The initiative spans 11 countries, offers up to $500K in funding from Core Ventures along with other rewards, and culminates in a global pitch finale during Token2049 in Singapore.
June 2025 – The Core Foundation, the entity dedicated to growing Core, Bitcoin’s leading scaling protocol, today announced the launch of the Core Connect Global Buildathon + Meetups — a worldwide campaign to onboard and support the most promising Web3 builders developing applications on Core, the most Bitcoin-aligned blockchain.
Spanning from June 2 to August 10, the program offers learning and mentorship sessions to help teams build and launch their dApps on Core. The program offers up to $500,000 in venture capital from Core Ventures, $400,000 in CORE token incentives, and $300,000 in infrastructure and audit credits. Finalists will be flown to Singapore to pitch live at Token2049, Asia’s largest crypto gathering.
“Core is where Bitcoin becomes programmable—and where real adoption is already happening, from users to institutions. It’s the best place for builders to launch Bitcoin DeFi use cases. Last year’s BTCfi Summer Hackathon surfaced teams like b14g, unlocking no-loss restaking for Bitcoin holders. This year, with the Core Connect Global Buildathon, we’re here to support the next wave of builders ready to ship and scale,” said Rumeel Hussain, Core contributor.
From Berlin to Buenos Aires, and Online Everywhere
The buildathon blends an online competition with IRL meetups across 12 cities, targeting top emerging ecosystems in Africa, Asia, Europe, APAC/SEA, and Latin America regions. Regional events, focused on ideation, mentorship, and co-building, will be co-hosted with leading dev communities like Crecimiento, NearX, Rise In, BFC and APAC DAO.
Developers can submit projects virtually via DoraHacks, with finalist teams selected to present at the Bitcoin Fusion x Core stage at Token2049. At the Global Finale, the top finalists will pitch live to Core Ventures and a panel of investors and protocol contributors.
A Bitcoin Ecosystem With a Builder Bias
Core is purpose-built for Bitcoin utility. It is the first blockchain to enable Self-Custodial Bitcoin Staking, allowing BTC holders to earn CORE token rewards while helping secure the network. This model powers Core’s Dual Staking mechanism — recently integrated by institutional players like BitGo — offering Bitcoin stakers who also stake CORE tokens access to higher tiers of yield..
Core’s network already supports a DeFi ecosystem with ~$500 million in TVL and ~1M weekly active users. The Core Connect Global Buildathon is an initiative designed to convert that demand into new apps across BTCfi, DeFi, Gaming, SocialFi, and AI.
What You Can Win
Up to $500K in equity funding from Core Ventures
Up to $400K in CORE tokens to support the growth of your project
Up to $200K in exclusive dev tools, resources, credits, and much more
Up to $100K in AWS Activate Credits to build and scale your project
Up to 6 months of fee rebates on Core Mainnet
Meetup Dates
Month | City | Region | Date |
June | Bangalore, Islamabad Delhi | Asia | June 4,18, 28 |
June | Berlin, Istanbul, Cannes | Europe | June 16–30 |
July | Lagos, Nairobi | Africa | July 2, 5 |
July | São Paulo, Buenos Aires | LatAm | July 11, 16 |
July | Manila | Asia | July 26 |
August | Hanoi | Asia | August 1 |
Regional winners from five regions will be invited to the virtual semi-final in September. The top teams from there will advance to the global finale in October, with travel covered by Core.
Why It Matters
The Bitcoin ecosystem is at a tipping point. With ETFs opening institutional doors and Core unlocking trustless and sustainable yield through Dual Staking, the next wave of innovation needs infrastructure — and talent. Core Connect Global Buildathon aims to onboard 2,000+ developers and high-quality, venture-scale projects with strong product-market fit through this global buildathon.
About Core
Core is the leading Bitcoin scaling solution, transforming idle Bitcoin into a productive, yield-generating asset that powers Bitcoin DeFi at scale. Core’s Self-Custodial Bitcoin Staking allows holders to timelock Bitcoin directly on the Bitcoin blockchain to earn rewards—without taking on new risk. This trustless yield mechanism helps to secure the high-performance, EVM-compatible Core blockchain, where users can access an expanding universe of Bitcoin-focused decentralized applications.
Core powers first-of-their-kind products like Valour’s yield-bearing Bitcoin ETP and lstBTC—the first liquid, yield-generating Bitcoin asset. The network supports over $500M in DeFi TVL, backed by 7,000+ timelocked Bitcoin and ~75% of Bitcoin mining hash power.
