Celebrating the Builders of the Bitcoin++ Open Source Edition Hackathon

The bitcoin++ Open Source Edition Hackathon brought together 90 builders from across Africa and beyond for two intense days of hacking, collaboration, learning, and open-source innovation.

From June 17th, participants built projects spanning Bitcoin, Lightning, Nostr, developer tooling, financial inclusion, open-source infrastructure, and real-world applications. The result was an impressive showcase of what can happen when talented builders are given the space, community, and challenge to create.

As proud sponsors of two challenge tracks, Best Contribution to Open Source and Solve Open Source Contribution Spam, we were excited to support projects addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing open-source development today.

Btrust Challenge Winners

Best Contribution to Open Source

UTXOracle BTC Calculator by Parrish: A Bitcoin price calculator powered entirely by a self-hosted Bitcoin node using UTXOracle, demonstrating how useful services can be built without relying on centralized exchanges or third-party APIs. The project also included a meaningful contribution back to the ecosystem through a pull request to integrate UTXOracle into nix-bitcoin.

Solve Open Source Contribution Spam (Joint Winners)

Filter by John Osezele: A GitHub App that helps maintainers identify low-quality and AI-generated pull request spam through transparent, configurable, and explainable rules.

Core-Gate by Aisha Omar Farah and Mary Wangui: A GitHub Actions workflow designed to automatically triage Bitcoin Core pull requests before maintainers spend valuable time reviewing them, helping reduce contributor noise while improving review efficiency.

Congratulations to all three teams for building tools that strengthen the open-source ecosystem and support the maintainers who make it possible.

Overall Winners

1st Overall - WestToEast

Built by Mamadou Diop, WestToEast enables cross-border payments between West African currencies (XOF, XAF, and GNF) and Kenyan Shillings through Bitcoin, Lightning, LNURL, and Tando. The project demonstrates how Bitcoin infrastructure can help bridge fragmented mobile money ecosystems across Africa.

2nd Overall - Robin

Built by Fidel Otieno and Chris Oketch, Robin is an AI-powered guide for aspiring Bitcoin open-source contributors. Rather than encouraging low-context contributions, it helps builders understand where they can contribute meaningfully and directs them toward projects that best match their skills and experience.

3rd Overall - nairobi2

nairobi2 is a permissionless ride-sharing platform that combines market-based price discovery with Bitcoin-based Sybil resistance, exploring new models for decentralized coordination.

Category Winners

Best Beginner Hack

Hodlr by Paul Eke: A bitcoin savings application that leverages timelocks to help users commit to long-term saving strategies by removing the temptation of early withdrawals.

Best Use of Soapbox

Dishi Fresh by Thomas Cadra and Colly Sindani: A platform that connects users to local recipes, ingredient vendors, and delivery services, simplifying meal planning while supporting local businesses.

Best Tool for Mobile Money Brokers/Agents Using Bitcoin

LNpesa by Denver Mtange, Kelly Gakii, and Kendi Litala: A USSD-powered Bitcoin agent platform that allows feature phone users to participate in Bitcoin-enabled mobile money services without requiring smartphones or internet access.

Best Use of Pontmore

Pontswap by Wesley Nyamu and Cynthia Muemi: A Nostr-native coordination layer for Bitcoin-to-fiat swaps that combines transparency, privacy, and verifiable state transitions using open protocols.

Honorable Mentions

Several projects also stood out for their creativity, technical execution, and potential impact.

PoWR

Built by Shannon Kioko, Lucy Kamau, Anne Mahonga, and Salma Adam, PoWR creates verifiable proof-of-work profiles for developers by analyzing meaningful open-source contributions and anchoring reputation data on-chain.

Zaptip

Built by Rita Anene, Zaptip is a Chrome extension that enables Bitcoin tipping directly on GitHub profiles and repositories using Lightning addresses.

SiriScore

Built by Susan Githaiga, Nkatha Kaburu, Rose Jane, and Nelly Nakhero, SiriScore is a pre-broadcast bitcoin transaction privacy analyzer that helps users identify privacy leaks before signing and broadcasting transactions, giving them actionable insights to improve on-chain privacy.

MindfulSats

Built by Tony Nakamoto, MindfulSats combines accountability, goal-setting, and financial commitment to encourage positive habits and long-term personal growth.

Tando's Ark

Built by Shamsudeen Adedokun and Matthew Vuk, Tando's Ark integrates Ark technology into Tando, creating a pathway toward more efficient and potentially fee-free Bitcoin-to-M-PESA payments.

Recognizing the People Behind the Event

A special thank you goes to Alex Lewin, and the bitcoin++ team for creating an environment where builders could learn, collaborate, experiment, and ship. From organizing the hackathon and coordinating logistics to supporting participants throughout the event, their efforts helped create an experience that will continue to impact builders long after the final presentations concluded.

We would also like to thank the judges who dedicated their time, expertise, and attention to evaluating submissions across a wide range of categories:

• Nifty, Base58
• Jodom, Minmo
• Alex Gleason, Soapbox
• Fabian Jahr, Brink
• Sy, Stratum V2
• Judy Imasuen, Human Rights Foundation
• Kelvin Isievwore, Btrust
• Mikey, Cashu
• Mark Kamau, Designing Africa
• Hadi Alamdar, Block
• Marvin Charles, Block

Judging a hackathon involves far more than selecting winners. It requires reviewing technical implementations, understanding project impact, evaluating creativity and feasibility, providing constructive feedback, and recognizing excellence across very different categories. We are grateful for the time and thoughtfulness they brought to the process.

The Future Is Being Built in the Open

What stood out most throughout the hackathon was not just the quality of the projects, but the creativity, collaboration, and willingness to build in public.

The projects ranged from developer tooling and contribution workflows to financial infrastructure, cross-border payments, decentralized coordination systems, and mobile-money integrations. Together, they showcased the breadth of innovation emerging from African builders and the global Bitcoin open-source community.

The quality of submissions was a reminder that builders are not waiting for permission. They are solving real problems, contributing to open source, experimenting with new ideas, and building the future of Bitcoin.

Congratulations to all category winners, honorable mentions, finalists, and every team that shipped a project during the hackathon. Building something meaningful in less than 48 hours is no small feat.

To everyone who participated, submitted a project, mentored, volunteered, judged, or simply showed up and learned something new: thank you. Keep building. Keep contributing. Keep shipping.