ETHGlobal Tokyo draws record 254 projects as DeFi and AI agent focus dominate

ETHGlobal Tokyo 2026 set a participation record with 504 hackers submitting 254 projects over 36 hours, far exceeding the organisers' expectations. 'We didn't expect 254 projects, and we received 100 more than we expected,' said co-founder Kartik Talwar in the closing ceremony 2. The projects spanned six continents and 46 countries, with 29% of hackers new to Web3 12.

DeFi and stablecoin projects were prominent, with many focused on digital assets and identification 3. The hackathon's emphasis on building over talking was a core message: 'We don't want to just talk about what's happening. We want to show you how it works' 1.

Major protocol updates were showcased by partners. Uniswap introduced its V4 stack with hooks, which are Solidity scripts that can be added to the exchange lifecycle 6. 1inch presented Fusion, a reimagined AMM design aimed at reducing liquidity fragmentation and lowering barriers for liquidity providers 5. ENS Labs debuted ENSv2 beta on Sepolia, a complete redesign of the naming protocol for multi-chain identity 9. World (formerly Worldcoin) launched new verification methods – Official ID via NFC passports and Selfie check – alongside its Orb-based proof of humanity 4.

The rise of AI agents was a cross-cutting theme. World's proof-of-humanity primitive was framed as essential for the AI age: 'We need proof of humanity' 4. Curvegrid encouraged builders to turn stablecoin voucher apps into agent workflows, noting that AI had made technical questions 'zero' this year 7. Sui's talk on agentic engineering stressed managing context windows to avoid 'garbage' outputs, arguing that 'We don't want prompting to turn into a casino' 8.

• Talks worth watching: Kartik Talwar's opening and closing keynotes 12; World's product deep dive on IDP and IDKit 4; Uniswap stack walkthrough 6; ENSv2 overview 9; Curvegrid's stablecoin and agent workshop 7; Sui's agentic engineering talk 8.