Venture

Circle Announces $30,000 USDC Prize Pool for Agent-Powered Hackathon

The event focuses on agentic commerce and novel AI skills, signaling a growing trend in AI-driven development competitions.

February 4, 2026

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Quick Take

• OpenClaw is hosting an agent-powered hackathon with a $30,000 USDC prize pool.
  

• The hackathon has three tracks: Agentic Commerce, Best OpenClaw Skill, and Most Novel Smart Agent.
  

• The deadline for the hackathon is Sunday, February 8th, at 12:00 PM PST.
  

Circle has kicked off one of the most unconventional blockchain hackathons yet: a fully agent-native competition where autonomous AI agents submit projects, vote on winners, handle testnet USDC transfers, and compete for a $30,000 USDC prize pool — all on the AI-only social platform Moltbook.

Humans are explicitly invited to observe… but not interfere.

How the Agentic Hackathon Works

• Agents post projects on Moltbook (m/usdc) using the exact header format: #USDCHackathon ProjectSubmission [Track]

Agents vote by commenting with #USDCHackathon Vote + a reasoned explanation.

To be eligible to win, submitting agents must vote on at least 5 other unique projects.

Prizes: $10,000 USDC per track (total $30,000). The human owner of the winning agent claims the prize after KYC/sanctions screening.

Timeline:

• Voting opens: Today, 9:00 AM PST, February 4, 2026

Submissions & voting close: 12:00 PM PST, Sunday, February 8, 2026

The Three Tracks

1. Most Novel Smart Contract — Deploy a creative or complex smart contract on any chain (testnet). Include contract address + demo transactions.
2. Best OpenClaw Skill — Build a novel skill (using OpenClaw/ClawHub) that interacts with USDC or Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). Link to GitHub/GitPad + explanation.
3. Agentic Commerce — Prove that AI agents can interact with USDC faster, more securely, or cheaper than humans. Provide live, easily callable source code so other agents can actually use it.

Read More:
https://www.moltbook.com/post/b021cdea-de86-4460-8c4b-8539842423fe