No purchase necessary. A purchase will not improve your chance of winning.
Please read these Official Rules (as defined below) carefully before entering the Contest (as defined below). By entering or otherwise participating in the Contest, each entrant ("Entrant", "you", "your" or, as applicable, "Winner") agrees to these Official Rules, which create a contract. Without limitation, such contract includes grants of rights and indemnities to Sponsor (as defined below) from you, a class action waiver and a limitation of your rights and remedies. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.
Your participation in the Contest and use of this website are each governed by the Midnight Foundation Privacy Policy and related terms and conditions (collectively, the "Midnight Terms"), together with the following Midnight Summit Hackathon Official Rules (the "Official Rules"), which incorporate the Midnight Terms by this reference. If any provision of the Official Rules conflicts with any provision of the Midnight Terms, then Official Rules will prevail with respect to the Contest and any prizes awarded in connection with the Contest.
Sponsor:
This Contest is sponsored by Midnight Foundation, a Cayman Islands exempted foundation company limited by guarantee with its registered office at Harney's Fiduciary (Cayman) Limited, 4th Floor, Harbour Place, P.O. Box 10240, Grand Cayman KY1-1002, Cayman Islands ("Sponsor").
Venue: Old Royal Naval College, London, UK
Dates: November 17-18, 2025 (Summit) | Hackathon continues until November 19, 2025
The Midnight Summit Hackathon (the "Contest") begins on October 24, 2025 at 12:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time ("GMT") and ends on November 19, 2025 at 11:59 PM GMT (the "Contest Period"). By the end of the Contest Period, the entire winner selection will be completed from among all eligible entries received during the Contest Period to select five (5) prize winners, as described in the Winner Selection and Notification section below. Entry in the Contest does not constitute entry into any other promotion, contest, or sweepstakes. By participating in the Contest, each entrant unconditionally accepts and agrees to comply with and abide by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor, which will be final and binding in all respects. Certain restrictions may apply.
This is an invite-only event. Participation is limited to individuals who have received an invitation and have registered through https://midnightsummit.io/. Eligible participants must be 18 years of age or older as of the date of entry and meet the eligibility requirements set forth in these Official Rules. All federal, state and local rules and regulations apply. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. The following parties are not eligible to participate in the Contest or receive any prizes: (a) individuals or entities located in, or holding an electronic wallet ("wallet") that has transacted in, any jurisdiction that is the subject of any sanctions administered or enforced by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, His Majesty's Treasury's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation or other relevant sanctions authority; (b) residents or citizens of Singapore; or (c) individuals who are participating in the Contest as a volunteer, judge or other privileged position. The following parties are eligible to participate in the Contest but are not eligible to win a prize: Officers, directors and employees of Sponsor and its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, distributors, retailers, sales representatives, advertising and promotion agencies (all such individuals and entities referred to in this sentence collectively, the "Promotion Entities"), and each of their immediate family members and/or people living in the same household.
The Midnight Summit Hackathon features four distinct tracks, each focusing on different applications of privacy-preserving technology. All projects must be net-new as of October 24, 2025 - no pre-existing code or projects are eligible. Teams may consist of up to five (5) members and must submit open-source software using the Apache 2.0 license.
Submission Rules:
AI systems are only as good as the data that trains them. But in most cases, that data is sensitive, proprietary, or personal. The AI track challenges developers to build applications where inference and decision-making happen without exposing raw data. Using Midnight's programmable privacy, builders can create agents and analytics tools that respect confidentiality while proving correctness. Imagine verifiable model outputs without leaking training data, or marketplaces where contributors can be rewarded for sharing insights, not identities.
Healthcare data is among the most regulated in the world, yet interoperability and collaboration are essential for better outcomes. This track invites builders to explore privacy-preserving patient data exchange, ZK-verified compliance, and policy-based access. Midnight enables healthcare providers, insurers, and researchers to coordinate through smart contracts that enforce who can see what, and when, without putting patient records on-chain.
Governance on public blockchains often means exposing your entire voting history and holdings. Midnight redefines transparency, enabling verifiable yet private participation in both digital governance and identity verification systems. This track explores how selective disclosure credentials and ZK voting can power new forms of civic, corporate, or DAO decision-making, transparent in outcome, private in individual action.
Financial innovation requires balancing transparency with confidentiality. Midnight allows builders to design compliant DeFi and fintech primitives that meet regulatory standards while protecting users' sensitive information. This track invites DApps that showcase ZK-KYC, private settlement, and policy-gated disclosure, bridging institutional trust and individual privacy.
Participation Requirements
All registered participants must:
All submissions will be evaluated based on the Midnight Hackathon Judging Rubric (full rubric available at: https://midnight.network/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-for-the-2025-midnight-summit-hackathon). The judging criteria include:
In the event of a tie, such entries will be re-judged by the panel of judges based on the highest score in Product & Vision. Winners will be notified on or about November 20, 2025 via the contact information provided during registration.
Prizes
The following prizes will be awarded to winning teams (not individuals):
Total Prize Recipients: Five (5) separate teams will receive monetary prizes and entry into the Midnight Build Club—one top overall project team and four track winner teams. All team members of each winning team will have access to the Build Club program.
Team Prize Distribution Requirements
All prizes will be awarded to the winning team as a whole. Teams may consist of up to five (5) members. Within one (1) week after the Contest Period ends (by November 26, 2025 at 11:59 PM GMT), all winning team members must collectively communicate to the Sponsor in writing:
Failure to provide the required distribution information within the specified timeframe may result in forfeiture of the prize. The Sponsor will distribute prizes to individual team members according to the team's written instructions. The Sponsor is not responsible for disputes among team members regarding prize distribution. Any disputes must be resolved by the team members themselves, and the Sponsor may withhold prize distribution until a unanimous agreement is reached and communicated in writing.
The Sponsor will provide winning teams with invoice templates to facilitate prize payment processing. Each team member must submit their individual invoice according to the template provided and the agreed distribution. All prize payments will be made on thirty (30) day payment terms from the date of receipt of complete and accurate invoices from all team members. Bank transfer fees may apply and will be deducted from the prize amount. Teams should ensure all required documentation and invoices are submitted promptly to avoid delays in payment processing.
About Midnight Build Club: Build Club is Midnight's 8-week part-time educational program for high-potential idea-stage projects. All members of winning teams will have access to the program. Successful teams will learn from senior experts in software development, business development, and marketing strategy. Through this program, participating teams are granted an extensive suite of tools and resources and are guided through validating and refining their idea, developing a robust foundation for their startup. At the end of the program, teams have the opportunity to pitch to Midnight's network of investors for funding and acceptance into the Midnight Accelerator Program.
Approximate Retail Value ("ARV"): The total ARV of all Prizes is $25,000 USD plus the value of the Build Club program. Actual value may vary based on market conditions. Winners are responsible for all federal, state, local, sales and income taxes associated with acceptance of any Prize. Any additional costs not specified are the responsibility of winners.
Entry Conditions and Code of Conduct
Entries cannot: (a) be sexually explicit or suggestive, indecent, violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group, profane or pornographic, contain nudity or any dangerous activity; (b) promote alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing), any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous, or any particular political agenda or message; (c) be obscene or offensive, endorse any form of hate or hate group or use any obscenity; (d) contain trademarks, logos or trade dress owned by others, or advertise or promote any brand or product of any kind other than Sponsor and its products, or contain any personal identification, such as license plate numbers, personal names (other than your name), e-mail addresses or street addresses; (e) contain copyrighted materials owned by others (including but not limited to music, photographs, sculptures, paintings and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media) or confidential or proprietary information or data of others, in either case without written permission and legal releases (which permission and releases must include, without limitation, the ability to grant the licenses and permissions in these Official Rules to Sponsor), a copy of which you will provide to Sponsor upon request; (f) contain materials embodying the names, images, likenesses, photographs or other indicia identifying any person, living or dead, without written permission and legal releases (which permission and releases must include, without limitation, the ability to grant the licenses and permissions in these Official Rules to Sponsor), a copy of which you will provide to Sponsor upon request; (g) depict, and cannot itself be in, violation of any law; (h) violate, misappropriate or otherwise infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, rights of publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity; (i) defame, misrepresent or contain disparaging remarks about Sponsor, its affiliates or any of its or their products, or other people, products or companies or communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill to which Sponsor associates; or (j) contain or introduce any viruses, worms, spyware, back door, time bomb, Trojan Horse, drop dead device or other malicious content or any code or instructions that permit or encourage unauthorized access to Sponsor's or any party's computers, servers, systems, equipment, machines, networking, routing equipment, peripherals and the physical and wireless connections between them all, or to disable or erase software, hardware or data in or on any of the foregoing or to perform any other similar type of function or other unauthorized function or to operate in an unauthorized manner.
By submitting an entry, you represent, warrant and covenant that: (a) your entry is your original work; (b) your participation in the Contest will not be in violation of any law or regulation; (c) you will not attempt any attacks against Sponsor's employees, users or infrastructure; (d) you will neither attempt to view, modify or damage data belonging to Sponsor or any other individual or entity nor attempt to access the accounts and data of the foregoing; (e) publication of your participation and entry in or on any media will not violate, misappropriate or otherwise infringe on the rights of any person or entity; (f) you meet the eligibility requirements set forth in these Official Rules. All projects must be created entirely during the Contest Period beginning October 24, 2025 - no pre-existing projects, previously written code, or work begun before October 24, 2025 is permitted.
Entry must be made by the entrant, whether individually or together with other individuals comprising a team. If entries are submitted by a team, then all members of the team must individually register to participate in the Contest. Entries made by any other individual, any other individual who is not a member of a pre-identified team or any entity, and/or originating at any other website or email address, including but not limited to commercial Contest subscription notifications or entering service sites, will be declared invalid and disqualified for this Contest. Tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest, including but not limited to the use of any device to automate the entry process or use of more than one Discord account or any other method to enter the Contest more than once is prohibited and any entries deemed by Sponsor, in its sole discretion, to have been submitted in this manner will be void. In the event a dispute regarding the identity of the individual who actually submitted an entry cannot be resolved to Sponsor's satisfaction, the affected entry(ies) will be deemed ineligible. The Promotion Entities will not be responsible for incorrect or inaccurate entry information whether caused by Internet users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest or by any technical or human error which may occur in the processing of the entries in the Contest. The Promotion Entities assume no responsibility or liability for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, theft or destruction, or unauthorized access to, or alteration of entries. Entries will be deemed made by the authorized account holder(s) of the Discord account used at the time of entry. In the event of a dispute, the potential winner(s) may be required to provide proof that such potential winner(s) is/are the authorized holder(s) of the identified Discord account.
Entrants must conduct themselves in a reasonable manner, maintaining a friendly and polite demeanour to the Promotion Entities, members of the press and to other entrants. Entrants must refrain from using vulgar or offensive language, including language that is profane, sexually explicit, lewd, suggestive, unnecessarily violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group. Abusive behaviour, including harassment and threats, is prohibited. Physical abuse, fighting or any threatening action or threatening language, directed at any entrant, official or any other person is prohibited. Any action designed to disrupt another entrant's ability to participate in the Contest is prohibited.
Sponsor will have the right to disqualify any entries and entrants that Sponsor has determined, in its sole and exclusive opinion, fail to adhere to these Contest Official Rules or expose Sponsor to any unacceptable degree of technical, legal or financial risks or problems or is otherwise deemed inappropriate. Sponsor's decisions are final and binding with respect to all matters relating to this Contest.
Privacy
To participate in the Contest and/or receive prizes, entrants and winners (as applicable) will be required to supply certain information about themselves on the Contest application entry page and the Contest winner verification page. Sponsor has specified on these pages what information is mandatory to participate in the Contest. This information will be used by Sponsor for the purposes of administering the Contest, and may be shared with its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion and fulfilment agencies, legal advisors and service providers. Except as otherwise contemplated in these Official Rules, and to the extent entrants or winners may otherwise elect at the time of entry or winner verification, personal information collected in connection with the Contest will be used in accordance with Sponsor's Privacy Policy, located here: https://midnight.network/static/privacy-policy.pdf.
Publicity Release
Except where prohibited or restricted by law, your participation in the Contest and, if applicable, your acceptance of any portion of a prize, constitutes your agreement, permission and consent for the Promotion Entities and any of their designees to use, publish, copy, broadcast, display, distribute, use, edit, translate, alter, combine with other material, reuse and adapt, in their sole discretion, any or all portions of the details of your entry and participation, your full name, city and province or territory of residence, biographical information, photographs or other likenesses, pictures, portraits, video, voice, testimonials and statements made by you regarding the Contest, the prizes or otherwise, worldwide and in perpetuity for any and all purposes, including, but not limited to, advertising, publicity, trade and promotion on behalf of the Promotion Entities, in any and all forms of media, now known or hereafter devised, including, but not limited to, print, TV, radio, electronic, cable or World Wide Web (including, without limitation, the Promotion Entities' website(s) or other social media pages and/or on certain third-party websites), without further limitation, restriction, compensation, notice, review or approval.
Entrants agree that the Promotion Entities: (a) shall not be responsible or liable for, and are hereby released from, any and all costs, injuries, losses or damages of any kind, including, without limitation, death and bodily injury, due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to participation in the Contest or any Contest-related activity, including but not limited to attendance at the Old Royal Naval College venue, travel to and from the event, or from entrants' acceptance, receipt, possession and use or misuse of any prize; and (b) have not made any warranty, representation or guarantee express or implied, in fact or in law, with respect to any prize, including, without limitation, to such prize's quality or fitness for a particular purpose. The Promotion Entities assume no responsibility for any damage to an entrant's, or any other person's, computer system which is occasioned by accessing the websites necessary to participate in the Contest and/or to accept a prize (collectively, "Website"), or otherwise participating in the Contest, or for any computer system, phone line, hardware, software or program malfunctions, or other errors, failures, delayed computer transmissions or network connections that are human or technical in nature.
Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Promotion Entities are not responsible for incomplete, illegible, misdirected, misprinted, late, lost, damaged, stolen or postage-due prize notifications; or for lost, interrupted, inaccessible or unavailable networks, servers, satellites, Internet service providers, websites or other connections; or for miscommunications, failed, jumbled, scrambled, delayed or misdirected computer, telephone or cable transmissions; or for any technical malfunctions, failures, difficulties or other errors of any kind or nature; or for the incorrect or inaccurate capture of information, or the failure to capture any information. The Promotion Entities are not responsible for any incidents, accidents, or issues arising from attendance at the physical event venue.
Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or the Website, to be acting in violation of these Official Rules, or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest, or to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person, and the Promotion Entities reserve the right to seek damages and other remedies from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. No mechanically reproduced, illegible, incomplete, forged, software-generated or other automated multiple entries will be accepted.
Sponsor reserves the right to modify, extend, suspend or terminate the Contest, without prior notice, if it determines, in its sole discretion, that the Contest is technically impaired or corrupted or that fraud or technical problems, failures or malfunctions or other causes beyond Sponsor's control have destroyed or severely undermined or to any degree impaired the integrity, administration, security, proper play or feasibility of the Contest as contemplated herein.
In the event an insufficient number of eligible entries are received relative to the prizes to be awarded or Sponsor is prevented from awarding prizes or continuing with the Contest as contemplated in these Official Rules by any event beyond its control, including but not limited to fire, flood, natural or man-made epidemic of health of other means, earthquake, explosion, labour dispute or strike, act of God or public enemy, satellite or equipment failure, riot or civil disturbance, terrorist threat or activity, war (declared or undeclared) or any federal state or local government law, order, or regulation, public health crisis, order of any court or jurisdiction, venue unavailability, travel restrictions, or other cause not reasonably within Sponsor's control (each a "Force Majeure" event or occurrence), then subject to any governmental approval which may be required, Sponsor shall have the right to modify, suspend, extend or terminate the Contest. If the Contest is terminated before the designated end date, Sponsor will (if possible) select the winner in a random drawing from all eligible, non-suspect entries received as of the date of the event giving rise to the termination. Inclusion in such drawing shall be each entrant's sole and exclusive remedy under such circumstances.
Only the type and quantity of prizes described in these Official Rules will be awarded. These Official Rules cannot be modified or amended in any way except in a written document issued in accordance with law by an authorized representative of Sponsor. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. If any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Official Rules will otherwise remain in effect and will be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision were not contained herein.
Any attempt by an entrant or any other individual to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such individual to the fullest extent permitted by law. Each entrant will indemnify and hold harmless the Promotion Entities from any claims arising out of or relating to any breach of these Official Rules.
Without limiting the foregoing, everything regarding this Contest, including all information provided in Discord (if applicable) and all prizes, is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. Some jurisdictions may not allow the limitations or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages or exclusion of implied warranties so some of the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you. Check your local laws for any restrictions or limitations regarding these limitations or exclusions.
All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules or the rights and obligations of entrants or Sponsor in connection with the Contest shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions that would cause the application of any other jurisdiction's laws. Except with respect to Arbitration Claims (as defined below), the parties: (a) irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales sitting in London in any action, suit or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Contest or these Official Rules, and irrevocably agree that venue shall lie exclusively in such courts; and (b) hereby waive any objection based on lack of personal jurisdiction or inconvenient forum.
By participating in this Contest, each entrant agrees: (a) that any and all disputes the entrant may have with, or claims entrant may have against, the Promotion Entities relating to, arising out of or connected in any way with (i) the Contest, (ii) the awarding or redemption of any prize or (iii) the determination of the scope or applicability of this agreement to arbitrate ((a)(i)–(iii) collectively, the "Arbitration Claims"), will be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration administered by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and conducted before a sole arbitrator in accordance with the LCIA Rules; (b) the seat of arbitration shall be London, England and the arbitration shall be conducted in English; (c) the arbitrator's decision shall be controlled by the terms and conditions of these Official Rules and any of the other agreements referenced herein that the applicable entrant may have entered into in connection with the Contest; (d) the arbitrator shall apply the laws of England and Wales consistent with the Arbitration Act 1996 and applicable limitation periods, and shall honor claims of privilege recognized at law; (e) there will be no authority for any claims to be arbitrated on a class or representative basis; arbitration can decide only entrant's and the Promotion Entities' individual claims; the arbitrator may not consolidate or join the claims of other persons or parties who may be similarly situated; (f) the arbitrator will not have the power to award punitive damages against the entrant or the Promotion Entities; (g) if the administrative fees and deposits that must be paid to initiate arbitration against a Promotion Entity exceed £100 GBP, and entrant is unable (or not required under the LCIA Rules) to pay any fees and deposits that exceed this amount, then the applicable Promotion Entity agrees to pay them or forward them on entrant's behalf, subject to ultimate allocation by the arbitrator; (h) if the entrant is able to demonstrate that the costs of arbitration will be prohibitive as compared to the costs of litigation, then the applicable Promotion Entity will pay as much of entrant's filing and hearing fees in connection with the arbitration as the arbitrator deems necessary to prevent the arbitration from being cost-prohibitive; and (i) with the exception of subpart (e) above, if any part of this arbitration provision is deemed to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal, or otherwise conflicts with the LCIA Rules, then the balance of this arbitration provision will remain in effect and will be construed in accordance with its terms as if the invalid, unenforceable, illegal or conflicting provision were not contained herein. If, however, subpart (e) is found to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal, then the entirety of this arbitration provision will be null and void, and neither entrant nor the Promotion Entities will be entitled to arbitrate their dispute. For more information on the LCIA and/or the LCIA Rules, visit their website at www.lcia.org.
This Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), YouTube, Google or any other social media or similar platform where this Contest may be promoted, advertised or otherwise used to disseminate information relating to the Contest. You understand that all information is being provided to Sponsor and not to Facebook, TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), YouTube, Google or any other social media where this Contest may be promoted, advertised or otherwise used to disseminate information relating to the Contest. The Promotion Entities are not responsible for practices, terms or actions taken by any of these or other social media and web services sites. You understand that you are required to comply with terms and conditions of those social media platforms.
To obtain a copy of the winners list, send a request directly to support@midnight.network. The Official Rules will be posted to https://midnight.network/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-for-the-2025-midnight-summit-hackathon during the Contest Period.
