The 10th annual MIT Bitcoin Expo Hackathon ("The Hackathon") is a student-led event open to the entire blockchain and crypto community. We value every person's participation and want everyone to have a positive and fulfilling experience. To ensure this, we expect all hackers to be respectful and courteous to one another throughout the hackathon. To make our expectations clear, all hackers, mentors, speakers, sponsors, judges, volunteers, organizers, and event staff (“The Participants”) are required to follow the Code of Conduct contained in the present document. The organizers will enforce this code during The Hackathon.

HACKATHON RULES AND CONDITIONS ("The Rules")

Rules

  • Hackers can work solo or in a group of up to six members maximum.  

  • Projects must fit into one of The Hackathon tracks or challenges. Hackers may submit projects into multiple tracks based on the theme of the project and/or the sponsor technologies used.

  • Hackers may use more than one of the sponsor technologies in their projects.

  • Hackers may not change teams once the hacking has begun. Any changes to team composition are at the sole discretion of the organizers.

  • Any projects submitted after the deadline will not be judged.

  • Prizes will be awarded as earned and judged.

  • Hackers/teams can start developing the concept and ideas before the hackathon, but the coding work needs to be done during the hackathon itself. Each project submission will be judged solely on the quality of the work completed during The Hackathon.

  • You may use pre-existing code only after you have notified The Hackathon organizers in writing and have gotten approval. The approval notification for the pre-existent code needs to be submitted with your project.

  • In order to ensure that no pre-existing work makes its way into the submission, you must also use version control for your code throughout the course of The Hackathon. Any repositories with single commits of large files without proper history will be assumed to be unqualified unless proven otherwise. (Historically, projects that use a majority of pre-existing work do not score as high in the judging as projects which present wholly new and novel approaches - the goal of our hackathons is to create novel experiments)

  • Project submissions with non-disclosed and approved pre-existent codes will be disqualified.

Conditions

  • You must comply with all facility and equipment rules and requirements during your participation in The Hackathon, including all safety instructions and requirements. You will be required to sign an MIT waiver to be shared later.

  • You will own any developments made by you during The Hackathon, and all rights, titles, and interests in those developments, including the intellectual property rights therein, shall belong to you. However, you acknowledge that during the course of The Hackathon, you may obtain access to products, developments, information, and other materials belonging to other participants of The Hackathon, the sponsors of The Hackathon, and/or other third parties (“Third Party Materials”), and that nothing in The Rules is deemed to transfer any ownership, right, title or interest in such Third Party Materials to you. Your only rights to the Third Party Materials shall be those expressly granted to you by the owner(s) of the Third Party Materials. Specifically, any APIs or other software provided to you by sponsors of The Hackathon are subject to the subscription terms and software licenses associated with such APIs or other software.

  • You acknowledge that The Hackathon is intended to be an event where ideas are shared freely, and therefore acknowledge that any information that you share with other participants of The Hackathon, the sponsors of The Hackathon, and/or other third parties during The Hackathon is solely at your discretion and risk. If you wish to protect your information, it is solely your responsibility to implement confidentiality and security measures with respect to the persons to whom you are disclosing your information. None of The Participants shall have any responsibility under The Rules or by virtue of their participation in The Hackathon with respect to your information.

  • You acknowledge that the organizers and sponsors of The Hackathon, including MIT, will be recording The Hackathon on video, photographs, audio recording, and other media.

 

ELIGIBILITY

  • Any university student or professional, who is at least 18 years old, may participate.

  • All hackers must sign the liability waiver before the hackathon. Any participant without a signed waiver will not be allowed to hack.

 

CODE OF CONDUCT

The Hackathon is committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for all attendees. Harassment of any kind, including but not limited to offensive comments, online activity, and physical contact, will not be tolerated. BE RESPONSIBLE FOR respecting other participants, members of the MIT community at large, and members of the hacking community at large by conducting yourself in a manner that is courteous and non-abusive to other individuals.  This applies to all participants.  

 

Sexualized images, activities, or material are not appropriate for use in hacks or during The Hackathon. Participants should also not use sexualized clothing or create a sexualized environment.  All participants are expected to use respectful and inclusive language and to avoid making offensive comments or jokes based on gender, sexual orientation, ability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, physical appearance, race, religion, or any other protected characteristic.


If someone engages in harassing behavior, the organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, including issuing a warning or asking the person to leave The Hackathon. You must comply with the organizers if asked to change your behavior or face consequences, including ejection. If you experience or witness harassment, please report it immediately to an event organizer. The organizers reserve the full right to disqualify any participants and/or team who do not comply with these terms or the Code of Conduct and eject and banish any person from the property whose behavior creates an unwelcome or unsafe environment.