Grant ID: 861muqbn5
Summary:
We’re organizing a hackathon as part of the Brussels Blockchain Week (June 5-11). The Blockchain Week is focussed on regulation and tokenization, since Brussels is the de facto capital of Europe with so many institutions being hosted there.
However, we want to provide counterweight to that theme with something we think represents the crypto community better: hacker culture!
This is one of the reasons we decided to kick off the first-ever edition of ETHBrussels. (The other reason being: hackathons are fantastic!).
We have the pleasure to use the premises of coding school Campus 19, right on top of the Brussels Central Station — very accessible. Hackers have two days to go from idea to prototype with help of our mentors (being confirmed as we speak). We will also host several workshops for beginners and experts. (e.g. “Designing for ecosystems”, “How to spin-up a fork chain for your entire team”, “intro to solidity”… Could be cool if a graph advocate gives a workshop about using the Graph too!)
Friday evening will be about meeting hackers setting up the teams and preparing with some basic workshops. Saturday and Sunday is when the main crux of the hacking will take place. Several mentors will be present to help the hackers out. On Sunday afternoon/evening, a jury team will select the top three projects (main prize). We’re setting up some bounties as well.
I have read and agree to the privacy policy:
true
Describe what your project does or is aiming to do in 50 characters or less:
June 9-11 - bootstrapping the Ethereum developer community in Brussels with a hackathon of 100-200 participants.
If available, please enter a link to your project below:
How far along are you?:
- team of 6 volunteers organizing the hackathon since mid April
- venue confirmed
- 5000 EUR in prizes confirmed
- posters placed on several university campuses in Belgium
- promotion by DAO Brussels, Brussels Blockchain Week, HoWest, and in several local crypto communities
Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you’re making?:
I’m a developer and prefer to ship code rather than talk about it. By organizing a hackathon we invite this inclination in hundreds of people. Hackathons are serious fun, and with this event we provide a good contrast to the setting at the Blockchain Week.
I have participated in a few hackathons myself, like most team members.
I’m also a facilitator and have organized dozens of in-person and online gatherings with Regens Unite and DAO Brussels.
People will participate in (and enjoy) our hackathon because there are not a lot of in-person hackathons in Belgium, and even less if you limit the search space to the crypto community. From my experience hosting Crypto Wednesdays every month for over a year, people crave meeting other folks with similar interests face-to-face, and this event will create exactly such a space for (aspiring) developers.
What’s new about what you’re making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn’t exist yet (or they don’t know about it)?:
Hackathons have existed for a long time, duh. What’s “new” about ours is the locality (Brussels/Belgium). (As far as we know) we’re organizing the first Ethereum centered in-person hackathon in Belgium.
In our locality, what people might do alternatively is participating in an online hackathon, coding alone or e.g. watching Netflix on Saturday night.
What’s your vision for how your project will impact The Graph and/or web3?:
I consider the Graph a core piece of infrastructure in web3 and would love to give you a prominent spot at the hackathon. This would lead to a dozen developers getting some hands-on experience with the Graph for the first time. it’s on-the-ground and concrete; hearts and minds are won one at a time (both for the graph and web3).
How will you measure success?:
We consider the first edition a success if between 100 and 200 people show up and have a good time learning and building.
What milestones will you achieve in the coming weeks/months, with or without the grant?:
We will host 100-200 hackers on June 9-11.
In the coming days/weeks we will:
- finalize the workshop agenda and confirm the availability of the mentors
- arrange catering
- continue to promote the existence of this hackathon
Please select who you think will benefit from your project?:
Curators, Delegators, Indexers, Subgraph Developers
How much funding are you looking for? (USD):
5000
Provide a breakdown of your requested funding:
The Gold sponsorship tier, which is the only tier that includes the privilege of a 10 min presentation during the opening ceremony, comes in at 5K. Up to 3K of that budget can be allocated to a dedicated bounty for which you specify the conditions (except that it must be allocated).
The remainder goes towards the main prize pool, covering our promotion and catering expenses, and (if budget permits) to compensate our contributors for their time.
Have you applied for (or already received) funding from somewhere else?:
Yes
If yes, please describe where you’ve received funding from and how much you have, or will, receive:
- 2000 EUR from the Brussels Blockchain Week
- 3000 EUR from Arcadia Finance
- 1000 EUR bounty from Taikai
- up to 1000 EUR worth of subscriptions of Waltio
Can you share any information about current/past web3 experience?:
I have co-founded DAO Brussels and Regens Unite, and have completed a Solidity bootcamp last year. Two of the core organizers of ETH Brussels are full-time solidity devs.
Why are you interested in contributing to The Graph and/or web3?:
To me it makes total sense to do indexing as a shared (interoperable) activity, as opposed to each dApp rolling out their own infrastructure. It makes it easy for developers (like those at our hackathon) to get started quickly and focus on what’s important about their project, not on reinventing common plumbing.
I am interested in web3 in general because I want to live in a world where people more frequently share ownership and decision making — putting more power in the hands of all people.
Are you applying as a team or individual?:
Team
What type of grant are you pursuing?:
Project (one-off)
Please select the category your project best fits into:
Regional Community
Primary Community Poll
- Yes
- No
0 voters
Grant Committee Vote
- Yes
- No
0 voters
