The end of a hackathon marks the close of fervent effort. And the most unforgettable moment this summer was surely AdventureX held in Hangzhou. With Injective as the exclusive blockchain sponsor, I had the honor of participating in this five-day journey, witnessing firsthand the passion and curiosity of young creators toward web3, and seeing the sparkle in their eyes when they heard the phrase "Everything On-Chain."

Since 2021, I’ve attended many web3 hackathons from ETH Beijing and ETH Hangzhou to the grand annual ETH Global. Wherever I go, I always see vibrant participation from Chinese-speaking developers. But this also comes with a touch of regret: despite our vision of achieving mainstream web3 adoption, the base of developers still feels relatively small. That’s precisely why Injective chose to join AdventureX, to reach out to young people who may have never even heard of web3 and truly connect with them.

Last year at AdventureX, there were already many impressive projects: intelligent robotics, drone control systems, AR applications, and more. As a web3 DevRel, I often wonder: What if some of their data, core logic, or operation logs were put on-chain? Wouldn’t that be a small but meaningful breakthrough in realizing “everything on-chain”?

In the past, the industry was more focused on on-chain native innovations. But now, with more mature infrastructure, it’s time to embrace ideas that transcend boundaries. Lets try to connect technologies and applications that once existed outside the blockchain ecosystem. This kind of fusion is the true key tohelping the industry expand.

July 23rd marked the first day of the event. That morning, as I arrived at the venue, a wave of young people dragging suitcases were also arriving in Hangzhou from across the country. “Let’s lose sleep for creation once more.” And so began five sleepless nights of building.

Injective quickly caught the attention of many developers at the event. As the exclusive blockchain technology partner of this year’s AdventureX, Injective’s booth appeared alongside traditional Chinese internet companies (Little Red Book, Lark, Tencent, etc.), symbolizing the entry of web3 innovation into China’s largest hackathon.

Injective also sponsored the highest-value prize track this year, further demonstrating its commitment to supporting innovation in the builder community.

At the opening ceremony that evening, I stood before nearly a thousand young creators and shared the story of blockchain’s origin and Injective’s vision for an “everything-on-chain” future. After the talk, friends from communities and blockchain alliances told me how deeply they resonated with the story. It felt like the cypherpunk spirit had come to life at that moment - and I was thrilled.

I’ve always believed that everyone building in the web3 space shares the same burning cypherpunk flame in their hearts. We hope blockchain will become more than just a base layer of cryptography, but a fundamental protocol that connects all innovation.

What Developers Were Building

AI was undoubtedly the hottest trend at the hackathon. Over 80% of the participating teams integrated AI in some way: from AI-generated content and task automation to using AI to guide users through workflows. Nearly every project explored how generative AI can be applied in real-world scenarios.

What’s exciting is that developers in the web3 track were also eager to embrace AI. Whether it was putting AI-generated content on-chain or building decentralized AI training platforms, many ideas showed promising potential. As a firm believer in AI, I’ve always seen it as a powerful tool for improving UX. For both dApps and traditional applications, AI integration is a practical and efficient solution.

Compared to more crypto centered events like ETH Global, the integration of blockchain and other technologies is still in its early stages here, and many on-chain innovations remain raw. But what’s encouraging is the growing effort to bring off-chain creativity into the blockchain space, a significant step forward.

Two projects left a particularly deep impression on me: the Vision Pro AR system (like Nonomi’s “Life Filter”) integrated with blockchain, and a navigation system for the blind that leveraged blockchain features. These showed a different kind of creativity, bringing new energy and possibilities to the web3 space.

Notebook or Cheatsheet?

A small design touch at this hackathon: the developer cheatsheet was embedded into a notebook. Participants could jot down ideas and sketches while easily flipping to the first few pages of the book for reference material, e.g. quick start guides. The notebook was a hit among the hackers, and we hope to bring more dev-focused swag like this in the future. Got ideas? We welcome decentralized innovation - even in swag!

Highlighted Projects

There are too many great ones to list… here’s a sample few!

Injective Pass

A chain-abstraction and digital identity solution for everyone. With just an NFC (Near Field Communication) card or biometric key, users can activate a cloud wallet and identity in 1 second - no blockchain knowledge required. It also provides a .inj domain to replace complicated wallet addresses, enabling seamless onboarding into the Injective ecosystem.

Nonomi – Life Filter

A mixed reality and AI-powered immersive “life enhancement system” to combat loneliness, anxiety, and stagnation. It combines three core modules:

· An emotional companion that understands and responds to your mood.

· A smart assistant that comprehends context and offers helpful insights.

· A transaction system for seamless on-chain interactions in MR environments.

It brings comfort, control, and empowerment - blending reality and virtuality.

Who’s Your Master

An AI-powered platform that matches users with stray dogs that resemble them, for virtual adoption. Built on Injective and talis.art, it enables users to mint and trade adoption NFTs.

Cyber Plant

A web3 tool for global plant lovers to trade plants by tapping phones. All plant data and ownership are on-chain. It's gamified, social, and transparent, bridging real-world assets with blockchain.

BountyGo

A decentralized bounty platform where users can post tasks with crypto rewards. Developers can complete these for payment. The platform uses AI Agents to automate task creation from links, making the bounty process smoother and more accessible.

PolyAgent Market

A decentralized marketplace for AI agents to autonomously register, bid, collaborate, and execute tasks - transforming them from passive tools into economically active participants.

DotDot AI

A focus-enhancement app built for people with ADHD. In this app, “Dot” is an AI generated NFT based on users input tasks or todos, and will be carefully decrypted into a list of steps for helping concentrate and complete them. Each “Dot” is a dose of focus. Built on Injective, it creates viral social loops to form supportive communities.

Injective AI Hub

A decentralized AI infrastructure leveraging Injective to incentivize global developers, ML experts, and idle computer owners to contribute to AI model development, training, and inference.

MemorySpace

An application powered by AI-generated content (AIGC) that turns spoken memories into collaborative, 3D immersive memory buildings. Each voice becomes a block of emotional architecture, stored on-chain as a shared digital landscape.

Hackathons Aren’t the End - They’re the Beginning

Thank you to every creator who brought their ideas to life. Let’s keep building and shipping, and leave our marks on the blockchain story.

Injective believes in the power of innovation and will continue supporting developers on their journey. If blockchain/web3 is new to you, don’t be afraid to enter the space. You’re still early, and we’ll all grow together. More events and incentive programs are coming in the future - so join the Injective community and let’s grow together.

About Injective

Injective is a lightning fast interoperable layer one blockchain optimized for building premier Web3 finance applications. Injective provides developers with powerful plug-and-play modules for creating unmatched dApps. INJ is the native asset that powers Injective and its rapidly growing ecosystem. Injective is incubated by Binance and is backed by prominent investors such as Jump Crypto, Pantera and Mark Cuban.

A Web3 DevRel's Journey at China's Largest Hackathon