MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — At the EasyA Hackathon nestled as part of Consensus Miami 2026, the energy felt less like a traditional crypto developer event and more like a live audition for the next generation at the intersection of blockchain and native AI startups.
Nearly 1,000 developers competed on the site, some from established crypto ecosystems like Base and Solana, and others from companies like Microsoft and Google, all competing to create products around a theme that kept coming up in conversation after conversation: AI agents.
The focus on AI agents had already emerged earlier this year at the EasyA x Consensus Hong Kong hackathon, where organizers described 2026 as “the year of the application layer” as developers increasingly move away from infrastructure tools toward consumer applications and AI-powered autonomous agents.
For brothers Dom and Philip Kwok, co-founders of EasyA, this development is exactly the important point. What started as a small series of hackathons in Austin, Texas, during Consensus 2023, quickly grew into one of the most closely watched gatherings of crypto builders, attracting passionate young developers with more and more teams with serious technical pedigrees.
Their ambition for the event is downright simple. “We want billion-dollar companies to come out of EasyA,” Dom Kwok said in an interview with CoinDesk at the hackathon. “We already had, among our other hackathons, a $10 billion company.”
This success story is now part of EasyA’s history. A Harvard team that presented its project at a previous EasyA event went on to found “Cognition AI,” which the Kwoks say is now valued at around $10 billion. Another former participant, Axal, creates stable yield products backed by Bitcoin.
Other alumni are said to have gone through Y Combinator, come from large venture capital firms and processed hundreds of millions of transactions. The message to developers attending the Miami event was clear: it’s no longer just a few-day coding competition, it’s increasingly being touted as a launching pad for large-scale businesses.
This year, however, the center of gravity has undoubtedly shifted to agentic AI. Coinbase sponsored challenges around x402, an emerging framework developers are experimenting with for payments and AI agent interactions, while Solana and Solana Mobile pushed teams toward mobile-first apps and consumer experiences.
“Many developers [are] I’m really excited about AI agent workloads,” Dom said, pointing to the recent wave of massive venture capital funding flowing into AI agent infrastructure startups.
Some of the projects already circulating around the site reflected how builders were expanding the category. A team called Praxis was working on drones connected to the blockchain and controllable via smartphones, what the brothers described as “the next Palantir on the blockchain.” Another startup was developing what it called “hyper-intelligent AI,” software designed to turn text prompts into 3D physical objects. “You can insert a prompt and say, ‘Build me a microscope,’ and it will build it for you,” Phil said. “It’s like the next phase of moving ChatGPT from something informational to something embodied.”
The winners:
Judges recognized projects that pushed AI agents beyond chatbots and toward real-world coordination, automation and commerce, whether through hardware, payment infrastructure or consumer-facing applications. Among the various sponsors, the winning teams reflect the broader shift underway at this year’s hackathon: developers are no longer just creating crypto tools, they are creating products for everyday use. Prizes differ between tracks and remain pending depending on how they will be distributed within each category.
Starter Track ($50,000):
First place: FlyPraxis
Taking first place on the Kickstart leaderboard was FlyPraxis, a real-time drone intelligence platform designed for military operators. The team billed the project as “Palantir, but in real time,” using AI-based coordination and live battlefield intelligence to manage autonomous drone systems.
Second place: HIIE
HIIE placed second with a platform that turns text prompts into fully buildable hardware products. Using AI agents to handle everything from physical calculations and component sourcing to 3D CAD generation and assembly documentation, the startup aimed to compress months of hardware prototyping into a single workflow.
Third place: World of Clans
Clan World completed the top three of the Kickstart journey, joining a broader wave of teams experimenting with native AI coordination and community applications.
Solana Mobile Track ($30,000 + $75,000 Solana Phones)
First place: Parable
In the Solana Mobile track, first place went to Parabola, a decentralized prediction and estimation marketplace built on Solana. The platform allows users to speculate on real-world events through a distribution-based AMM model designed for native mobile trading experiences.
Second place: Snakr
Snakr took second place with an AI-powered food intelligence app that lets shoppers scan products to identify potential health risks, FDA recalls and ingredient issues. Users can also provide missing product information and earn Solana-based rewards in return.
Third place: Rhythm
Third place winner Rhythym focused on productivity and accessibility, creating a routine assistance mobile app aimed at helping users with executive dysfunction complete their daily tasks. The app integrates with Solana’s Seeker Phone, Nova 2 Lite and x402 infrastructure to create AI-assisted workflows.
Coinbase/AWS Track ($45,000)
First Place: Dairy Price API x402
The Coinbase and AWS track was heavily focused on AI agent payments and autonomous commerce. The winning project, Dairy Price API x402, created a pay-per-call commodity pricing and forecasting service that allows AI agents to access dairy market data without traditional API keys. Payments are settled directly in USDC via x402 on Base.
Second place: AgentPay
AgentPay placed second with a payment coordination system that gives users one-click approval on AI agent transactions while using risk validation powered by AWS to ensure agents spend funds responsibly.
Third place: Giggy
Giggy took third place for creating a marketplace where users can hire AI agents to perform search tasks. Payments are locked in a crypto repository on Base, while agents themselves can pay for premium APIs via x402-based transactions.
Finalist: Chainlens
Chainlens focused on trust and verification of autonomous systems, creating an x402-compatible layer that connects AI agents to verified APIs and only releases payment once responses are authenticated.
Read more: AI-powered agents dominate EasyA x Consensus Hong Kong hackathon
