Recap:WaveHack Global 1st Season
This acceleration program has successfully expanded the blockchain ecosystem further.
WaveHack Global, an acceleration program supported by $250K grant-supported, aimed at creating killer applications, successfully concluded its 1st season with the WaveHack Global WebX FINAL DEMODAY.
This 4month program, focusing on global builders, delivered exceptional results, thanks to the support of around 70 partners.
This ambitious challenge was led by Japan's largest web3 builder platform AKINDO, with the invaluable collaboration of key partners such as HAKUHODO KEY3. Their involvement and shared vision helped bring this bold initiative to life.
AKINDO was entrusted with critical grant funds by 20+ grant partners and sponsors. Their belief in the mission of WaveHack Global allowed the program to take shape. Special thanks go out to these partners who contributed to making this program possible, particularly those who believed in AKINDO from the start.
Over the past year, from the Tokyo Web3 Hackathon in October 2022 to the fall of 2023, AKINDO had organized numerous hackathons but recognized persistent challenges in the traditional hackathon model. These included the significant resources demanded of sponsors, the lack of continuous development of products, and the short-term relationships between builders and the projects. To address these challenges, AKINDO introduced WaveHack, and WaveHack Global was implemented as the global extension of this vision.
Launched in April 2024, following the announcement of the WaveHack Protocol at the end of 2023, WaveHack Global worked to build a robust ecosystem.
The first season ended successfully with DEMODAY, which was held in collaboration with IVS Crypto, EDCON, and WebX, three major crypto conferences held in Japan in the summer.
⚡️Highlights of WaveHack Global:
Over $250K in total grants
6,170+ total audience members
1,200+ entries submitted to WaveHack
1,070+ products submitted
625+ products received grants
140+ products received continuous grant support
13x higher cost-effectiveness compared to similar programs
Over 2,440 engagements recorded
44 WaveHack Global-related events held
🏁Key Achievements:
✅WaveHack Global reached an audience of 6,170+ builders through ongoing offline events and onboarding workshops.
✅1,070+ products were submitted during WaveHack Global’s four-month duration, compared to the approximately 500 submitted in over a year of previous hackathons.
✅The number of product submissions was up to 13 times higher than in similar hackathons with the same prize amounts. At a minimum, the program achieved five times greater cost-effectiveness.
✅625 products received grants, and 140 products have continued development through active communication with grant-providing projects.
✅2,440+ engagements helped foster long-term relationships between builders and projects.
📝Summary of WaveHack Global:
💡WaveHack Global is an acceleration program designed to produce killer apps, providing grants every two weeks based on participant progress.
💡During the period from April to August 2024, 15 grant partner projects provided a total of $250K in grants, each setting their own development themes for participants.
💡Developers updated their products every two weeks to align with these themes, receiving direct feedback and evaluations from grant partners, which determined grant allocations.
💡1,203 developers participated, resulting in 1,072 product submissions, with 625 products receiving grants. Of these, 140 products received ongoing support.
💡A total of 70 partners and 44 events were involved in the program, drawing a builder audience of 6,171, with approximately 20-25% of participants being Japanese.
💰WaveHack Global Continues to Demonstrate Outstanding Results
As part of the WaveHack Global program, numerous projects made remarkable progress.
Among the standout participants, several products secured the highest levels of grant funding, showcasing the impact and success of the program. In total, over 40 projects received more than $1,000 in grants, and over 140 products were able to receive continuous grant funding through multiple cycles.
Key products that achieved the highest grant funding include:
🤝WaveHack Global Events and Milestones
From its kickoff event on April 13, 2024, to the present, WaveHack Global organized an impressive total of 44 events over the course of four months. These included a mix of online and offline engagements, providing invaluable opportunities for builders and partners alike.
In addition, there were more than 50 AMA sessions organized by partners, further expanding the program's reach. Since April 2023, WaveHack has hosted over 75 events, averaging 5 events per month.
WaveHack Global has been organizing a series of Onboarding events in this manner. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the speakers who participated, as well as the Centrum team for their invaluable support.
Additionally, builders who have submitted projects to WaveHack are eligible to use Centrum's facilities free of charge. Those interested can apply through the following form.
🏆WaveHack Global DEMODAY
WaveHack Global organized three major DEMODAY events aligned with notable conferences in Japan during the summer, including IVS Crypto, EDCON, and WebX. These DEMODAYs brought together an international audience, with more than half of the demo pitches presented by overseas teams.
Each event was followed by an after-party, which saw significant participation, creating a dynamic and engaging atmosphere.
IVS Crypto THE DEMODAY: Detail is here
The after-party was held at Ace Hotel Kyoto.
WaveHack Global EDCON DEMODAY: Detail is here
The after-party took place at Shibuya's CELA VI.
WaveHack Global WebX DEMODAY: Detail is here
In collaboration with ETHGlobal, the after-party was hosted at Toranomon Yokocho.
🤔Why WaveHack? Track Record of Success
WaveHack has proven to be a 10x more efficient protocol than traditional hackathons and grant programs when it comes to expanding project ecosystems. Several case studies underscore this achievement:
1st Reason:More product submissions
1st Why is that it can attract more builders and submissions. As in this case, you can attract more submissions with a lower budget than previously possible. Our first partner, Aptos, had 6x more return on investment compared to their traditional hackathon. and ZK sync had 13x more ROI.
You can see the list of submissions for each WaveHack here.
Aptos WaveHack
ZKsync WaveHack
2nd Reason:Higher quality products
2nd Why, WaveHack allows us to build an ongoing relationship with the project, helping it through to actual release and sales generation.
The team that participated in the Superfluid WaveHack built House of Cardians from scratch to revenue.
2 other products that were top projects in other ecosystems have been optimized for Manta and Aptos, deployed in production, and generated revenue as a result of the WaveHack.
3rd Reason:Fewer resources required
3rd Why, The only resource required for this WaveHack is the voting process for each Wave. Since it’s all remote, there is no hustle required like a usual hackathon or grant program. Also, having the community and ambassadors evaluate the program will give you an idea of what the community is looking for, which will also strengthen engagement.
Looking Ahead: WaveHack Global’s 2nd Season
With its proven effectiveness, WaveHack is poised to replace traditional, less efficient hackathons and grant programs, focusing on building a long-term community of builders while accelerating the expansion of application ecosystems. The first season of WaveHack Global demonstrated this potential, and the next phase is already underway.
Starting in September, WaveHack will continue with events hosted by key grant partners such as Nethermind (+Starknet) and AlephZero, offering a combined total of $60,000 in grants. This momentum will carry into November with the kickoff of the 2nd season of WaveHack Global, timed with Devcon.
The next announcement for WaveHack will be shared via AKINDO's X account. Please follow the account to stay updated on future developments.
Gratitude to All Partners and Builders
Looking back over the past six months, it has been a whirlwind of activity—undoubtedly the busiest time of our lives. This global acceleration program could never have been achieved without the dedicated support of the team and partners, to whom we extend our heartfelt gratitude.
Special thanks to Mr. Sano and Mr. Shigematsu from HAKUHODO KEY3 for their invaluable support and co-hosting efforts from the very beginning.
A sincere thank you to Jerome from Aptos for becoming the first grant partner of WaveHack.
Mr. Takeshi , who connected me with not only Aptos but also ZKsync and TheGraph.
Our appreciation also goes to Mr. Yoshida from MetaMe, Mr. Kenny from Suntory, and Mr. Asaka from Gumi for making the initial sponsorship decisions.
Centrum’s Mr. Ohata, Mr. Oishi, and Ms. Chika deserve special recognition for supporting the event venues as our event partners.
Gratitude to Whiplus from IVS Crypto for providing the opportunity to host DEMODAY, and to the EDCON team’s Satu, Ellie, and Tina, as well as Mr. Aoki from WebX, for their support.
Thanks to Mr. Kunimitsu from FiNANCiE for swiftly deciding to sponsor IVS Crypto THE DEMODAY.
We also owe a huge thank you to all those who kindly accepted our invitations to speak at various events, including Mr. Yonkurou from Skyland, Ms. Na-chan from KudasaJP/MaskNetwork, the DeNA On-Chain team, Mr. Guillemot from Paima Studio, and many others from Ginco and PacificMeta who have supported the builder community. Their contributions were key to the success of this program, along with the support of countless others.
Finally, we would like to extend our deepest thanks to all the builders who participated in the program. Their dedication and commitment to continually improving their products throughout WaveHack were a constant source of inspiration.
Among these builders, individuals like Mr. Cardene, Mr. Haruki, Mr. Ponta, and Mr. Yukimura, who not only participated in WaveHack but also wrote recommendation articles, played pivotal roles in representing Japan’s on-chain builder community.
Watching these builders continuously update their products motivated us during the most challenging moments of the program.
While nearly 80% of participants were global builders, we aim to increase the number of Japanese builders as well.
We are committed to building a robust infrastructure-layer builder community and expanding the application ecosystem tenfold—faster, stronger, and more sustainably. Expect to see even more exciting developments as we continue at full throttle.
Our next focus is Devcon. For the first time, we will be organizing an international WaveHack Global event at the Devcon KICKOFF. If you are interested in collaborating, please reach out via X or Telegram.
In Tokyo, with the support of grants from the Ethereum Foundation and Devcon, we will be hosting Tokyo Devcon Night as the lead organizers. We can’t wait for builders from all over Japan who have contributed to the Ethereum ecosystem to gather here.
That concludes the WaveHack Global recap for now.
For those interested, we’ve further detailed our vision for WaveHack below.
Why WaveHack?
WaveHack has the potential to trigger a "Cambrian explosion" in the web3 space.
In traditional startups, when companies raise hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, do you know where most of that budget goes? Beyond covering personnel costs, the majority of these funds are typically spent on advertising, leveraging large user acquisition channels such as Google, Meta, and TikTok.
This is true not just for startups but for most businesses, with a substantial portion of their budgets flowing into advertising, mainly towards Google and Meta. These companies, often called "BigTech," generate massive revenues and profits from this dynamic.
But what happens when we apply this analogy to web3?
So far, over $100 billion in venture capital has been funneled into like a L1/L2 infrastructure projects, but aside from personnel costs, where is this money being spent? Unlike traditional sectors, web3 lacks acquisition channels like Instagram or Google, and these infrastructure projects do not market directly to end-users. Instead, their core, long-term customers are the developers who build products on top of their infrastructure. These developers create the applications that bring end-users into the ecosystem.
In essence, the marketing budget for infrastructure projects is, in reality, the funds used to onboard builders into their ecosystems.
Historically, infrastructure projects have attempted to attract developers through hackathons and independent grant programs, but these efforts have not always been fully effective. The often-repeated phrase that "web3 needs killer applications" is something WaveHack aims to resolve through its product-market fit (PMF).
In conclusion, WaveHack operates as a protocol that manages the significant budgets of infrastructure projects and distributes these funds to the most suitable builders, startups, and businesses. Just as Google and Facebook connected advertisers with their audiences in exchange for ad spend, the WaveHack protocol, through the AKINDO platform, connects grant budgets with builder audiences, creating long-term engagement for various projects.
The success of the WaveHack Global 1st Season has proven the effectiveness of this 0→1 challenge. The next challenge, moving from 1→10, will be pursued with full dedication for the remainder of this year. By linking the infrastructure layer with the application layer and creating a large quantity of useful applications, WaveHack will continue to scale at a rapid pace. Those interested in this challenge are encouraged to reach out via X.
As WaveHack grows into an essential infrastructure for driving web3 mass adoption, we are looking for partners who are eager to grow with us.
Keep on Build🛠
AKINDO: https://app.akindo.io/
X:https://x.com/akindo_io
Discord:https://discord.gg/xAHPkSM9t7
Telegram:https://t.me/akindo_io