For many builders, a hackathon is the first real step into the world of Web3. It’s where curiosity meets execution, where ideas get tested, and where community sparks innovation. But for those who want to take things further, who believe their hack is just the beginning: NEAR Protocol Rewards offers the path forward.
Graduating from a hackathon isn’t about trophies. It’s about stepping into the ecosystem as a contributor.
Beyond the Weekend: The Next Chapter for Builders
Hackathons are intense. Teams form, ideas flow, and MVPs take shape in just a few days. But what happens on Monday morning?
NEAR Foundation is building the infrastructure to make sure promising projects don’t just fade away. With Protocol Rewards, builders have a clear and supported path from hackathon MVP to production-ready product.
Protocol Rewards isn’t a grant. It’s not an accelerator. It’s not about rewarding the best pitch or proposal: Protocol Rewards is a new, cohort-based model for rewarding real progress and participation. And if you recently participated in a NEAR hackathon, or have a post-MVP project starting to gain traction, you’re eligible to apply.
What Protocol Rewards Offers
The Protocol Rewards program tracks and evaluates meaningful contributions made by participants to the NEAR ecosystem, such as building infrastructure, tools, dApps, or driving community engagement. It’s a scalable system that assigns value to these contributions using a structured, transparent rubric and issues rewards based on their potential and impact. That means participants are rewarded for outcomes aligned with NEAR’s priorities, like growth, decentralization, and usability.
Here’s what Protocol Rewards cohort members can expect:
- Funding based on on-chain metrics, code activity, and traction
- Feedback loops that keep teams accountable and growing
- Weekly sessions covering technical, legal, and product topics
- Exposure to the broader NEAR ecosystem through demos and collabs
This latest cohort will also have the benefit of a revamped project submission process, an updated evaluation rubric, and an integrated dashboard for tracking contributor activity and reward distribution. The goal is to create a seamless experience for identifying, supporting, and funding high-potential ecosystem projects.
Since launching the Protocol Rewards program in late 2024:
- 30+ teams have gone through the first two cohorts
- Over $200,000 in rewards have been distributed
- Hundreds of hours of mentorship have been offered across product, legal, and marketing
And builders are making the most of it. Just in the last two months alone, participating teams logged:
- 3,112 commits
- 630 pull requests
- 1,169 code reviews
- 701 GitHub issues opened
- 319,980 NEAR transacted
- 13,975 contract interactions
- 1,461 wallets activated
These aren't just numbers, they're signals of a vibrant, shipping-focused builder ecosystem—and the teams behind them are being rewarded for their contributions.
Real Builders, Real Progress
Many of the teams in Protocol Rewards started with a simple prototype. Today, they’re pushing toward mainnet, engaging real users, and creating value far beyond a weekend demo. We’ll let the founders speak for themselves.
Take Ping Pay, winners of the One Trillion Agents Hackathon with their Subscription Shade Agent for the “Absurd Agents” track. Since entering Protocol Rewards, they've doubled down on development, commenting:
“The support available and sessions were invaluable as a founder… I would be keen to explore the next cohort, since Ping would be in a much stronger position to push towards a mainnet launch. The support has been invaluable.”
For YieldGuard, the value went beyond code:
“Access to domain-specific experts and tailored feedback helped clarify our go-to-market strategy. We got support on areas often overlooked—especially legal and marketing.”
Finowl, led by a team that took third place in a NEAR hackathon, used the program to turn an idea into a working platform:
“The sustainable, merit-based funding let me focus on building, not pitching. I went from prototype to a fully functional AI x Web3 platform with real smart contract usage.”
And even early-stage teams like Benevio found critical validation and momentum:
“These were the first funds our project ever received. The technical deep dive with a NEAR architect helped validate our approach and surface key improvements.”
Protocol Rewards helps founders and developers like these get key funding, visibility, and support for their work—while driving ecosystem growth and providing NEAR’s partners with a curated pipeline of mission-aligned builders and high-impact projects.
Final Thoughts: The Real Prize
Winning a hackathon is cool. But building something people actually use is better.
Protocol Rewards is NEAR’s way of ensuring that the builders who dare to go further—beyond the demo, beyond the weekend—are supported every step of the way.
If you’re serious about building, NEAR Foundation is serious about backing you.
