Chainlink Hackathons Overview
Chainlink typically holds one to two global hackathons per year, often branded with unique names like Fall Hackathon, Spring Hackathon, or thematic events such as the recent Chromion Hackathon.
In addition to these large-scale events, they sometimes partner with other blockchain ecosystems, such as Avalanche (AVAX) or Polygon (MATIC), to host mini-hackathons or specialized competitions.
Numerous successful projects and even funded startups began as Chainlink hackathon submissions. These hackathons bring together thousands of participants from all over the world, which strengthens the developer community and fosters cross-project collaboration.
Chromion Hackathon Details
Held from May 30 to June 29, the Chromion Hackathon was Chainlink’s flagship developer event for this year. It focused on combining blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and cross-chain solutions. With over $200K in prizes, thousands of builders worldwide participated to push the boundaries of smart contracts using Chainlink’s oracle tools.
Chromion Hackathon Winners
According to Chainlink’s report, this year’s Chainlink Chromion Hackathon saw over 3,000 participants from around the world submit 413 projects, with the largest numbers coming from India, the United States, and China. What’s particularly exciting is that a third of these builders were completely new to blockchain development, showing how quickly fresh talent is entering the Web3 space.
Prizes were given across several categories, including Grand Prize, On-Chain Finance, and Cross-Chain Solutions. The overall winner was YieldCoin, a fully on-chain stablecoin yield optimizer that automatically reallocates capital across multiple chains and protocols to secure the best returns.
When users deposit their stablecoins, they’re given YieldCoin tokens, which act like a receipt showing their share of the pooled funds. Behind the scenes, Chainlink CCIP, Automation, and Functions work together to track yields in real-time and automatically shift capital to wherever it can earn the best returns.
On-Chain Finance Track
In the On-Chain Finance track, TokenIQ took first place, earning $16,500 plus $10,000 in AWS credits. TokenIQ is essentially an autonomous CFO for DAOs. It leverages AI and Chainlink services to recommend and execute yield strategies across different tokens and blockchains, helping DAOs scale their treasury operations effortlessly. Coming in second was Copil, a DeFi collateral and strategy optimizer that even features a ChatGPT-powered builder for creating custom yield strategies.
Cross-Chain Solutions Track
The Cross-Chain Solutions track crowned HTTPayer as the winner, earning $10,000 in cash plus $10,000 in AWS credits. HTTPayer is a crypto payment server that is built to handle off-chain-to-on-chain transactions in an x402 style. It allows service providers to seamlessly automate stablecoin payments, ideal for SaaS products, API subscriptions, and similar services through Chainlink’s CCIP.
Real-World Asset Tokenization
Another key focus this year was real-world asset tokenization, which has become an integral part of Chainlink’s broader ecosystem. In fact, Chainlink Labs recently joined the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force, where its team is actively working on developing tokenization structures designed to meet strict regulatory requirements.
In this category, Yieldx took first place, receiving $16,500 and $10,000 in AWS credits. Yieldx focuses on bringing the trade finance market on-chain by tokenizing invoices, allowing investors to gain yield-bearing exposure to real-world receivables.
With Chainlink Functions and Data Feeds powering invoice verification and real-time asset valuation updates, Yieldx bridges traditional finance and blockchain in a way that could open up entirely new markets.