About Aleo

Aleo is a developer platform that uses zero-knowledge cryptography to enable digital transfers of value that are programmable, secure, and scalable. Aleo is launching a next-gen blockchain & new consensus protocol that is faster, more efficient, and more decentralized than traditional models. Aleo is more than a blockchain. It’s a new computing paradigm defined by client-side execution & cutting-edge cryptography designed for the next generation.

About the Hackathon

Welcome to the Aleo Privacy Online Hackathon! We're thrilled to invite you to use your coding skills to venture into the boundless possibilities of the privacy-preserving blockchain technology of Aleo. You'll have the opportunity to create projects starting May 1st to May 19 that address real-world challenges, compete for prizes, and connect with amazing individuals at our zkNest May 13th, 2025 here.

Reward Pool & Condition

1st Place: 50,000 in Aleo Credits
2nd Place: 35,000 in Aleo Credits
3rd Place: 15,000 in Aleo Credits

Eligibility

  • Aleo Grant Recipients: Projects that previously received an Aleo grant are not eligible.

  • Novelty Requirement: Duplicate or copied projects will be disqualified.

  • Team Composition: Open to individuals or teams. All team members must meet the eligibility criteria if participating as a team.

  • No Pre-Built Solutions: Eligible projects must be built during the hackathon only to ensure fairness.

Project and Submission Requirements

Project Timeline: Work on projects can begin as early as May 1st, 2025. All projects must be submitted via DevPost by the deadline May 19th 12:01am EST.

Submission Components: Complete project, presentation, GitHub repository, and README file.

Code of Conduct (For In-Person Participation) A comprehensive code of conduct will ensure a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all participants. This will be shared with all attendees before the event.

Legal Considerations Participants should consult their legal advisors to understand their rights and obligations. Hackathon organizers are recommended to consult a lawyer to finalize the rules and ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Aleo Credits (rewards) will be paid after the mainnet. All US residents will be required to have a holding period. Payments will be made within 30 business days of the hackathon end date.

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Innovation and Creativity

  • Assessing how the project introduces fresh ideas and solutions using zk proofs on the Aleo Blockchain.

  • Innovation in leveraging zk technology for novel applications.

Technical Implementation

  • Evaluating project functionality, security, and code quality, including its integration with the Aleo Blockchain.

  • Focus on robustness, efficiency, and scalability of the solution.

User Experience

  • Examining user-friendliness, accessibility, and the navigational ease of the project's interface, considering the time constraints of the hackathon.

  • Importance of intuitive design and seamless interaction.

Practicality and Real-World Use Case

  • Gauging the project's real-world applicability and potential impact on a global audience.

  • Relevance and potential for implementation in practical scenarios.

zk Proof Usage

  • Analyzing the effective use of zk proofs for scalability, privacy, and computational efficiency.

  • Emphasis on innovative applications of zk proofs for enhancing privacy and security.

Get Started with Resources

Tools and Technologies: To kickstart your projects, you'll need to familiarize yourself with several tools and technologies:

  • Aleo SDK: The primary toolkit for building applications on Aleo. Download and setup instructions: Aleo SDK. Includes snarkOS and snarkVM.

  • Leo Programming Language: Aleo's native language, designed for writing zk applications. Learn more about Leo.

  • GitHub: All projects must be submitted with a GitHub repository.

Inspiration: Need a spark of inspiration? Check out this curated list of awesome Aleo projects and resources: Awesome Aleo on GitHub.

Contact Us & Support Channels

Our team is ready to assist you throughout the event, ensuring you have everything you need to succeed. We'll be offering remote office hours on discord enter any of the `engineering` channels and shoot a message that you're here for office hours support.

Additional Resource Links

  • Aleo Documentation: Comprehensive guides and tutorials. Aleo Developer Portal

  • Leo Introductory Course: A GitHub repository to help you learn Leo. Start Learning

  • zkHackathon Guidelines: Detailed information about the hackathon, including rules and submission requirements. Hackathon Page

  • How Did You Learn About the Hackathon?: Let us know how you h eard about our Hackathon - DevPost, Hack the Social in Toronto, Aleo Hacker Space, DevRels, or Other.

Requirements

What to Build

  • Private Compliance Stablecoins
    • Use Aleo's privacy-preserving stablecoin infrastructure for real-world financial use cases:
      • Cross-border payments & remittances
      • E-commerece & merchant payments
      • Payroll & freelancer payouts
      • Company treasuries & savings
      • Fintech infrastructure integrations
  • Verifiable Private States
    • Design applications using anonymous credentials or membership systems:
      • Private access control
      • Identity & credentialing systems
      • Anonymous DAOs or gated communities
  • zk-Powered Defi
    • Innovate at the intersection of privacy and DeFi:
      • Lending & borrowing protocols 
      • Privacy-preserving DEX LPing
      • Yield farming with zk compliance 
      • Stablecoin-denominated returns and inflation hedges 

Bounties

  • Aleo Name Service (ANS)
    • Bounty Amount: 5,000 $ALEO
    • Bounty Description: Awarded to the best project that integrates with Aleo Name Service (ANS) in a creative, impactful, and technically sound way. Learn more about ANS in our [ARC-137 specification](https://vote.aleo.org/p/137) and visit aleonames.id(https://aleonames.id) to explore the protocol.
    • Evaluator: Wayne (Co-Founder, ANS) will evaluate submissions and select the winner.
  • Aleo NFT Standard
    • Bounty Amount: 5,000 $ALEO
    • Bounty Description:Award for the best project utilizing the Aleo NFT standard. Criteria for winning include effectively leveraging both the privacy of NFT ownership and privacy of assocaited data, which makes Aleo NFTs unique.
    • Evaluator: Capncrunch (Co-Founder, zSociety) will evaluate submissions and select the winner.
  • Verulink Bridge
    • Bounty Amount: 5,000 $ALEO
    • Bounty Description: Awarded to the project that shows the best use case of the new Verulink Bridge features and connections to Base and Arbitrum currently live on the testnet. Submissions may include tools, integartions or new applications that highlight the bridge's capabilities in an original or impactful way.
    • Evaluator: Dan Brehmer (Chief Scientist and Co-Founder, Venture 23) will evaluate submissions and select the winners.
  • Arcane Finance
    • Bounty Amount: 5,000 $ALEO
    • Bounty Description: Awarded to the best project that builds on the latest Arcane DEX program (arcn_pool_v2_2_4.aleo). Winning submissions should demonstrate user of Arcane's privacy-preserving DEX logic - such as novel DeFi primitives, cross-chain integrations, or creative UX flows. Emphasis will be placed on effective use of private swaps, liquidity pools, or composability with other Aleo programs.
    • Evaluator: Max (Co-Founder, Arcane Finance) will evaluate submissions and select the winners.

 

 

What to Submit

  • Be written in Leo and deployed on Aleo testnet/mainnet
  • Submit a video of up to 2-5 minutes long explaining your project
  • Required: share the link to your code/repository (Github or similar)
  • New to the Aleo ecoystem and not previously submitted to other hackathons

Pitching Requirements:

  • UPDATE: We've removed the in-person pitching aspect from the hackathon. There is NO in-person pitching component.
  • When submitting your project, you are required to include a link to a pre-recorded demo video that's publicly shareable on a platform like Loom, YouTube, Vimeo, or similar. If there isn't a demo in your video and/or the video is not set to public and watchable, your project will be disqualified.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

7 non-cash prizes
1st Place
1 winner

50,000 $ALEO

2nd Place
1 winner

35,000 $ALEO

3rd Place
1 winner

15,000 $ALEO

Aleo Name Service Bounty
1 winner

5,000 $ALEO

Aleo NFT Standard Bounty
1 winner

5,000 $ALEO

Verulink Bridge Bounty
1 winner

5,000 $ALEO

Arcane Finance Bounty
1 winner

5,000 $ALEO

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Christy Cui

Christy Cui
Engineering Manager @ Aleo

John Reynolds

John Reynolds
Head of Product @ Aleo

Zk Lim

Zk Lim
Developer Relations @ Aleo

Wayne Liu

Wayne Liu
Co-Founder @ ANS

Pierre-André Long

Pierre-André Long
Co-Founder @ zSociety

Dan Brehmer

Dan Brehmer
Chief Scientist and Co-Founder @ Venture23

Max Sultakov

Max Sultakov
CTO & Co-Founder @ Arcane Finance

Judging Criteria

  • Innovation and Creativity
    Assessing how the project introduces fresh ideas and solutions using zk proofs on the Aleo Blockchain.
  • Technical Implementation
    Evaluating project functionality, security, and code quality, including its integration with the Aleo Blockchain.
  • User Experience (UX)
    Examining user-friendliness, accessibility, and the navigational ease of the project's interface, considering the time constraints of the hackathon.
  • Practicality and Real-World Use Case
    Gauging the project's real-world applicability and potential impact on a global audience.
  • zk Proof Usage
    Analyzing the effective use of zk proofs for scalability, privacy, and computational efficiency.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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