DWF Labs Sponsors the Middle East’s Largest Web3 Hackathon Hosted by Bybit and DMCC

Last week, DWF Labs sponsored the second edition of the Middle East’s largest Web3 hackathon, hosted by Bybit and DMCC Crypto Centre. DWF Labs is proud to be a part of the exciting innovations in the crypto and Web3 space, collaborating with industry leaders to support projects shaping the future of crypto.

The event brought together 15 forward-thinking Web3 startup projects from around the world, building in key areas such as tokenisation, AI, Web3 infrastructure, zero-knowledge protocols, digital identity, and DePIN (decentralised physical infrastructure networks). Projects were judged on their potential to offer real-world solutions, creativity, technical execution, practicality, and business potential. The top 5 projects took home prizes from a prize pool of $160,000.

Alessia Baumgartner, Business Partner of Ecosystems at DWF Labs, joined an expert panel of judges to select the winning projects. A special thank you to fellow judges: Phoebe Peng (Business Manager at Bybit), Zaher El Orm (Manager at DMCC Crypto Centre), Mathias Ruch (Founder & CEO of CV VC), Dyma Budorin, (CEO of Hacken), Daniel Zou (Incubation Lead at Blockchain for Good Alliance) and Kirill Kuznetcov (Lead Blockchain Engineer at 1inch).

Alessia also spoke during the panel discussion, 'Looking into the Future: What's Next?', alongside Mathias Ruch, Dyma Budorin, Kirill Kuznetcov, Helen Liu (Chief Operating Officer of Bybit), and Belal Jassoma (Director of Ecosystems at DMCC).

During the panel discussion, Alessia shared that hackathons and events organised by reputable companies are important opportunities for projects to obtain valuable feedback from judges, as well as to meet venture capital firms, exchanges, service providers, and government entities. She recommended that projects take advantage of opportunities to make valuable connections and obtain feedback from industry experts.

The 5 winners of the hackathon were:

1. KelpMe – KELP (Key-Loss Protection), a blockchain-based solution designed to address the loss of private keys and misdirected transactions, which can lead to permanent asset loss. It offers a fully reactive recovery mechanism, allowing users to reclaim assets even after key loss, without needing pre-emptive backup measures. (USA, UAE, Greece)
2. Trepa – Trepa is a Telegram-based app that lets users predict majority opinions on any topic through easy prediction pools. Stake tokens, align with the consensus, and earn rewards. Powered by TON blockchain for secure, transparent, and low-cost participation. (South Korea, Singapore)
3. Mavryk Network – Mavryk Network is the Layer 1 blockchain designed to revolutionise asset ownership and nurture the RWA community building the tokenisation of assets for tomorrow. By leveraging RWA tokenisation, DeFi applications, and robust infrastructure, Mavryk aims to transform how individuals interact with and leverage tokenised assets. (Dubai, Gibraltar, Singapore, Paris, Kiev, Tel Aviv)
4. Hive – Hive is building a solution that is leading the compute-sharing economy with every home's GPU. By empowering individuals to share their computing resources, Hive can democratise access to technology. This shift challenges the dominance of big tech and puts the power back into the hands of everyday people. (Abu Dhabi, Belgium)
5. Poppin – Poppin is a browser extension that turns any webpage into a social hub, allowing users to connect and interact with others on the same webpage through comments, real-time chats, and voice streams. (Turkey)

Congratulations to the winners for their amazing work and ideas.

This year’s edition of the Bybit x DMCC Web3 Hackathon showcased the potential of the crypto industry and a wealth of opportunities for innovative projects and founders to explore. DWF Labs is constantly seeking to support innovators and builders in crypto. If you are building, feel free to contact our team.