Decentralized education protocol Open Campus has announced a $1 million hackathon to promote decentralized app (dApp) development on the EDU Chain.

Per a Worldmetrics report, by 2023, the global blockchain in education market was projected to reach $1.34 billion. Further, it was reported that 59% of higher education institutions have adopted or are considering adopting blockchain technology​.

Open campus’s Codex Hackathon series seeks to bolster Dapp development in this sector via EDU Chain. The mainnet is expected to go live later this year.

“EDU Chain is the first decentralized blockchain for education built by Open Campus and is designed to drive the democratization of education and to empower all participants to contribute to and benefit from the decentralized future of education,” an Open Campus spokesperson told crypto.news.

According to the press releases shared, the hackathon is set to begin on July 8, 2024. The event is backed by notable firms such as Animoca Brands, TinyTap, and ForbesWeb3.

The hackathon will span three semesters. The first semester will be focused on launching decentralized finance (DeFi) and infrastructure applications. The second semester will target the development of education dapps, while the third will be around developing education finance dapps and on-chain credential applications.

The event will feature a prize money of US $1 million worth of EDU tokens, EDU chain’s native cryptocurrency.

Winners will also get a spot in a special developers cohort of the Open Campus accelerator program, exposing them to an additional “$100,000” in funding per project along with compliance assistance, marketing, and developer support.

Dapps developed during the hackathon would be accessible to “over 500,000” Open Campus ID holders, its decentralized identifier (DID).

“The invitation into the Open Campus accelerator program and exposure to Open Campus ID learners amplifies the reach of the winning dapps and significantly enhances their potential to have a meaningful impact in the education sector through additional funding and support,” the spokesperson added.

The announcement came a month after Animoca Brands announced plans to buy more EDU, the project’s native token, from the open market. Open Campus also raised $3.15 million from Binance Labs in November 2023.