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Istanbul 2025, scaling edition
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Bitcoin++ Scaling Edition

Welcome to the Bitcoin++ Scaling Edition Hackathon!

This is the hackathon site for the bitcoin++ scaling edition hackathon in Istanbul, Turkiye.

The main hackathon competition will be open ended (overall 1st, 2nd, 3rd). Anything involving bitcoin is fair game. Bonus points for scaling related projects.

There are optional challenges that hackers may create projects around. Submitting for a challenge is optional, and ALL projects will be considered for the main competition.

Logistics 

Thursday (9/4/25)
Kickoff Presentation: 12:30 PM (GMT+03:00)
Hacking Begins: 1:30 PM
Submission Deadline: 4:30 PM - On Devpost

Report for Judging Expo: 5:30 PM
Judging Expo: 5:45 PM - 7:45 PM - MAX 3 minutes (practice & time yourself)

Friday (9/5/25)
Finalist Presentations: 5:00 PM - 5:45 PM - 5 minutes per team (main stage)
Awards & Closing: 6:30 PM

Submissions closed View project gallery → View schedule →
7M
Prize Pool (satoshis)
∞
Team size
8
Visible projects
10
Awards
§ Welcome

Welcome to the Bitcoin++ Scaling Edition Hackathon!

This is the hackathon site for the bitcoin++ scaling edition hackathon in Istanbul.

The main hackathon competition will be open ended (overall 1st, 2nd, 3rd). Anything involving bitcoin is fair game. Bonus points for scaling related projects.

There are optional challenges that hackers may create projects around. Submitting for a challenge is optional, and ALL projects will be considered for the main competition.

§ Prizes

Prize pool.

Ranked rewards for the top projects. Challenges can stack on top.
★ 1st place · grand prize
2.5M satoshis
Artmak
1st Overall · 2.5M satoshis
★ 2nd place
1.5M satoshis
Core LLM + 2nd Overall — future Bitcoin++ ticket
2nd Overall · 1.5M satoshis
★ 3rd place
1M satoshis
zkpoor + 3rd Overall — future Bitcoin++ ticket
3rd Overall · 1M satoshis
+ Additional awards
[ Award ]

Best use of STARKs

2 Million Satoshis - Build projects that leverage STARKs (Scalable Transparent Arguments of Knowledge) for Bitcoin or its ecosystem (Lightning, Nostr, Cashu, Ark, Liquid, etc.).

Prizes
Best use of STARKs prize 2M satoshis

2 Million Satoshis - Build projects that leverage STARKs (Scalable Transparent Arguments of Knowledge) for Bitcoin or its ecosystem (Lightning, Nostr, Cashu, Ark, Liquid, etc.).

[ Award ]

Best Beginner Hack

Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - Only eligible to teams where EVERY member is a high-school/undergraduate student OR a first-time contributor to open-source bitcoin.

Prizes
Best Beginner Hack — future Bitcoin++ ticket 1 satoshis

One ticket to a future Bitcoin++ event for each winning team member.

[ Award ]

Best Privacy Hack

Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - For the project that best protects privacy, evades censorship, or empowers free expression in hostile environments.

Prizes
Best Privacy Hack — future Bitcoin++ ticket 1 satoshis

One ticket to a future Bitcoin++ event for each winning team member.

[ Award ]

Honorable Mentions

Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - Awarded to up to 6 “honorable mentions”

Prizes
Honorable Mentions — future Bitcoin++ ticket 1 satoshis

One ticket to a future Bitcoin++ event for each winning team member.

[ Award ]

Moon Math Award

Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - For the team with the boldest or most novel exploration into cryptography.

Prizes
Moon Math Award — future Bitcoin++ ticket 1 satoshis

One ticket to a future Bitcoin++ event for each winning team member.

[ Award ]

Reality Check Award

Tickets to future Bitcoin++ event - For the team whose project could realistically launch and attract users on mainnnet soon™.

Prizes
Reality Check Award — future Bitcoin++ ticket 1 satoshis

One ticket to a future Bitcoin++ event for each winning team member.

[ Award ]

Best Design

Blockstream Jade Hardware Wallet - For the project with the most intuitive, polished, and visually appealing user experience.

§ The judges

7 judges.

Scoring is handled by the assigned hackathon judges and coordinators.
Basak H
JUDGE #01

Basak H

Blockstream | Bitcoin Design Foundation
Johan T. Halseth
JUDGE #02

Johan T. Halseth

Open Source @ NYDIG
Liam Eagen
JUDGE #03

Liam Eagen

Alpen Labs
niftynei
JUDGE #04

niftynei

bitcoin++
Sam Parker
JUDGE #05

Sam Parker

Independent
Steven Roose
JUDGE #06

Steven Roose

Ark
Super Testnet
JUDGE #07

Super Testnet

Independent
§ Overview

Build in public.

Projects stay private until organizers open the public gallery. Judges and admins can review submissions while the event is running.
Submissions closed

Welcome to the Bitcoin++ Scaling Edition Hackathon!

This is the hackathon site for the bitcoin++ scaling edition hackathon in Istanbul, Turkiye.

The main hackathon competition will be open ended (overall 1st, 2nd, 3rd). Anything involving bitcoin is fair game. Bonus points for scaling related projects.

There are optional challenges that hackers may create projects around. Submitting for a challenge is optional, and ALL projects will be considered for the main competition.

Logistics 

Thursday (9/4/25)
Kickoff Presentation: 12:30 PM (GMT+03:00)
Hacking Begins: 1:30 PM
Submission Deadline: 4:30 PM - On Devpost

Report for Judging Expo: 5:30 PM
Judging Expo: 5:45 PM - 7:45 PM - MAX 3 minutes (practice & time yourself)

Friday (9/5/25)
Finalist Presentations: 5:00 PM - 5:45 PM - 5 minutes per team (main stage)
Awards & Closing: 6:30 PM

Conference
Istanbul 2025, scaling edition
Timeline
TBA
View schedule →
Team size
Unlimited
§ Featured builds

Built in public.

Winning and featured projects from this hackathon. Explore the full gallery →
★ 1st Overall★ Best Design

Artmak

Unassigned
A Bitcoin Ark wallet implemented as performance art
arkarkadeosbitcoinreacttypescript
Stephen DeLorme
Demo Docs
★ Best use of STARKs

Bridgestr

Unassigned
Bidirectional bitcoin and nostr mempool project
boltnlnewreplit
ExFrog AEHW1 Walton pretyflaco Yasar
Docs
★ 2nd Overall

Core LLM

Unassigned
LLM trained specifically on the Bitcoin Core codebase that gives specific answers to train and educate users on how bitcoin _really_ works.
aic++python
Tuma Tuma Matthew Vuk
Docs