Kekkai, Chainrewardz, and FUO were recipients of awards at the first stop on Neo’s APAC Hackathon tour. The in-person event, called a GAS Station, took place in Tokyo on July 22 and 23, offering panel discussions and hacking sessions. The winners were awarded token prizes, and two of the teams also received invitations and travel grants to participate in the tour’s final event taking place in Hong Kong in October.

Kekkai

Kekkai is an established Web3 security firm that enables users to simulate transactions before executing them in order to detect potential fraud, such as phishing attacks. For the Tokyo hackathon, the team built Kekkai Scan, a block explorer that analyzes smart contract functions to assess their security. 

Kekkai is a collaborative cross-border team, with founder and CEO Danny Duma located in Tokyo, Japan, and lead engineer Regison, front-end engineer Amagi, and AI engineer Aidan Lew all hailing from Shenzhen, China. With Danny and Regison having worked together for over a decade, and the others joining through connections at conferences and universities, the team’s vision is clear. According to Danny, “We want every user and developer to understand the security and vulnerabilities of the smart contracts.”

Kekkai supports dozens of blockchains outside of Neo with its browser plugin security software. At the hackathon, the team integrated support for an experimental Neo blockchain running the EVM, with plans to work on the NeoVM version as a next step. 

Kekkai received an Excellence Award, an AWS Choice Award, and a Travel Award, for a total of US $11,000 in prizes and travel grants.

Neo Global Development recognized Kekkai’s efforts in its July 2023 monthly report. “Kekkai stood out with an innovative approach to Web3 security that uses a transaction simulator to safeguard users against phishing attacks.”

Chainrewardz

Chainrewardz is developing an onchain no-code rewards redemption platform that will allow any project to connect with its users via incentive programs. Chainrewardz streamlines the processes involved by managing reward content, redemption, and payment, and claims to have over 2 million hotels integrated for its alpha test release.

At the Tokyo GAS Station, Chainrewardz received an Excellence Award, an AWS Choice Award, and a Travel Award, for a total of $11,000 in prizes and travel grants. According to NGD’s July monthly report, “Chainrewardz received well-deserved acclaim for its ingenious rewards system design.”

A project roadmap available on the Chainrewardz website indicates the team plans a public beta release in September, as well as an API and SDK release in November.

FUO

FUO was the recipient of an Alibaba Cloud Choice Award at the Tokyo GAS Station, and was rewarded $1,000.

NGD wrote, “FUO showcased a groundbreaking SocialFi concept, integrating marketing promotions and NFTs by partnering with renowned NFT artists and IP from Japan’s vibrant fan economy.”

The Neo APAC Hackathon

The Neo APAC Hackathon is an initiative designed to foster Web3 growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Running from July to October 2023, this event offers over $1,100,000 in prizes and grant funding. With virtual sessions, on-the-ground “GAS Stations” across five major cities, and a grand finale in Hong Kong, the Hackathon seeks to attract innovative Web3 startups to the Neo ecosystem.

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