Stagenet Hackathon
The theme for this hackathon is building with a Stagenet.
A Stagenet is a private EVM testnet that replays mainnet block-by-block, with built-in development tools:
- Historically accurate chain state — DeFi protocols, liquidity, oracle data, and contract storage evolve exactly as they did on mainnet
- Import contracts from GitHub and get dedicated dashboards for balances, storage, TVL, transactions, and more
- Run long-term contract simulations — execute thousands of transactions rapidly to validate how contracts behave under sustained load
- DeFi integrations — control, simulate, and analyse interactions with select DeFi protocols
- Integrated dev utilities — faucet, account impersonation, explorer, and debugging tools built directly into the environment
In this hackathon, you’ll use a Stagenet to build and validate smart contract systems — from vault rebalancers and AMM pricing mechanics to liquidation engines, oracle-dependent flows, and MEV-sensitive bots.
The hackathon starts on February 27th 2026. Submissions close on March 14th 2026.
What We're Looking For
We’re particularly interested in projects that:
- Leverage historically accurate mainnet replay — integrating with live DeFi protocols, liquidity, and oracle data
- Use Stagenet analytics to measure and analyse real contract behaviour over time
- Rely on simulations — executing thousands of transactions — to validate long-term performance and edge cases
- Demonstrate behaviour that cannot be realistically tested on static forks or public testnets
Judging Criteria
Projects will be evaluated on the depth of engineering and effective use of Stagenet as a validation environment:
- Engineering depth — robustness, complexity, and correctness of the smart contract system
- Use of Stagenet — meaningful reliance on its mainnet replay, analytics, and transaction simulations
- Clarity of execution — well-documented methodology, reproducible setup, and a concise demonstration of findings
Prizes
Cash prizes will be awarded to the top 3 projects: 1st – $500, 2nd – $250, and 3rd – $100.
There are also bonus prizes:
- Best Beginner Project — $100
- Social Presence Bounty — $100 (for the project that gets the strongest social engagement during the hack)
Winners will also have their projects featured on the contract.dev website and social media.
How It Works
- Register and join the Discord
- Create your own Stagenet — Quickstart
- Build and validate your project
- Submit a one-page summary + repo and Stagenet links
- Winners announced after review
