Build Now Contest Reveals Builder Momentum

IOTA Foundation ·

Mid-Term Milestone of the MasterZ × IOTA Hackathon

TL;DR:
The Build Now Contest marks a key midpoint in the MasterZ × IOTA Hackathon. 63 teams submitted structured product concepts, architectures, and technical stacks built on IOTA. Submissions cluster around trade, RWA, identity, privacy, and infrastructure.

The MasterZ × IOTA Hackathon has brought together teams from across Europe to build new products and MVPs for solutions on decentralized infrastructure.

Participants progress from structured learning into hands-on development, training in the smart contract language that powers IOTA’s programmable layer. 

Now, the hackathon has reached an important mid-term milestone through the Build Now Contest – a  chance to assess the strategic direction of projects integrating IOTA Digital Identity, Notarization, Hierarchies, or Tokenization into their first product iteration.

A total of 63 teams participated, submitting their product concept, system architecture, and technical stack. 

The projects are still in development, but clear themes have emerged: trade and supply chain coordination, real-world asset tokenization, traditional financial infrastructure, data integrity and privacy, verifiable credentials, foundational infrastructure and AI – all aligned with IOTA’ focus on enabling secure interaction between data, assets, and identity within real economic systems.

Trade & Supply Chain

A clear majority of participating teams are focused on trade infrastructure, supply chain transparency, and compliance workflows - aligning with IOTA’s focus on trade as outlined in the 2026 Manifesto. These projects explore how decentralized infrastructure can improve cross-border documentation, provenance tracking, real-world asset tokenization, and financial coordination across global markets. The concentration in this category reflects a strong builder interest in applying Web3 technology to real economic systems rather than speculative use cases.

Projects in this category include:

  • LuxPass – Digital Product Passport for luxury assets
  • VeriPura – Food compliance and supply chain verification
  • InvoiceVault – Programmable invoice backed credit
  • ContractNotary – ICT compliant digital contract notarization
  • Trustum – On chain trade partner trust scoring
  • Nexus Protocol – Cold chain dispute resolution layer
  • Meteoracle – Industrial supply chain interoperability layer
  • MUSITrustNest – Swiftlet nest traceability system
  • Truxt – Verifiable digital freight coordination
  • HydroLedger – Water usage verification protocol
  • OwnRecord – Consumer ownership vault for product authenticity
  • European On Chain Credit Platform – Portable credit reputation layer
  • KyDI – Privacy preserving KYC infrastructure
  • DocuNotary – Invoice certification on IOTA
  • AEGIS – EU Battery Regulation compliance bridge
  • AnchorDoc – Tamper evident transport documents
  • Proof of Records – Verifiable structured data anchoring
  • IOTA Live Parcel – Real time shipment tracking layer
  • Graoz – Commodity traceability for coffee supply chains
  • Finexswiss – Renewable energy lifecycle collaboration framework
  • Ember – Luxury authenticity protection SaaS
  • CertOil – Certified oil documentation management
  • PhloxCert – Fire safety document integrity
  • T-shirt Tracer – Textile Digital Product Passport
  • SIT – EU compliant agricultural traceability DPP
  • Aegis – AML attestation infrastructure
  • Portus – Electronic Bill of Lading protocol
  • TrustBridge – Cross border business verification
  • Thaw – Digital agricultural insurance surveying
  • Lendly – Decentralized physical asset lending
  • CARBO – Biochar carbon verification protocol
  • RoamFree – Multi currency settlement platform
  • GateReady – Verifiable international trade workflow
  • ANT – Lightweight SME traceability layer
  • IOTA EUDR – EU deforestation regulation compliance

RWA & TradFi

A focused group of teams is exploring the intersection of real-world assets and traditional financial infrastructure. These projects examine how tokenization, and programmable settlement can modernize access to asset classes that have historically been illiquid or institutionally gated. This category reflects growing interest in bridging decentralized infrastructure with established financial systems.

Projects in this category include:

  • GiftBlitz – Decentralized trustless gift card marketplace
  • NPLEX – Tokenized NPL marketplace infrastructure
  • Flexi – Liquid real world membership marketplace
  • Slice – Tokenized securitization governance system
  • S9R – Decentralized RWA securitization platform

Data Integrity & Privacy

Several teams are focused on strengthening data integrity and privacy-preserving verification. These projects explore how notarization, decentralized identity, and cryptographic proofs can ensure that critical information remains tamper-proof, auditable, and securely shareable. Rather than storing sensitive data directly on-chain, many of these concepts emphasize selective disclosure and verifiable anchoring, demonstrating how decentralized infrastructure can enhance trust without compromising privacy.

Projects in this category include:

  • IOTA OLT Monitor – Real time infrastructure notarization
  • Authentix Portal – Seamless DID onboarding and authentication
  • VitalNode – Decentralized medical data ownership
  • IOTA Identity Manager – Sovereign identity management layer
  • MediaIntegrity – AI generated content verification
  • DataMint – Trust based data marketplace
  • Gigi – Hospitality identity and trust layer
  • Blue Alert – Tamper proof cyber breach logging
  • TangleGate – Secure temporary access control via DID
  • TrustPass IOTA – Secure identity notarization protocol
  • RouteID – Travel Rule compliance infrastructure

Reputation

A dedicated group of builders is addressing one of the foundational challenges of digital economies: portable, verifiable reputation. These projects focus on decentralized identity, attestations, and non-transferable credentials to enable individuals and organizations to prove experience, credibility, and trustworthiness across platforms. The emphasis is on user-owned reputation systems that reduce reliance on centralized intermediaries while increasing transparency and accountability.

Projects in this category include:

  • TrustCycle – On chain academic recommendations
  • Freelancer Reputation Passport – Verifiable freelance reputation
  • Vanity.box – Unified self sovereign identity layer
  • Konnectify – Decentralized professional identity network

Infrastructure

A significant set of teams is building foundational infrastructure layers. These projects focus on middleware, interoperability frameworks, oracle integrations, and system-level architecture designed to support broader ecosystem functionality. While fewer in number, this category reflects technical depth and long-term thinking — strengthening the underlying building blocks that other applications can rely on.

  • Synap – Frictionless mobility payment protocol
  • NOTIA – Deterministic semantic interoperability layer
  • SmartLegacy – Digital inheritance infrastructure
  • Dead Man’s Switch – Automated digital asset contingency system
  • HostShield – Short term rental accountability layer
  • AutoPark – Machine to machine parking payments

AI

A select group of teams is exploring the integration of AI-driven systems with decentralized infrastructure. These concepts examine how machine intelligence can interact with verifiable data layers, identity primitives, and on-chain coordination mechanisms. While still early-stage, this category signals experimentation at the intersection of automation, trust, and programmable digital economies.

Projects in this category include:

  • IOTA Web Guardian – Web content protection layer
  • SentinelAI – Decentralized AI content trust layer

Conclusion

The Build Now Contest is a decisive midpoint in the MasterZ × IOTA Hackathon. Sixty-three teams have already delivered structured product concepts, system architectures, and defined technical stacks built on IOTA. Many are operating in advanced development stages, progressing toward functional products.

Following the March 31 project submission deadline, projects will enter the final evaluation phase.

The top five projects will present their solutions at a private event in Berlin before MasterZ and IOTA, gaining access to potential grants, strategic support, and targeted acceleration opportunities. The top 10 teams will enter an acceleration program powered by AIO Blockchain Lab, while the top 30 projects will be featured in a public leaderboard to facilitate partnership opportunities within the IOTA ecosystem.

As Alecos Colombo, CEO of MasterZ, notes:

“The most important signal from this hackathon is not participation – it’s execution. 63 teams have already delivered structured product concepts, architecture, and technical stacks built on IOTA. Based on the submission materials reviewed at this stage, many teams appear to have progressed beyond initial concepts toward early prototypes or more detailed implementation plans toward real, usable solutions. The Build Now Contest clearly showed that developers are not experimenting – they are building concrete products and startups in areas like trade finance, supply chain, digital identity, and real-world assets. This is how infrastructure turns into tangible adoption.”

Richard Mands, Head of Developer Relations at the IOTA Foundation, said: “The Build Now Contest marks an important checkpoint in the hackathon. Our team is carefully reviewing each submission as we prepare for the March 31 evaluation phase. What’s encouraging is the level of seriousness we’re seeing. The quality of architectural thinking and the depth of IOTA integration show that participants are building with long-term intent. We’re looking forward to seeing how these projects continue to mature in the final phase.”

You can find all the details and phases of the MasterZ × IOTA Hackathon at

https://www.masterzblockchain.com/en/masterz-iota

DISCLAIMER: Project names and summaries reflect team-provided concepts and/or editorial descriptions at the time of submission. Inclusion in this blog post does not constitute endorsement, certification, legal, regulatory, or technical approval or advice by IOTA Foundation or related entities. This post is for informational purposes only. Third-party links/content are not controlled or endorsed.