The Trustworthy AI Hackathon, focused on trust mechanisms for AI agents, is scheduled for Aug. 29 to 31 at N24 Taipei Ark in Taipei’s Nangang district. The event is organized by the Taiwan Association for Blockchain Ecosystem Innovation, or TABEI. Total prize money starts at $12,000, applications close on Aug. 5, and up to 20 teams will be accepted. This year also marks the first time the hackathon has opened registration to individual applicants.
The event is built around the theme “Building the trust layer for the AI-Agent economy.” As described in the source report, AI is beginning to act on behalf of individuals and organizations in tasks such as making queries, placing orders, submitting documents, and even signing. That has pushed a common question across industries to the front: whether an agent is really acting for the person or institution it claims to represent. The issue extends to who it represents, what it is authorized to do, when that authorization expires, and whether actions can be traced afterward.
Authorization governance moves from a technical issue to an industry issue
ABMedia said many AI systems still rely on API keys and service terms to maintain authorization relationships. That setup does not establish who gave consent, and it does little to prevent disputes after the fact. Without verifiable authorization and audit mechanisms, AI agents face obstacles entering highly regulated processes in finance, healthcare, and government. In that context, “authorization governance” is no longer framed only as a technical matter.
The report said the components needed for a solution include decentralized identifiers, or DID, verifiable credentials, or VC, selective disclosure, zero-knowledge proofs, or ZKP, federated learning, and differential privacy. Those tools, it noted, have been built up over time by blockchain and privacy-focused communities. The article described the trust infrastructure now being sought for the AI economy as closely aligned with work this community has carried out over the past decade.
Two discussion sessions led to six challenge statements
TABEI held its first expert and academic discussion session on June 5, identifying the “AI behavior trust gap” as a root problem shared across industries. A second industry-needs discussion took place on July 16 at the National Chengchi University Public Enterprise Center, with separate morning and afternoon sessions. Participants from five sectors, including industry representatives and scholars, discussed which pain points could be solved by industry, which would require policy adjustments, and which use cases could connect with international standards such as GLEIF vLEI, W3C VC, and FIDO.
Those sessions produced six challenge areas for this year’s hackathon:
- Manufacturing and trade | Carbon footprint and DPP: disclose only carbon-emissions data without exposing process secrets.
- Digital payments and finance | After account opening: detect ongoing anomalies without exposing full transaction details.
- Medical insurance | Claims coordination: make patient consent machine-verifiable while exchanging only the minimum necessary information.
- Government services | Cross-agency delegation: define the authorization boundary for proxy inquiry and proxy submission, with real-time revocation.
- Inclusive finance | Migrant workers and new immigrants: digital identity for more than 870,000 migrant workers that can be trusted without being misused.
- Supply-chain compliance | International auditing: keep compliance proof continuously verifiable instead of producing it only on the day of an audit.
Individuals can now apply, and no prototype is required at the first review stage
For the first time, the event accepts individual applicants. People who have not yet formed a team can register first and, if selected, will be matched by the organizer during pre-event workshops. Final teams will consist of three to five people.
The written preliminary review does not require a prototype. Applicants will be assessed on the pain point they identify and their proposed solution concept, with each section limited to 300 words. The list of selected entrants will be announced on Aug. 7.
Two workshops are scheduled before the event, and participation is free
Two workshops will be held ahead of the hackathon. The online session on Aug. 15 will cover verifiable credentials, privacy-preserving computation, and agent engineering. The in-person session on Aug. 22 will feature the industry participants behind the challenge statements, who will explain the topics and run team-by-team clinics to help narrow each proposal into a proof of concept that can be completed within two days.
The event is free to attend and includes meals. Overnight accommodation will be available on Aug. 29 and 30. Prize awards include one first-place team receiving $5,000, two second-place teams receiving $2,000 each, and three third-place teams receiving $1,000 each. The report added that standout projects may have a chance to continue with follow-up PoC work alongside the organizations that proposed the challenge topics.
Schedule and event details
TABEI said it has organized Taiwan’s longest-running blockchain annual conference since 2016 and has also hosted technical competitions including WAGMI Battle and ZK BuidlArk.
- Aug. 15 (Sat), 14:00–16:00 | Technical Workshop (online) | Google Meet
- Aug. 22 (Sat), 10:00–17:00 | Industry Workshop | N24 Taipei Ark
- Aug. 29 (Sat)–Aug. 30 (Sun), all day | Hackathon development | N24 Taipei Ark
- Aug. 31 (Mon), all day | Demo Day and awards | N24 Taipei Ark
The venue is N24 Taipei Ark, located at No. 100, Section 7, Civic Boulevard, Nangang District, Taipei City, about a five-minute walk from Songshan railway or metro station.
The application deadline is 23:59 on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, and individual registration is allowed. Selected teams will be announced on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, with a maximum of 20 teams admitted. TABEI is the organizer. Prize money starts at $12,000, broken down as $5,000 for the champion, $2,000 each for two runner-up teams, and $1,000 each for three third-place teams. Registration information is available at hackathon.chain.tw, and the contact email is hackathon2026@chain.tw.