The Hashgraph Association (THA) and Exponential Science have officially concluded the 2025 Hedera Africa Hackathon, marking what organizers call 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, generating over 1,300 project submissions that leverage Hedera’s distributed ledger technology to tackle real-world infrastructure challenges in emerging markets.
Top Winners and Innovation
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 plus 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 using Hedera’s DLT.
Other top winners include Egypt’s Carboni Renewable Energy Certificate Platform (second place overall) and Mexico’s Effisend X Africa, an AI-powered payment routing system (third place). Organizers noted that the 2025 submissions shifted toward pragmatic infrastructure, including systems for cross-network payments and secure medical record management.
Investment Committee Launch
Coinciding with the awards, THA announced the formation of a new investment committee designed to provide multi-million-dollar commitments to strategic partnerships, offering capital and mentorship to developers in emerging markets. “The Hedera Africa Hackathon reached historic heights, scaling the depths of talent and ambition across the continent and beyond,” said Kamal Youssefi, president of THA. “Hedera has a longstanding commitment to enabling global innovation and powering real utility.”
Paolo Tasca, executive chairman at Exponential Science, added: “Any strong, innovative and responsible technical ecosystem begins with education. We have seen that approach materialize at scale, with participants advancing from learning to the development of meaningful infrastructure.”
Partners and Future Outlook
The hackathon was co-funded by THA and Exponential Science in partnership with Orange Digital Center, operated by Dar Blockchain. Supporting partners included Sygnum Bank and the Nairobi Securities Exchange. THA confirmed the event will return in 2026, with details on location and tracks to be released at a later date. Amid a decline in Web3 investment in Africa, this initiative aims to build blockchain infrastructure and attract capital to the continent’s emerging ecosystem.