Midnight is offering significant financial incentives and an intensive accelerator program to developers who can build innovative decentralized applications utilizing programmable privacy and zero-knowledge proofs at its upcoming London hackathon. The “Midnight Summit 2025” event, scheduled for November 17-19, aims to foster new projects with substantial support.
The hackathon provides a top prize of $15,000 for the leading global project. Additionally, there are three winners per competition track, each receiving $2,500. A runner-up in the global lead project’s track will also be awarded $2,500.
Beyond cash prizes, five teams will secure spots in the Build Club, an 8-week, part-time accelerator. This program is designed to transform hackathon prototypes into viable products. Participants in the Build Club receive weekly guidance, technical reviews, strategy support, and a toolkit package valued at $100,000.
The Build Club also prepares teams for investor pitches. It offers opportunities to present to Midnight’s network of investors and its platform accelerator. This comprehensive support seeks to accelerate the development and market entry of promising privacy-focused DApps.
The hackathon focuses on projects that leverage programmable privacy and zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. These technologies enable applications to verify data properties without exposing the underlying sensitive information. This is particularly relevant for regulated sectors.
Developers can compete in four distinct tracks: AI, Health, Governance & Identity, and Finance. Each track encourages solutions that address real-world problems while upholding data confidentiality. Examples include private model auditing in AI and ZK-powered consent ledgers in health.
The event will take place in London, United Kingdom, from November 17 to 19, 2025. While remote participation is allowed, at least one team member must be physically present in London for the final presentation. All presentations must be made in person.
Teams must submit an open-source GitHub repository by November 18 for preliminary review. Final submissions and demonstrations are due by November 19, which is also when winners will be announced. Projects must be original and not derived from existing paid work or contracts.
Teams can consist of up to five members, or individuals may participate. While multiple projects can be submitted, each project must compete in only one track. A single team can win prizes in only one track.
Midnight emphasizes the use of its technical documentation, developer hub, support forums, and Discord channels. These resources are crucial for integrating privacy primitives and ZK proofs into DApps. Preliminary missions on Zealy are also recommended for preparation.
Projects will be evaluated based on a rubric covering product vision, engineering, user experience, quality assurance, communication, and business viability. This framework aims to identify teams capable of bringing their DApps to production.