Solana Breakout Hackathon sees 1,412 submissions, becomes biggest hackathon in Solana History

The Solana Breakout Hackathon 2025 has officially wrapped up, and it’s one for the record books. With over 1,400 project submissions and entries from 70+ countries, Breakout has claimed the title of the biggest hackathon in Solana’s history.

The global event, hosted by Colosseum, concluded on May 16, 2025, marking a significant milestone in the blockchain development landscape. Within the first 24 hours, the event drew over 500 builders from more than 70 countries, with 75% of the initial participants being new to the Solana ecosystem. This impressive early engagement was an indication of further success.

Breakout: An Arena for Innovation

The hackathon showcased a wide range of tracks, including Consumer, DeFi, Stablecoins, DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks), Gaming, Infrastructure, and Artificial Intelligence. Participants competed for a variety of major prizes, with the Grand Champion taking home $50,000 in $USDC. Additional awards include six track-specific prizes ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 in $USDC, a $10,000 University Award for the top student team, a $10,000 Public Goods Award for outstanding open-source contributions, and a $25,000 Solana Mobile Award for the best project submitted to the Solana dApp Store.

Beyond the cash prizes, all winning teams will be interviewed for a chance to join Colosseum’s accelerator program. Up to 15 teams will be accepted into the program, each receiving $250,000 in pre-seed funding, gaining access to a private mentorship network, and having the opportunity to pitch their projects to top venture capitalists in the crypto space.

In Case You Missed It

A standout addition to this year’s hackathon was the introduction of Kompass, a formal verification tool developed by Runtime Verification with support from the Solana Foundation. Kompass enables developers to mathematically verify the correctness of smart contract logic, significantly boosting the security and reliability of applications built on Solana.

The hackathon featured a panel of respected judges from the crypto and venture capital space, including Solana cofounders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, Pump.fun founder alon, and Solana Foundation President Lily Liu. Participants also gained access to a series of livestream workshops focused on key tools, development strategies, and best practices to support successful project submissions.

Conclusion

In 2024, Solana became the only blockchain ever to surpass Ethereum in developer growth, breaking Ethereum’s eight-year streak as the leading blockchain for new developers.

At the Solana Accelerate conference, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood also highlighted that Solana has surpassed Ethereum in terms of the number of new developers, praising Solana for its resilience and rapid growth. Events like the Breakout Hackathon help onboard new developers and solidify Solana’s position as the most attractive ecosystem for developers.

Breakout wasn't just about code. It was about learning, too. Dozens of livestreamed workshops helped onboard new developers into the Solana ecosystem, covering topics such as how to build on Solana with Anchor and other development tools, as well as integrating AI and machine learning.

The Solana Breakout Hackathon 2025 proved to be a powerful catalyst for innovation, drawing a diverse community of developers and inspiring the creation of impactful blockchain applications. With generous rewards, educational support, and a clear pathway to continued growth through its accelerator program, the hackathon has played a key role in expanding and enriching the Solana ecosystem.

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