DLT Africa on the CrossFi Hackathon: Insights from the Frontline

DLT Africa on the CrossFi Hackathon: Insights from the Frontline

By Soliu, Developer Relations at CrossFi

On April 18, 2025 at 5:00PM GMT+0, I hosted an open X Space with the DLT Africa team to debrief their recent local hackathon powered by CrossFi. They spoke with such openness and enthusiasm that you could see how this partnership is really making a difference across Africa. Here’s our conversation, questions I asked live and their answers, word for word.

About the Partnership with CrossFi

Q1: How has your partnership with CrossFi contributed to DLT Africa’s goals and mission within the blockchain ecosystem?

“Our partnership with CrossFi has been instrumental in advancing DLT Africa’s mission to onboard the next generation of African builders into the blockchain space. With the help of CrossFi we were able to create CrossFi Africa by supporting and amplifying our efforts and promoting a robust ecosystem that prioritizes financial inclusion and real world impact across Africa.”

Developer Engagement & Community Response

Q2: What kind of developer engagement or community response have you noticed since becoming a CrossFi partner?

“The response from the developer community has been really positive and full of curiosity. We have developers at DLT Africa at all levels—from beginners to intermediates to experts. That mix brought a lot of questions, excitement, and a high level of engagement across all of our channels from Discord to Telegram and Whatsapp. Since our partnership began we have onboarded over 2 500 people into the CrossFi ecosystem and hosted an amazing hackathon. This interest translated into increased hackathon submissions, more in depth questions during our three technical office hours, and a noticeable willingness to explore the CrossFi ecosystem at every level. There was a lot of excitement at DLT Africa.

During the hackathon we had mentorship sessions that allowed developers to ask important questions and get guidance from different mentors with more experience. This partnership is not just about sponsorship, but an invitation to co-create the future of finance that is inclusive, accessible and locally impactful. We have also hosted community events across Nigeria and Africa both online and in person.”

Tools, APIs & Documentation

Q3: Are there any specific tools, APIs, or documentation from CrossFi that your participants found particularly useful or developer‑friendly?

“Several CrossFi resources proved valuable to our participants, especially the CrossFi chain. The onboarding guide and documentation were clear, concise and beginner friendly, making it easier for teams to interact with the infrastructure and deploy functional dApps. Concerns about CrossFi being a layer one chain and relying on Cosmos hub were addressed through the documentation, explaining how CrossFi still leverages the EVM. Tools like the CrossFi faucet allowed developers to easily get test tokens. To sum up, the ecosystem felt accessible and well supported even for first time builders. Kudos to the CrossFi team.”

About Next Initiatives

Q4: How do you envision your ongoing collaboration with CrossFi evolving in the next few months? Are there any upcoming initiatives we should look forward to?

“Yes indeed, the collaboration between DLT Africa and CrossFi is set to be a long‐term strategy. As we conclude the first phase of our contract we hope to move into the second phase. We have strategic partnerships planned to support current developers and onboard new ones. While we have worked in four African countries so far, we plan to expand beyond those. We want to bring the word of CrossFi to the entire continent. With our feedback so far I think you will realize that many things are coming from Africa. The former DevRel of CrossFi even served as a judge for the hackathon.

If you ask about upcoming initiatives from our own end the answer is yes. We have a lot in the pipeline. We will continue regular workshops, community events, Twitter space university outreach and more. Our main goal in the next phase is to focus on the newly launched X app of CrossFi and we are looking towards the incubation program.”

Most Valuable Infrastructure

Q5: Which aspects of the CrossFi infrastructure or ecosystem have been most valuable to you and your community during the hackathon?

“The CrossFi chain ecosystem was the most valuable asset for us and our community. Without it developers could not deploy or interact with the blockchain. We found the chain reliable and enjoyed the existing developer tools like Hardhat and Foundry. The chain offered a smooth onboarding experience for both new and experienced blockchain developers, with seamless transactions and fast confirmation times. This lets teams focus on building their solutions rather than worrying about network constraints. Participants appreciated how intuitive it was to deploy on the CrossFi chain and this accelerated their development timelines significantly. After the hackathon the reports we received were very positive. The CrossFi chain has been the most valuable asset for developers.”

Hackathon Turnout & Participation

Q6: How was the turnout and participation for the local hackathon? What stood out to you about the developers or teams?

“We saw great curiosity and turnout for the hackathon. Sixty participants registered and we received over 30 submissions, a huge milestone that reflects the excitement around blockchain innovation in Nigeria. We had participants from across Nigeria and even outside Africa. What impressed us most was the developers ability to craft solutions that tackle real world problems here in Africa. For example projects focusing on real world assets and online event ticketing systems addressed challenges that need solving in our region. This gave us clear insight into the excitement and curiosity of developers and the wider community in the CrossFi ecosystem.”

Incubation‑Ready Projects

Q7: Are there any winning or promising projects that you believe could be incubated further with CrossFi’s support?

“From the 60 submissions we selected 30 for initial review and then picked the top five projects to award. Going forward we plan to incubate some of these projects. From my perspective the most promising projects are Nexafi, NeuraSkill_crossfi, Estoken and Space Kombat. These projects offer real world use cases and with CrossFi support they can grow and deliver impact across Africa. That is why I proposed the idea of an incubation program to help them continue solving local challenges.”

Biggest Challenges & Resolutions

Q8: What were the biggest challenges teams faced during the hackathon, and how were those challenges addressed?

“There are challenges but as developers we are meant to provide solutions. One challenge was onboarding new developers because CrossFi as a layer one chain is just coming into the limelight so people did not really know much about it. We organised back to back internship and mentorship sessions, with live debugging when the RPC went down. We provided introductory workshops on the CrossFi stack to ensure builders have the best reception. Another hurdle was internet instability and RPC issues. Offline resources and recorded sessions helped bridge the gap. If not for these resources, onboarding first time builders would have been much tougher.”

Projects Aligned with CrossFi Vision

Q9: Were there any standout projects that aligned well with the CrossFi vision such as those focused on financial inclusion, environmental consciousness, or community empowerment?

“Yes, several projects stood out. First is Nexafi, a strong DeFi protocol tackling lending and borrowing challenges in underserved communities. It focuses on accessibility and infrastructure that perfectly complements the CrossFi mission. Secondly NeuraSkill_crossfi, which builds a blockchain based system for organising, judging and funding hackathons with transparency, fairness and accessibility. Third is Estoken, which tackles liquidity in the real estate market through fractional ownership tokenization, showing how blockchain can democratize investment. Fourth is TicketCity, a fully decentralised event booking platform bridging trust and transparency in ticketing, preventing fraud and verifying access. Lastly the Scholar application aims to empower research by creating a decentralised ecosystem for research publication, collaboration and funding, reshaping knowledge sharing.”

Key Lessons & Future Shape

Q10: What lessons did you learn from organizing this hackathon, and how might those lessons shape your future events in collaboration with CrossFi?

“I learned several lessons. Organising the hackathon at short notice showed us the importance of early planning. Many potential participants struggled to get started because CrossFi is new so we need more workshops. The fact that 70 percent of submissions and 60 percent of winning teams came from our previous workshops highlighted the power of hands on learning. Developers also found network and tooling issues—suggesting we should provide CLI packages to speed up development. Going forward we need to organise multiple workshops both online and in person to ensure builders have the support they need.”

Closing Remark
This conversation shows just how much energy and innovation DLT Africa and CrossFi are unlocking together. Their reflections on tooling, community engagement, and the projects themselves make one thing clear: when you equip builders with the right tools and support, they will rise to the challenge—and deliver solutions with real world impact. I look forward to guiding the next phase of our partnership, and to seeing these teams grow through the incubation program and beyond.

Stay tuned for more updates on CrossFi’s upcoming hackathons, developer workshops, and incubation opportunities. Let’s keep building the future of finance together.