IOTA Hackathon Hits Midpoint as Teams Build Solutions for Trade, RWA, and AI

• A total of 63 teams reached the midpoint of the $IOTA hackathon, with product concepts and system architectures being submitted in the Build Now Contest.
• The submissions were dominated by trade and supply chain; RWA/TradFi, data privacy, reputation, infrastructure, and AI were also targeted.

The MasterZ × $IOTA Hackathon has reached its midpoint phase with the Build Now Contest, in which teams provided product concepts, system architectures and technical stacks based on $IOTA. This phase saw 63 teams actively developing in the fields of trade systems, tokenized assets, privacy tools, infrastructure, reputation systems and AI-based applications.

Participants moved from structured learning into practical building, using the smart contract language tied to $IOTA’s programmable layer. At this stage, the submissions show where teams are focusing their development effort before the March 31 project deadline.

The MasterZ (@masterz87148) × $IOTA Hackathon has reached its mid-term milestone with the Build Now Contest.
Teams submitted product concepts, system architectures & technical stacks built on $IOTA across:
Trade & Supply Chain
RWA & TradFi
Data Integrity & Privacy… pic.twitter.com/iwjVCZOiH6

— $IOTA (@iota) February 26, 2026

Trade and supply chain projects form the largest group. Many teams are building tools for compliance workflows, cross-border documentation, provenance tracking, and coordination between businesses. Several concepts also connect trade processes to tokenization and financing functions.

Another set of teams is working on bridging real-world assets and traditional finance systems. These projects focus on tokenized market access, programmable settlement, and infrastructure for assets that are often difficult to move or split in conventional systems.

This week, CNF reported that $IOTA launched a Sustainability page that publishes network energy use, emissions data, and MiCA indicator metrics for easier disclosure.

Identity, Privacy, and AI at the $IOTA Hackathon

Data integrity and privacy is another area that teams in the $IOTA hackathon have focused on. This group is is building features like notarization, cryptographic verification and decentralized identity that keep records tamper-resistant and auditable. Sensitive data is not placed directly on-chain, and is relying on selective disclosure methods.

Teams are also creating verifiable credibility systems for users and organizations, focusing on attestations, non-transferable credentials, and self-sovereign identity models.

Infrastructure teams have developed middleware, interoperability layers, and system-level tools that other applications can build on. In parallel, a smaller AI group is testing how AI services can connect with verifiable data, identity primitives, and on-chain coordination. These projects show practical experimentation at the intersection of automation and trusted digital systems.

Following the March 31 submission deadline, projects will move into final evaluation. The top five teams are scheduled to present in Berlin before MasterZ and $IOTA, while the top 10 teams will enter an accelerator program run by AIO Blockchain Lab. In addition, the top 30 projects will appear on a public leaderboard to boost visibility to ecosystem partners.

Richard Mands, Head of Developer Relations at the $IOTA Foundation, commented:

The Build Now Contest marks an important checkpoint in the hackathon. What’s encouraging is the level of seriousness we’re seeing. The quality of architectural thinking and the depth of $IOTA integration show that participants are building with long-term intent.

Early this month, we also covered that $IOTA launched an expert advisory board to support the real-world rollout of its Trade Worldwide Information Network (TWIN).