Ready, Steady
HACK!
2020
1st SEPTEMBER
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Register your Interest
Winning Team Announced
Judging Starts in
6th OCTOBER
The hackathon starts on 1-09-2020 and ends on 30-09-2020 with results be announced mid-October. Participants develop the solution from the comfort of their home, coordinating with their team members through the channels they prefer

THE CHALLENGE
The Poverty Trap has long been a problem, much exacerbated by a decade of ‘austerity’ since the 2008 crisis. The economic consequences of Covid-19 make ita threat to millions more. Let’s be clear… poverty isn’t about not buying fancy things – it’s increased infant mortality, lower school performance, higher suicide rates, heart attacks and relationship breakdowns.
This hackathon will create tools to keep people out of the poverty trap, literally saving lives, by tackling two of the key problems that push people into the poverty trap:
- Credit scoring – poor credit scores exclude people from the best deals, forcing them into more expensive options which ultimately make the problem worse.
- Scheduled payments – Direct Debits or Standing Orders “bounce” – creating charges and the challenge of catching up on missed payments.
But we can reimagine Direct Debit as Direct Credits by combining three readily available technologies:
The solution starts with integrating an “open banking” service, a marketplace platform, and a digital wallet in a single web application empowering people with a more natural and intuitive way to manage payments and cope with day to day financial challenges.
… where you go from there is up to you!
THE PRIZES
BBFTA
- 1st = £12k worth of BiPs
- 2nd = £6k worth of BiPs
- 3rd = £2k worth of BiPs
BBFTA is a non-profit organisation created to network and support those at the forefront of the in Britain and beyond. As firm believers in the benefits of blockchain and frontier technologies for social impact, we are delighted to support the Fairer Finance Hackathon which aims to find solutions to break the poverty trap and give everyone, regardless of income, access to fairer finance.
CPRAS
1st = £2000
The top three submissions will also be offered a role as senior tech advisors to this project with a revenue share of:
- 1st = 3%
- 2nd = 2%
- 3rd = 1%
The top three submissions will also be offered a mentoring package worth up to £6,000.
CPRAS developed the concept through our close working relationships with UK local government. We believe strongly that poverty CAN be eradicated… we just need the determination to do it. This is a particularly exciting initiative as it benefits everyone – people escape or avoid the poverty trap, businesses can supply millions of people that they currently have to exclude, and government need to spend less on dealing with the consequences of poverty.
GBA
- 1st winning team gets 2 free individual membership passes
- 2nd winning team get 2 60% discount vouchers on individual membership
- 3rd winning team gets 2 30% discount vouchers on individual membership
Government Blockchain Association is a global non-profit organisation focussing to promote blockchain technology by empowering individuals and organisations to connect, communicate, and collaborate to solve public sector challenges. GBA brings together governments around the world facilitating efficient, ethical, and rational adoption of blockchain technology for powerful and meaningful innovations. GBA has 120 chapters worldwide and 15k+ members.
The JUDGES
Mentors

Genevieve was nominated by the Financial Times to the top 100 BAME in UK technology in 2019 and was a named a winner of the ComputerWeekly 2020 Women in Software and one of the top five finalist for Quesnay’s Female Founders in FinTech 2019. She is vice-chair of techUK’s Distributed Ledger Technologies Working Group, which provides strategic direction for all UK activities related to DLT, and is an inaugural member of the Advisory Group for the Estonian Government’s eResidency initiative. She has spoken on emerging technologies at numerous high-profile conferences around the world.

Why I support the hackathon: Financial inclusion, specifically the ability to make low-cost, secure digital payments, is one of the most important things we can do to create a level playing field. As we move towards a society where cashless payments become the norm, this need becomes even more pressing.

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