Key Takeaways:
- On April 29, THA and Exponential Science named Greenafrica the top winner of the 2025 Hedera Africa Hackathon.
- The $1M prize pool fueled 1,300+ projects, proving Hedera as a top utility platform for emerging markets.
- THA launched an Investment Committee to fund global builders before the hackathon returns in 2026.
Top Champions and Innovation
The Hashgraph Association and Exponential Science on April 29 announced the winners of the 2025 Hedera Africa Hackathon, concluding what organizers described as the largest Web3 hackathon to date. The event drew more than 45,000 participants and 13,000 developers across 20 African hubs and online platforms.
The competition resulted in more than 1,300 project submissions, all utilizing Hedera’s distributed ledger technology to address infrastructure challenges in emerging markets. The $1 million prize pool was distributed across four thematic tracks: on-chain finance and real-world assets; distributed ledger technology (DLT) for operations; immersive experiences; and AI and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN).
Greenafrica, a Nigeria-based environmental verification platform, took the top “cross-track champion” prize of $100,000. The platform enables transparent tracking of sustainability initiatives.
“The Hedera Africa Hackathon reached historic heights, scaling the depths of talent and ambition across the continent and beyond,” said Kamal Youssefi, president of The Hashgraph Association. “Hedera has a longstanding commitment to enabling global innovation and powering real utility.”
Other top winners included Egypt’s Carboni Renewable Energy Certificate Platform, which took second place overall, and Mexico’s Effisend X Africa, an AI-powered payment routing system, in third. Organizers noted that the 2025 submissions shifted toward pragmatic infrastructure, including systems for cross-network payments and secure medical record management.
Coinciding with the awards, The Hashgraph Association announced the formation of a new investment committee. The body is designed to provide multi-million-dollar commitments to strategic partnerships, offering capital and mentorship to developers in emerging markets.
“Any strong, innovative and responsible technical ecosystem begins with education,” said Paolo Tasca, executive chairman at Exponential Science. “We have seen that approach materialize at scale, with participants advancing from learning to the development of meaningful infrastructure.”
The hackathon was co-funded by The Hashgraph Association and Exponential Science in partnership with Orange Digital Center and operated by Dar Blockchain. Supporting partners included Sygnum Bank and the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The Hashgraph Association confirmed the event will return in 2026, with details on location and tracks to be released at a later date.
