Open Agents 2026 Kickoff I Kartik Talwar
Sat, May 2, 2026, 12:00 AM
In this kickoff, Kartik Talwar, co-founder of ETH Global, welcomes 800+ hackers from six continents to Open Agents — ETH Global's second async hackathon of 2026. He covers the upcoming 2026 calendar including in-person hackathons in New York, Lisbon, Tokyo, and Mumbai, plus ETHCom in New York City bringing together institutional finance and crypto. The hackathon offers $50,000 in prizes from five partners: Uniswap Foundation, ZeroG, ENS, Genson, and Keeper Hub. Kartik walks through the full set of rules and submission requirements: hacking begins immediately with submissions due Sunday, May 3rd at 12 PM Eastern, teams of up to five members, everything must be built from scratch with proper Git history, and a 4-minute demo video is required. He details the two judging tracks — partner prizes (judged asynchronously based on submission quality) and the finalist track (top 10 teams selected via live Zoom judging from 12-2:30 PM Eastern the day after submissions close). Finalists receive ETH Global Plus for a year, $1,000 USDC per team member, $500 flight credit to the next in-person hackathon, on-chain proof, and $15K in developer credits. He emphasizes that AI agent usage is encouraged but must be clearly attributed, with proper incremental commits rather than batched mega-commits. Two required check-ins and two live feedback sessions (Tuesday 2-4 PM and Thursday 9-11 AM Eastern) will support builders throughout the 10-day event. 00:00 Welcome to Open Agents 00:35 Upcoming ETH Global Events and ETHCom 01:27 Hackathon Stats: 800 Hackers from Six Continents 01:49 Five Partners and $50K Prize Pool 02:11 Communication: Discord and Hacker Dashboard 03:14 Hackathon Timeline: 10 Days to Submission 03:46 Rules: Build from Scratch, Auditable Repos 04:33 Open Source Libraries and SDKs Are Allowed 05:15 Submission Deadline and Demo Video Requirements 06:28 Two Judging Tracks: Finalist vs Partner Prizes 07:09 How Partner Prize Judging Works 08:37 Finalist Track: Live Zoom Judging Process 09:22 Finalist Live Call Time Zones 10:37 Finalist Pack: USDC, Flight Credit, Developer Credits 11:41 Finalist Requirements: Live Demo and Auditability 12:22 Tips for a Great Submission Video 13:23 Workshops, Tutorials, and Team Formation 14:30 Required Check-Ins and Stake Returns 15:36 Live Feedback Sessions Tuesday and Thursday 15:56 Code of Conduct and IP Ownership 17:02 AI Agent Usage Rules and Attribution 17:54 Prize Breakdown by Partner 18:39 Pace Yourself: Have Fun and Experiment 19:36 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *Open Agents 2026* Join us for the kick-off for "Open Agents 2026," an async hackathon organized by ETHGlobal and held from April 24 to May 6. HackMoney 2026 brings together the world’s most talented Web3 developers, designers, and product builders to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city