Neo completes APAC Hackathon tour with Hong Kong finale

Neo recently wrapped up its APAC Hackathon series with the grand final event at CyberPort in Hong Kong, held on Oct. 27-28. The event gathered 23 teams from across the globe, presenting a range of projects across several categories. The initiative is a part of Neo’s efforts to encourage the growth of Web3 in the Asia-Pacific region, offering a platform for developers and innovators to connect and collaborate.

Winner showcase

The final event in Hong Kong marked the end of a four-month journey, with GAS Station events hosted in Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangalore, Seoul, and Singapore. GAS Stations were regional hackathons where participants competed for prizes and an invitation to the Hong Kong finale. Alternatively, developers could submit projects online to compete for an invitation.

The presentations from each of the 23 teams were evaluated by a panel of judges including Neo co-founder Erik Zhang, Neo head of ecosystem growth John Wang, CTO of OSL Henry Chen, and community representatives from groups including AxLabs, COZ, Neo News Today, Neo SPCC, Red4Sec, R3E Network, and Flamingo Finance.

Grand prizes were awarded in five categories, while a single Neo Star award was granted as an additional prize for students. Grand prize winners received US $10,000 each, while the Neo Star winner took home $3,000. Additionally, winners are eligible for grants through Neo’s newly launched $1 million accelerator initiative with Web3Labs, aimed at nurturing the Web3 industry in Hong Kong. All teams walked away with $2,000 in Google Cloud credits, while five teams also received $5,000 in AWS credits.

The major prize winners in their respective categories are as follows:

• DeFi & Payment: Prophet, a prediction platform that enables users to place wagers based on their beliefs.
• NFT & Gaming: Card Brawl, a rogue-like trading card game.
• AI, Social & DAO: Magipop, a DAO that focuses on community co-creation, utilizing AI and blockchain to automate revenue sharing for collaborative creativity.
• Infrastructure: NeoCast, a push notification service catering to dApps, DAOs, wallets, and other decentralized services on the Neo blockchain.
• General/Special: Respect, a crypto trading bot with a focus on on-chain quantitative trading.
• Neo Star: SuperSquad, a platform that challenges users to pool money to achieve goals.

The AWS award winners are:

• Carrot Swap, a high-capital efficiency AMM-based cross-chain DEX.
• Chainrewardz, a no-code rewards redemption platform.
• NEOSAFE, a self-custody multi-sig wallet.
• NFT Gram, AI-powered NFTs with personality.
• Multiverse Savior, an on-chain barrage-shooting survival game.

Speakers

Beyond the competition, the event featured several keynotes and panels discussing various aspects of Web3, its growth, and opportunities within Hong Kong. Johnny Ng Kit-chong, a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, gave opening remarks, highlighting the potential of the Web3 community in creating real-life applications to better people’s lives. Chief Corporate Development Officer at Cyberport Ian Chan also delivered opening remarks, setting a positive tone for the event.

Ben El-Baz, head of ecosystems at Hashkey, shared insights on the next era of digital asset exchange, while King Leung, head of financial services and fintech at InvestHK, addressed the advantages of pursuing a Web3 career in Hong Kong, further emphasizing the city’s role as a hub for innovation in this field.

Da Hongfei made a significant announcement during his keynote, revealing details surrounding Neo’s new initiative – the EVM sidechain, expanding the Neo ecosystem and providing more opportunities for developers and startups. John Wang and CEO of Web3Labs Caspar Wong Chun-long held a signing ceremony to officially launch the “Web3.0 Global Acceleration Program.”

Panel discussions focused on various subjects including regulation, incubation programs, security and privacy, Hong Kong’s Web3 future, real world assets, and more.

Duncan Chiu Tat-kun, a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council for the Technology and Innovation functional constituency, delivered the closing remarks, expressing optimism for Web3’s future in Hong Kong.