Solana launches first AI hackathon with $185,000 in prizes

Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) has announced its inaugural artificial intelligence (AI) hackathon, offering over $185,000 in cash prizes to encourage developers to explore AI applications on its high-performance blockchain.

This event marks a significant step in integrating AI with blockchain technology.

According to a post on Solana’s X handle, the hackathon will be powered by Send AI and will feature six distinct tracks focused on AI agents.

The main track, organised by ai16z and the Solana Foundation, invites developers to create the best overall AI agent product, with cash prizes of $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000 awarded to the top three projects.

Another track, led by Kuzco, will focus on the infrastructure for AI agents using a distributed GPU cluster for large language model (LLM) inference. 

Developers in this category will compete for cash prizes of $15,000, $7,500, and $5,000.

Additional tracks include one for decentralised finance (DeFi) agents by Adrena Protocol, aimed at creating agents that can manage positions across Solana’s DeFi protocols. 

The agent token tooling track by Meteora seeks to develop tools for AI agents to launch and manage token liquidity effectively.

There are also tracks for trading agents by Paladin, which focuses on building AI agents for spot trading, and autonomous chat agents by Assisterr that will create chat-based interaction tools.

Participants in the hackathon will have access to expert mentoring and resources provided by Send AI. 

Real-life pop-up events will be hosted by Superhosts, with project submissions open until December 15. 

Developers can enter as individuals or as teams of up to five members and may submit projects in up to two tracks of their choice. 

At the time of reporting, the Solana price was $230.36.