech stack unlock a new future of social networking that is user-centric and developer-friendly,” said Alvin Kan, Director of Growth at BNB Chain.
Exciting times ahead it would seem for those at the forefront of innovation. The user benefits from the aforementioned developments could have a revolutionary impact on how we understand and utilize social opportunities through Web3.
“Connected 2023 aims to empower a new generation of innovators by helping them bring their Web3 social ideas to life and then to market. With this event, BNB Chain and CyberConnect will empower passionate builders to kick start their journey and grow their hacks into fundable protocols,” said Wilson Wei from CyberConnect.
Connected 2023 has an impressive lineup of co-sponsors, including Notifi, Lit, Livepeer, and XMTP, providing participating hackers with a rich and diverse technology landscape to draw from as they strive to incorporate cutting-edge Web3-native features into their decentralized social applications.
Throughout the next month, hackers will also have an opportunity to attend a complete programming series, including dedicated workshops with each participating protocol, developer info sessions, team-matching sessions, and mentor hours with some of the most notable investors, builders, and visionaries in Web3.
Mentors and judges from BNBChain, Multicoin Capital, Coinlist, Sky9, IOSG, and more will join Connected 2023 to evaluate submitted hacks on a variety of key factors, including functionality, novelty, impact, business plan, etc.Applications are open and will be accepted until Feb 20, 2023, 11:59 PM EST. Interested hackers and teams can apply here. Rules and guidelines for Connected 2023 can be viewed here
