Leading digital asset exchange Binance has announced the launch of a Hackathon, called The Future Is Now.
According to Binance, this event will be a 3-week long virtual hackathon that will be hosted by Binance X and Gitcoin, which serves a place for blockchain developers to learn, earn, and network.
As noted in the announcement from Binance:
“We welcome developers, builders, and creators to build the next generation of projects for Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The hackathon will feature $60,000 in cash prizes, an array of bonus prizes and introductory workshops. All eligible participants are invited to a BSC Trivia Game Show where they can win additional prizes.”
The Future Is Now Hackathon is scheduled to take place between February 1-21, 2021.
As confirmed by Binance, all developers, builders, and creators may enter the contest. Sign-ups are currently open (Visit Gitcoin to register).
As mentioned in the update, all submissions must be projects that are being developed on the Binance Smart Chain. These projects must be “completely open source and non-custodial where assets are concerned.”
There will be prizes including $60,000 in cash rewards, along with opportunities to win BSC gas credit, limited edition non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and various other bonus prizes. There will reportedly be a panel of judges from Binance X, which is an initiative to support innovative projects on the Binance platform and the general ecosystem at large. Judges may also include associated partners who will be evaluating submissions.
As noted in the announcement, all submissions “must be open source, deployed live on the BSC test net or main net (Main net if seeking gas credit), and list the addresses of their contracts on BSC.” Submissions must be “useful and interesting (determined at the discretion of the judging panel).” Submission with “wide appeal will score better, and a demo video must be shared alongside your final submission,” the announcement stated.
There will also be workshops where people can receive hands-on training that’s hosted by various experts from the Binance X team and special guests.
Additionally, there will be a BSC Trivia Game Show where all teams who turn in a “valid” project submission will get an invite to take part in the trivia event, which will be livestreamed, and will also feature “additional cash prizes for winning participants.”
In a separate announcement, Binance revealed that it has launched an affiliate program so that traders and other crypto industry participants can boost their earnings.
The Binance team noted:
“We’re looking for YouTubers, crypto community leaders, writers in media, and other content creators who are interested in becoming Binance affiliate partners. Last month, 37 of our affiliate partners made over $10,000 from referral and trading commissions.”
As mentioned in the announcement, the Binance Affiliate Program aims to allow people to create “unique” referral links that invite their audience to register and perform trades via Binance. In a manner that’s similar to how most referral links work, anyone who clicks these links and registers will be “automatically attributed” as a referee (of the person providing the link). Participants will be able to earn a commission on “every trade they make, whether it’s on Binance Spot, Futures, or Margin trading, or even Binance Pool.”
(Note: to learn more about this offer, check here.)
It’s worth noting that Binance has received multiple warnings from regulatory authorities across the globe for operating in recognized markets without authorization. Like most other digital asset exchanges, Binance has been listing speculative cryptocurrencies for trading on its platforms.
Cryptocurrency exchanges have been criticized for not carefully vetting projects before listing their coins. This has led to investors losing large amounts of invested capital because most or many of these projects don’t really have legitimate use cases, which usually leads to their native cryptocurrency’s price crashing almost as soon as these coins are listed.
There are currently very few legitimate crypto projects besides Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) that have generated any meaningful long-term returns for investors.