Nostr Wallet Connect Shines at bitcoin++ Hackathon
The first-ever Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) hackathon track at bitcoin++ in Florianópolis just wrapped up—and it was a huge success! Alby was a proud sponsor of this event. Out of 26 participating projects, nine integrated NWC into their solutions, highlighting just how useful and flexible the protocol can be.
For those unfamiliar, NWC is an open protocol that connects lightning wallets to applications, making bitcoin payments more seamless. NWC works great for any user of a custodial or non-custodial wallet. Wallet users don’t need to understand Nostr any more than email users need to understand SMTP. 🙂
The hackathon gave developers the perfect opportunity to experiment with NWC, and the results were impressive. From innovative payment solutions to new ways of interacting with lightning, the projects showcased the protocol’s growing potential.
Projects building on NWC
The grand prize of 5 million sats went to NostrPix, an innovative lightning bridge to Brazil’s fast payment system, Pix. With NostrPix, you can now pay with bitcoin at PIX-accepting merchants which is basically everywhere in Brazil and deposit sats using your NWC-connected wallet. A game-changer!
A team integrated bitcoin payments via NWC into White Noise, a hyper-private messaging app built on Nostr. Their effort won them 333k sats for best existing app integration, plus 3 million sats for securing second place overall.
Zaplit won 333k sats for building "Splitwise with Lightning"—a tool that lets users connect their own wallets to automatically split bills. A super handy solution, especially for conferences and group outings!
Money Badger took home 333k sats for creating a gamified wallet for kids and parents. Parents can set tasks, and kids earn rewards in sats. Their sub-wallet system, running on Alby Hub, keeps everything neatly managed. They also won an additional 100k sats for best design!
Sloppy, the quirkiest hack of the event, scored 500k sats for creating an AI agent that requires zaps to stay alive and shitpost on Nostr. The team used NWC and Alby Hub to power Sloppy’s wallet.
SonicStream aims to be "Spotify but transparent" by enabling direct lightning payouts to artists via NWC. This project has serious potential!
Suggestr is a Nostr client where users can suggest profiles to broadcast specific posts—and even bribe them to do so. Naturally, NWC handles the bribe payouts.
Karpatio and Bitcoin Free Market are decentralized Nostr-based product marketplaces connecting customers directly with local businesses. Their NWC integration is powered by Bitcoin Connect.
These projects showcase the versatility of NWC and its potential to revolutionize payments across different applications. A huge congratulations to all the winners and participants and organizers of bitcoin++—your work is pushing the bitcoin ecosystem forward!
With this kind of momentum, it’s exciting to think about what’s next for NWC. If this hackathon was any indication, the future looks bright! 🚀