From Hackathon Winners to Grant-Powered Builders: The BitMate Journey

I’m Carol, Developer Program Manager at Rootstock, and one of the most rewarding parts of my role is following up with teams who joined our hackathons. Over the past few months, I’ve had some great conversations with builders about their projects — how they came together during the event, the lessons learned along the way, and what’s happened since. It’s always inspiring to see how an idea formed in just a few days can turn into something much bigger.

One of those teams, made up of Camilo Leon (LinkedIn), Chandra Bose (LinkedIn), and Pratham Singhal (LinkedIn), built BitMate at the Encode Bitcoin Hackathon in Bangkok 2024. BitMate is a Rootstock DeFi companion designed to simplify Bitcoin finances, helping users grow their Bitcoin holdings and navigate DeFi with ease, bypassing the steep learning curve of crypto jargon. “We wanted to make Bitcoin investing as simple as chatting with a friend,” Chandra shared.

The project’s impact didn’t go unnoticed; following the hackathon, the team was awarded a grant from Rootstock to further develop their innovative solution.

Rootstock played a vital role in their journey. “The ecosystem’s developer tools and detailed documentation made it easy for us to focus on innovation,” Pratham explained. The team also found the hackathon’s collaborative environment invaluable. “The feedback we received during the event pushed us to refine our project, and the connections we made were priceless,” added Camilo. The grant they secured post-hackathon will enable them to expand BitMate’s functionality and bring their vision to reality.

For future hackathon participants, their advice is simple: “Be bold with your ideas and make the most of the resources available,” Chandra emphasized. They also encouraged developers to explore ecosystems like Rootstock, which provide not only tools but also pathways to continued development.

The BitMate repository can be found here. If you’d like to learn more about the project, check out this article.

Ready to start building on Rootstock? Here’s how you can get involved today:

📖 Explore the Docs – Get started with Rootstock development.

🏆 Check out the Hacker Hub – Learn about past hackathons and upcoming opportunities.

💰 Contribute and Earn with Hacktivator – Build or create content and earn up to $1,000 per contribution.

💬 Join the Community – Connect with other builders on Discord.