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ETHRome 2026

Hackathon Rules

Everything that decides whether your project counts: who can hack, how teams work, what a valid build looks like, and the exact conditions for bringing an existing project.

Max 3people per team, solo is fine
100%of each team on site at Urbe Hub
40 hoursFriday 18:00 to Sunday 10:00
Open sourcemandatory for every project

Eligibility

Who can participate

ETHRome 2026 runs with 40 selected builders. Selection is the door: no acceptance, no hacking.

Only builders who received an acceptance message can take part in the hackathon. Participation is free for approved hackers, meals included.

Participants must be 18 or older. There is one narrow exception for minors, and it is strict.

⚠️

Minors: two conditions, both mandatory. A minor can take part only with written authorization from both parents or legal guardians, accompanied by the identity documents of the signatories. On top of that, an authorized adult must accompany the minor for the whole duration of the hackathon. No authorization or no accompanying adult means no participation, no exceptions.

Structure

Teams

Small by design. Three people is the ceiling, one person is a valid team.

  • Teams are made of maximum 3 people. You can also hack solo.
  • Every member of the team must be physically present at Urbe Hub, both to hack and to present the submission to the judges. This is an IRL hackathon: remote hacking is not allowed.
  • Each team names a team leader, who must be 18 or older and is the single point of contact with the organization.

The work

The build

40 hours, one ranking, everything in the open.

  • The hackathon runs for 40 hours, from 18:00 on Friday 11 September to 10:00 on Sunday 13 September. Judging and the closing ceremony follow.
  • All projects developed during ETHRome must be open source. No exceptions.
  • Build whatever you want. AI, Finance and Privacy for web3 are the themes of this edition, not a form to fill in. Take one, take all three, or take none.
  • Teams can apply to as many sponsor bounties as they want. Bounties are decided and paid by the sponsors alone.
🧭

Build what you want. AI, Finance and Privacy for web3 are where our sponsors and mentors are strongest, so building near them tends to pay off. Everything stays open: a project can sit on one theme, across all three, or somewhere else entirely. One single ranking, one winning team, everyone competing with everyone.

The fine print that matters

Pre-existing projects

You may bring an existing project, but only if all three conditions below are true. All three. Read them twice.

  1. Declare it. State explicitly in your submission that the project existed before the hackathon.
  2. Build something new. Develop new functionality or extensions during the weekend. Only that new part is evaluated.
  3. Keep the history visible. Do not open a new repository and single-commit the old code. Make your existing repository public and work on it: only commits made after the start of the hackathon count.
🚫

Break any of the three and you are out. If these conditions are not met, the team is excluded from the competition and is not eligible for the ETHRome prize or for sponsor bounties. Organizers, mentors and judges take fraudulent reuse of previous work seriously, out of respect for every other team in the room.

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