Welcome to Brainwave 2026, an international hackathon where innovators, developers, designers, students, researchers, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts come together to solve real-world challenges through technology.
The X402 Blockchain Track is dedicated to building the future of Agentic Payments, a new model where AI agents, applications, and digital services can securely transact through seamless blockchain-powered micropayments.
Track 1 — x402-Powered AI Applications: Build AI-powered APIs and applications that monetize every request using x402 micropayments (e.g., AI Code Review Assistant, Bug Report Summarizer, Smart Regex Generator, Prompt Guardrail Checker, Resume-to-Job Match Scorer, Contract Risk Analyzer, Meeting Notes to Action Items, README-to-Pitch Deck Generator).
Track 2 — Agentic Commerce & Payment Infrastructure: Develop core infrastructure that enables secure and scalable autonomous payments between AI agents and digital services (e.g., x402 Payment Gateway, Multi-Tenant Payment Platform, Agent Payment Router, Spend Policy Engine, Receipt Verification Service, Payment Analytics Dashboard, Agent Reputation System, Service Registry & Marketplace).
Track 3 — Developer Tools & SDKs: Build tools that make developing, testing, debugging, and deploying x402 applications easier (e.g., x402 CLI, Next.js Starter Kit, Payment Flow Simulator, API Monetization Plugins, Transaction Debugger, Deployment Toolkit, Client SDK Extensions, Smart Contract Templates).
Track 4 — DeFi, Web3 & Tokenized Finance: Create decentralized financial applications and blockchain-powered systems using x402 and Web3 technologies (e.g., Decentralized Payment Platform, Streaming Payments, Stablecoin Payment Solutions, Cross-Border Payments, Escrow Services, Tokenized Assets Marketplace, Subscription Alternatives with x402, Web3 Wallet Integrations).
Track 5 — Open Innovation: Build any solution that leverages x402 and blockchain technology to solve real-world problems (e.g., Healthcare, Education, Sustainability, Supply Chain, Smart Cities, Cybersecurity, Gaming, Social Platforms, Creator Economy, Digital Identity, Enterprise Solutions, AI Agents).
Submission Expectations: Every project should demonstrate a clearly identified paying user or customer, a real pay-per-call business model, complete x402 payment flow (Challenge → Sign → Retry → Settle), transaction receipt included in successful responses, clean documentation and setup instructions, working MVP built during the hackathon, and mainnet-ready architecture (preferred).
Prizes: Champion receives 50,000 (9,000 cash, 20,000 crypto tokens, 10,000 API/cloud credits, 5,000 swag/rewards). Runner-Up receives 30,000 (4,500 cash, 10,000 crypto tokens, 7,000 API/cloud credits, 3,000 swag/rewards). Second Runner-Up receives 20,000 (3,000 cash, 8,000 crypto tokens, 5,000 API/cloud credits, 2,000 swag/rewards).
Judging Criteria: Projects will be evaluated based on the following criteria: Innovation & Creativity – 25% Technical Implementation – 25% Impact & Problem Solving – 20% User Experience & Design – 15% Scalability & Feasibility – 10% Presentation & Demo – 5%