The hackathon runs November 1–14, 2026, with judging November 16–18 and results by November 18 at 23:59 UTC. No advance signup is required; entrants submit a public repository and a demo post on X, with one uneditable submission per team. The $250,000 prize pool is paid in NEAR across 13 tracks, including DeFi, AI agents, privacy, and real-world payments. Judges include Illia Polosukhin, Mert Mumtaz, Eddy Lazzarin, Avichal Garg, Kain Warwick, Haseeb Qureshi, and Stepan Gershuni, plus AI judges Claude Code and Codex. Builders can use NEAR Intents, Chain Signatures, and NEAR AI Cloud.

AI summary of the linked source — not editorial content.

Story signal · how it spread on X · via Elfa

as of
Spread
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Distinct X and Telegram accounts Elfa counted behind this story’s reports, summed over the thread. Not posts, not impressions.
6 accounts

first post
Leviathan +20.3 h later

NEAR reaction
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Price change from the first post to 24 hours later (Hyperliquid). BTC over the same window is shown so a market-wide move is not mistaken for a reaction to this story. Not advice.
−1.8% 24h after post

$4.92 → $4.83
BTC +1.7% same window
Elfa measured −2.3% 1d · still measuring

Thread · 1 event
  1. First reportNEAR launches a two-week hackathon with $250,000 in prizes6 acc.
  2. Leviathan published this article

All times UTC.

Cited posts

  • @haenko21 haenko(⋈,🇺🇦)On X ↗

    If you're building on $NEAR, or thinking about it, this hackathon deserves your attention. $250k in prizes, paid in NEAR. A $55k grand prize, plus $10k, $3k and $2k for the top three in each of the 13 tracks. That's 40 prizes in total. The jury: Illia Polosukhin, Mert Mumtaz… https://t.co/9QGwXoCI9X

  • @near_intents NEAR IntentsOn X ↗

    NEAR HACKATHON is calling. $250K in prizes. Two weeks to build AI agents, autonomous payments, cross-chain everything. No limits on what you can build. Build with NEAR Intents and the NEAR ecosystem. 👇 https://t.co/H0C8DUwbL7

  • @ilblackdragon Illia (root.near) (🇺🇦, ⋈)On X ↗

    NEAR HACKATHON is coming. Runs 1-14 November, $250K+ in prizes, just ship a public repo & demo by the end of the 2 weeks. I'm judging alongside @mert @hosseeb @avichal @kain @eddylazzarin & @cyntro_py. Cross-chain markets and confidential AI are NEAR. https://t.co/KEx8ts3PLA

Show 3 more cited posts
  • @NEARProtocol NEAR ProtocolFirst reportOn X ↗

    NEAR HACKATHON is now live with $250K+ in prizes. No signup. Just ship a public repo + public demo post between November 1st & Nov 14, 23:59 UTC. Build on NEAR Intents, chain signatures, chain abstraction, NEAR AI Cloud, & more. Full details: https://t.co/mkP9hKatU4

  • @vinibarbosabr Vini B 「thecoding.dev」On X ↗

    NEAR HACKATHON announced with high-signal judges! it's great to see @NEARProtocol focusing on bringing and supporting builders on top of near:native -- this is the highest-leverage play, imo 13 tracks welcome a diverse ecosystem: • Unstoppable DeFi • Investment Thesis •… https://t.co/RPfohHPTBz

  • @NEARLegion NEAR LegionOn X ↗

    NEAR’s $250K Hackathon is now live! Nov 1–14. Ship a public repo + a demo post on X. That's your entry. Go solo or squad up. With 13 tracks, even your coding agent can draft the whole thing. Builders of the Legion, this one's yours, build more! ⚔️ https://t.co/PubD6qv1EZ

TradersTrader calls tracked by Elfa · not advice

Positioning · NEAR

Open576 open positions · 533 long · 43 short

Tracked accounts lean long about 97% of the time, so a long-heavy book is normal, not a signal. As of 20 Oct 15:21 UTC.

Reaction since the first post

Since 19 Oct 19:10 UTC7 calls opened · 6 long · 1 short

Whole crypto market, not this story

Crowding17th percentile · vs last 28 days, 50 typical
Pulse 24h61/100 · unusualness of new calls, 0–100, 50 typical, higher means more long than usual
Book97.3% long · 11,143 accounts

As of 20 Oct 15:15 UTC.

Social-monitoring data, not investment advice Elfa prices Hyperliquid post text from Xas of

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