Manila Blockchain Community Successfully Organizes DISH – Decentralized Innovation and Blockchain Hackathon 2018

November 26, 2018. It was around July and August 2018 when the idea for DISH 2018: Decentralized Innovation and Startup Hackathon – came about.

The premise: a community-led blockchain hackathon.

Too many hackathons are organized by big companies. It has merit, of course, and DISH could have gone the same route. But many key people in Manila’s blockchain community had other plans. BlockDevs Asia’s Chris Verceles said it best, “if we organize it ourselves, no one can boss us around.”

If the community self-organize, two things will happen.

First, everyone’s input will be taken into account whenever and wherever they come. Everyone in the community has a role to play every day. It can be a job to attend, a startup to manage, an article to write, a code to deploy, a client to attend to. Time simply does not jive.

But hey, everyone managed to make it work in the end. Utilizing different online tools like Slack, Telegram, Google Drive, everyone is able to collaborate. Inputs from various members are heard when they come. Ideas are coming everywhere. This simply cannot happen in corporate-led hackathons.

Of course, certain roles are assigned. Chris, for example, is the point-of-contact for everything. Media partners are in charge of the optics. Blockchain developer experts take charge of mentoring the developers. Others take business consultation. At DISH 2018, the judges take into account the dev and biz side of the projects/prototypes. Thus, it’s very important for the hackathon participants to hear from mentors who are expert in both sides.

Second, because it is community-led, companies take on supporting roles, either as a sponsor or a partner. Think about it, a company-organized event might alienate a competing company. Whereas if it’s community-led, everyone can support it without bias.

Biz and Dev Track

The event is divided into biz and dev tracks. The dev track consists of teaching and mentoring of various blockchain systems, which the teams can incorporate in their project. The business track discussed blockchain 101 and the state of enterprise adoption of blockchain in the Philippines. The business track may be short but it was certainly memorable and valuable to the audience who listened to key blockchain business experts – Colin Goltra of Coins.ph, Rafael Padilla of Blockchain Association of the Philippines, Aiai Garcia of ConsenSys, and Peter Ing of BlockchainSpace/SCI.

Hackathon

Of course, the highlight of this event is the hackathon itself. 12 teams presented their projects to a panel of business and dev experts.

1. Blulemons – Non-Fungible Items in Games
2. Team Digima – Charity on the Blockchain
3. Dynaquest MVP – Digital Identity
4. Psycellium – DAO Cooperatives Network
5. Team Mochi – Decentralix
6. Team Building – Shopr
7. Cryptochamps – Cryptomemes
8. The Kamicabamboonnaise – Repute
9. Team Ernest – SPOTx
10. Hollowblocks – Hive
11. Sora – Sora Galleon
12. Maners – Mariner

As different blockchain experts from the community are present in the hackathon, the teams are able to receive advice from experts in different blockchains – NEM, Multichain, Ethereum, EOS. Key experts who provided development expertise are the following:

• Alex Batongbakal – NEM
• Chris Verceles, Caspar Oostendorp – Ethereum
• Gautam Anand – EOS
• Mark Vernon – Multichain and Tagcash

Winners

At the end of the 2-day hackathon, the winners are announced:

• First place – Cryptomemes by Cryptochamps by Michael Tan, Brent Anthony Tudas, Patrick Rainer Juen, Tristan Mallorca, and Li Arolf Rey.
• Second place – BluLemons Blockchain Based Gaming Running on NEM by Joel Eya, Lorenzo M. Cruz, Jehan Punzalan, Sherwin Martinez, and Akram Sangco.
• Third place – Psycellium’s DAO Cooperatives Network by Kyle Shaun M. Aquino, Jose Angelo David Boado, Lance Joseph Nolasco, Janjan Medina

Accenture, a sponsor of the event, has awarded “choice project by Accenture” to Psycellium. The team won 4 Samsung phones. Gautam Anand, one the EOS mentors, awarded Rakuten credits to the projects Hive, SPOTx, and Sora Galleon.

All in all, DISH 2018 has been a success. As Peter Ing of BlockchainSpace puts it, it wouldn’t be possible without the support of everyone – participants, organizers, sponsors, and media alike.

Everyone looks forward to the next event.

About DISH 2018:

The first ever community-led 2-day blockchain hackathon in the Philippines, technical and non-technical blockchain enthusiasts & professionals are welcome to participate while various projects will be showcased at the conference halls, in addition to presentations and panel talks at the Biz Track and Devs Track.

DISH 2018 Event Details:

• Website: https://dish2018.com

When & Where:

• Start: Saturday November 24, 7AM
• End: Sunday November 25, 6PM
• Location: BlockchainSpace, Acceler8 Coworking space, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Organizers:

Makati Digital Currency, Coding Girls Manila, Craft & Crypto, Manila Ethereum Meetup, Blockdevs Asia

Sponsors:

SCI, EXEES, Accenture, NEM, EOS Philippines, Xin Marketing, Rakuten Rapid API

Partners:

Oost & Voort Inc, Let’sBuildEOS, BlockChats, Bitchikka, LaunchGarage, Blocklab, Asia Blockchain Review, BitPinas, BlockchainSpace, TagCash, LifeMesh, Initimate.io, Techchoix

Volunteers:

Nikko Magalona, Christina Gallano, Kimberly Laureles, Inoah Melad, Acceler8 Staff, Minrie Macapugay, Alenna, Dawn