The PRNewswire announcement says the program is intended to feed a longer-term Genesis Grant and ecosystem collaboration network aimed at expanding $HTX utility and developer participation.
HTX DAO said its Genesis Hackathon has concluded after nearly three months, with more than 200 projects participating under the theme "AI × Web3." Co-hosted by HTX DAO and B.AI, and organized by TinTinLand, the program ran from a launch in Hong Kong through project reviews, Demo Day presentations and online grand finals. The group said the event was designed not as a standalone contest but as the first stage of a broader developer strategy centered on project discovery, early-stage funding, ecosystem collaboration and community governance. The announcement said submissions covered AI trading, AI payments, AI agents, AI wallets, AI infrastructure, developer tools, security and DeFi (blockchain-based financial services). Judges prioritized technical execution, product maturity, real-world utility and long-term potential. HTX DAO said the next phase will be the Genesis Program, built around a "Hackathon + Genesis Grant + Ecosystem Collaboration Network" structure intended to support projects after the competition through funding, technical integration, marketing and community building. HTX DAO also said the hackathon created a use case for $HTX by allowing community members to stake (lock tokens for participation) $HTX to receive sHTX and vote on shortlisted projects alongside expert judges. It described that mechanism as part of a longer-term governance model in which $HTX is used across project support, resource distribution, developer initiatives and applications including AI payments, AI wallets, DeFi and on-chain services. The group said it will continue backing high-potential AI and Web3 teams through the Genesis Grant and ecosystem collaboration network as it seeks to turn prototypes into scalable, real-world applications.