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Blockchain Energy Project Wins Consensus 2016 Hackathon
CoinDesk's ‘Building Blocks’ Hackathon at Consensus 2016 concluded today. Here's our recap of the event's big winners.
By Pete Rizzo
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 12:15 p.m. Published May 1, 2016, 10:43 p.m.
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The two-day ‘Building Blocks’ Hackathon at Consensus 2016 concluded today with the news that Decentralized Energy Utility, a project aimed at improving utility services in the developing world, had been named the $5,000 grand prize winner.
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In total, 26 projects were presented, a figured event emcee and CoinDesk team lead Ryan Selkis indicated was an increase from the 15 participants last year. Each group had two days to build a blockchain project, with the winner being the one that developed the prototype that had the most immediate commercial application.
Boasting a two-person international team, Decentralized Energy Utility aimed to solve issues with electrical services, enabling a network of existing utility companies and household generators to work more effectively to meet the needs of a rural populace.
The project showcased a series of smart meters that, when paid, used Hyperledger and IBM's Bluemix to facilitate the operation of a streetlight. In demonstration, the role of the streetlight was played by an iPhone, which turned on its flashlight application when a payment was sent to surprise and applause.
Project’s developer Oleg Abdrashitov said:
"Among kindness of neighbors you need to enable trust."
Panel judges included Andrew Keys, head of ConsenSys Enterprise; Christine Avanessians, senior program manager at Microsoft; Deloitte strategic disrupter Eric Piscini; head of blockchain at Allianz Group, Fei Zhang; and Tierion CEO Wayne Vaughn.
The full spectrum of projects included experiments that showcased how blockchain could be applied to identity, video gaming and even a "Smart AirBnb" that aimed to more efficiently resolve conflicts between guests on the popular lodging marketplace.
More winners
Elsewhere, the runner-up for the competition was Community Relief, a distributed autonomous organization (DAO) that would make the tracking of disaster relief funds more transparent. An honorable mention was given to UnionD, a project aimed at replicating traditional employment unions on the blockchain, using Ethereum smart contracts and DAOs.
Event sponsors Microsoft, IBM, Deloitte, ConsenSys, Tierion and Ether.Camp each awarded prizes to a startup of their choice, with secondary prizes ranging from an all-expenses-paid trip to the Deloitte innovation lab to a single bitcoin, worth $452 at press time.
Other winners included Fleetchain, a construction rental tool platform built on the Hyperledger project; Proof of Phone, which used the Ethereum blockchain to link a phone number to a wallet application for website login; and Black Ops Messaging, a blockchain-based communications platform for use by spies and military personnel.
Images via Pete Rizzo for CoinDesk
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