Stratis, an enterprise blockchain technology company, announces the launch of its online hackathon to promote the use of smart contracts. The competition has been set up to create a community of experts to develop projects using Stratis Smart Contracts to streamline business processes.

Contestants from around the world are invited to take part in the Stratis Smart Contracts Hackathon from 1 November to 16 December 2019. The competition is open to individuals and teams from around the world, including those from profit, non-profit, academic and public sector organisations. The total prize fund will be $18,000. Eligible entrants will compete for a first place cash prize of US$10,000, second place prize of US$5,000 and third place prize of US$3,000.

The challenge for contestants is to develop smart contract applications that can have a big impact. They should be useful, easy to use and innovative and capable of being applied across a wide range of industries. These include banking and financial services, international trade and commodities, supply chain, energy, identity, Internet of Things, government, healthcare and medicine, automotive and gaming.

Stratis is a pioneer in the use of blockchain technology to develop smart contracts. It has developed the first smart contracts platform built entirely from the ground up in native C# on Microsoft’s .NET framework, the most popular enterprise programming language on the most widely used enterprise framework. Stratis is also a certified Microsoft partner and, since last year has been an accredited Microsoft Independent Software Vendor (ISV) listed on the Azure Marketplace, Microsoft’s online store providing applications and services to over 100 million active users.

Blockchain is revolutionising business by utilising Smart Contracts to autonomously execute business logic. The use of blockchain technology allows buyers and sellers to agree contracts without the need for intermediaries or unnecessary delays and costs.

Stratis CEO Chris Trew said: “We are very excited to be hosting this international hackathon and to provide an opportunity to show how Stratis Smart Contracts can unlock the potential of blockchain and transform the way industries work.

“We want to grow our ecosystem of developers. C# is one of the most popular programming languages in the world and at the Stratis hackathon, developers will be able to programme smart contracts in their familiar C# language. By working together, we can harness the combined expertise of this community of experts and push the boundaries of what is possible using blockchain.”

The judges will be asking: does the tool provide a useful function, is it easy and engaging to use, is it doing something innovative, how well does the product function? Submissions can cover any kind of software application, such as the web, cloud, personal computer, mobile device or console, but they must use Stratis Smart Contracts in C#.

The hackathon will be hosted on the established Devpost platform, allowing Stratis to leverage their existing user-base of talented blockchain developers. More information including the terms and conditions, will be released on 1 November 2019 when the Devpost event is live.