The first objective was a success. The event brought together an extraordinary caliber of builders who established genuine connections and demonstrated the network's potential. The energy and collaboration in the room were exactly what we aimed to facilitate.
The second objective, recognition, was only partially achieved. While the awards presented were well-deserved, the scoring flaws prevented us from identifying all top-tier projects with the same precision.
During the Midnight Summit Hackathon in November 2025, our team made a mistake that did not meet the high standards we set for ourselves: we did not create a fair and transparent process that rewards the strongest work.
We introduced a new judging rubric and scoring model for the first time. That system allowed incomplete and inconsistent judge data, which meant some teams were misranked and some outstanding projects did not move forward when they should have.
This was a design failure on our end, and we did not catch it in time. No one gamed the system. No one acted in bad faith. But the process used to reach the outcome was not right. When that happens, you own it, fix what you can, and show up better next time.
At Midnight, we say we build in the open. That means the good, the ambitious, and, when it happens, the flawed.
What we are doing about it
We honor the awards presented in London. Those teams won in good faith, and their results stand.
However, the scoring flaws meant other high-quality projects went unrecognized. We are running it back. A redo hack, if you will.
Every team that participated in the Midnight Summit hackathon is invited to take part in a closed, second-chance event, something we’re calling, in connection to the phases of the Midnight roadmap, The Hilo Hackathon.
You can finish your project if you did not get the chance.
You can reunite with your original team.
You can show what you are really capable of.
And yes, there will be new prizes, new recognition, and meaningful follow through from our team, including content, partnerships, and spotlights. The new judging will be fair and transparent.
We will announce full details soon, including dates, prizes, and how to participate.
Why this matters
Plenty of teams left London proud and excited, and they should be.
But if you are one of the builders who walked away with a quiet sense that something was off, or wondered how your project did not advance, you were not imagining it. You deserved better, and we intend to deliver that.
The redo will not be perfect. But it will be honest.
Recognizing developer excellence
Although the scoring process was flawed, the work builders shipped was not.
Over three days, we had 222 registrants, 121 builders in the room, and 48 final submissions across AI, healthcare, governance and identity, and finance. This was not a beginner hack. Some teams had already won our earlier hackathons, many arrived with active repos and weeks of prep behind them, and the overall level of skill in the room was high. It felt less like a debut and more like a battle of the bands for serious Midnight builders.
Across those submissions, clear patterns emerged.
- AI teams explored agent identity and verifiable inference using zero knowledge to prove legitimacy without exposing internal data.
- Healthcare teams worked on patient-controlled records and research flows that protect individuals while still enabling meaningful analysis.
- Governance and identity projects shipped credential, attestation, and voting systems that keep identity local and proofs global.
- Finance and RWA builders focused on tokenized assets, private staking, and rails familiar to finance teams while running on programmable privacy underneath.
Together, you proved that the work in that room depended on selective disclosure and programmable privacy, not the one-size-fits-all exposure model of a fully public chain.
We also want to acknowledge the teams that were recognized on stage in London. Brick Towers earned the top overall prize for their Midnight RWA platform. Lucent Labs, ChainVault, EnterpriseZK, and Black8 won the four track awards across Finance, Governance and Identity, AI, and Healthcare.
Eryx Raccoons and NextMed received the Hacker’s Choice and DevRel’s Choice awards and earned invitations to Build Club.
Those results stand, and the teams who earned them should feel proud. Their work set a high standard for the ecosystem, and we are especially excited to have them in the first cohort of Build Club.
This is the backdrop for the Hilo Hackathon. We are not reopening the competition because the London event was invalid. We are reopening it because the engineering was exceptional, and it demands an evaluation process that meets that standard.
What’s next: The Hilo Hackathon
Here is what we can share right now. More details are coming.
Who is eligible: Every team that participated in the Midnight Summit Hackathon in London. If you built with us, you are in.
What is expected: Finish your original project. The existing teams must finalize their original project, not to start a new repository
When: This hack will take place in March 2026. We will confirm the exact dates soon, but we want to give you notice now so your team can start preparing.
What is at stake:We are finalizing rewards as we type. We can commit to:
• Real prizes
• Exclusive swag
• Access to support programs like Build Club and content spotlights
• Clean judging with transparency and follow through
A full guide will be published early March 2026.
Closing
Thank you for holding us to a high standard. Thank you for showing up, building hard, pushing our tools, and proving what Midnight can support in the hands of serious developers.
This hack is not a reset. It is a correction, a commitment, and a chance to honor the work you shipped in London with the process it deserved.
We will see you at the Hilo Hackathon.