Digital Country Hackathons
Last updated
Last updated
With 80% of government services now deliverable digitally, Draper Nation is an open-source initiative committed to developing tools and infrastructure for 21st-century governance. Through Digital Country Hackathons, Draper Nation brings together the brightest minds to co-create public digital infrastructure for countries looking to leapfrog into the future.
This digital nation experiment is an unprecedented opportunity for seasoned builders:
Turn ideas into reality: get expert guidance from colleagues and mentors to turn your concept into a working prototype in 24h.
Boost your skills: developers come and sharpen your product delivery skills by practicing business modeling, prototyping, and pitching your solution.
Cross-cultural collaboration: work alongside digital nomads and local entrepreneurs to complement and strengthen your ideas.
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Next up we're kicking off the summer with the E-Bhutan hackathon. Bhutan is the Himalayan kingdom known for Gross National Happiness, which has already made bold digital strides—including mining Bitcoin! Now, Bhutan is uniquely positioned to lead in the emerging world of digital governance.
The eBhutan Hackathon is a 24-hour, high-intensity build sprint that brings together the best developers, blockchain builders, fintech engineers, full-stack developers, and AI specialists to prototype three foundational tools Bhutan could use to become a borderless digital economy.
Our hackathons unite a global community of creators, educators, and innovators who come together to build governance tools that strengthen our shared vision of freedom, trust, and prosperity. Your participation will help build governance solutions to serve as a model for future Digital Nations.
Applications are now open for the next hackathon taking place on June 28-29 in Bangalore, India. Participants may attend virtually or in person.
We are inviting a highly curated group of top-tier builders, including:
Blockchain engineers
Fintech developers
AI developers and AI engineers
Full-stack developers
The eBhutan Hackathon will focus on three critical digital infrastructure tracks. Each is designed to deliver a functional prototype and demonstrate how it can create long-term economic and sovereignty benefits for Bhutan.
GOAL: Develop a prototype of a stablecoin or digital currency backed by Bhutan’s Bitcoin reserves.
Technical Focus:
Multi-sig treasury wallets
Transparent reserve dashboards
Pegging and stabilizing mechanisms
Open-source smart contracts
Global wallet interoperability
National Benefit: A Bitcoin-backed currency provides Bhutan with a globally trusted and tradable asset, enhancing international trade, attracting digital users, and offering monetary resilience.
GOAL: Create a digital eResidency system allowing anyone in the world to become a digital resident of Bhutan from anywhere, online. Bhutan can position itself as the Delaware or Singapore of the digital era, attracting millions of global companies to incorporate there, increasing national income and establishing Bhutan as a trusted business hub.
Technical Focus:
KYC/AML onboarding
Cryptographic identity credentials or NFTs
Legal formation workflows to register and incorporate legal entities in Bhutan
Integration with tax and incorporation systems for digital certificates and tax ID issuance
Compliance
National Benefit: Inspired by Estonia’s eResidency program (100,000+ users, €100M+ impact), Bhutan can attract millions of remote entrepreneurs, drive new tax revenue, and digitally globalize its economy—without physical migration.
GOAL: Prototype an open-source Sovereign AI system fine-tuned for Bhutanese law, language, values, and government use.
Technical Focus:
Fine-tune open-source LLMs
Integrate Dzongkha and multilingual support
Build agentic public service tools
Ensure transparency, safety, and audibility
National Benefit: Sovereign AI enables Bhutan to:
Preserve cultural and policy autonomy
Avoid digital colonialism
Deploy AI agents as digital civil servants
Train local talent in next-gen technologies
Become a leader in ethical, nation-specific AI
AI is not just a tool—it is the new digital labor force. Bhutan must build its own to protect its sovereignty.
Web3 and AI infrastructure providers
Cloud and compute platforms
Digital identity and compliance services
VCs, DAOs, NGOs, and foundations
Academic institutions and think tanks
🌍 Co-create tools that real governments could use. 💰 Build and win $10,000. 🎁 Score exclusive swag just for participating. 🛠️ Keep building post-hackathon with Draper Nation. 📚 Your project becomes part of a global digital governance code library.
This isn’t just another hackathon. It’s a launchpad.
By making code freely available, open-source empowers communities to learn, build, and improve together. It breaks down barriers to innovation, encourages collaboration across borders, and ensures that technology is created for the people, with the people.
At Draper Nation, we believe open-source is the foundation of trust, freedom, and progress. It allows anyone, anywhere, to contribute to building tools that shape the future of governance—and to hold those tools accountable.
Open-source isn’t just about code. It’s about community, ownership, and the shared belief that a better future is built in the open.
The goal is ambitious: build the largest open-source code library for digital governments in the world.
Like E-Tibet, the E-Bhutan Hackathon will be held at Draper Startup House (DSH), which builds startup societies globally through community, investment, and education.
Each teams will have their own dedicated working space for the duration of the event.
Be sure to arrive well rested for the event!
🛠️ E-Bhutan is a builder-first event. No designers, spectators, or non-technical applicants. Only those capable of delivering production-level code for the Draper Nation GitHub repository will be accepted. 👉
Ready to co-create the future of nations? Please and we will send you the sponsorship deck. We welcome collaboration with:
🧠 Through Digital Country Hackathons, Draper Nation brings together the brightest minds to co-create public digital infrastructure for countries looking to leapfrog into the future. All code produced in these hackathons is open-source and available on the Draper Nation GitHub repository: 🔗
During the recent , collaboration was high as teams worked together to develop and present their proof of concepts, not only raising awareness for the Tibetan diaspora, but sharing open-source tools to empower a future of global connectivity and advocacy for the preservation of Tibetan culture and identity.
View the , the world's first digital country hackathon.
is located in Koramangala, the center of India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ surrounded by a bustling gastronomical haven of charming cafes and lively brewpubs. Map with directions to Draper Startup House in Bangalore .
If you need accommodations DSH offers a simple bunk bed and a shower for a special (Use code: DRAPER).
Draper Startup House is a global network that empowers entrepreneurs through community, education, and access to investment. Operating startup-friendly coliving and coworking spaces in over 20 cities worldwide, the organization connects founders with mentors, investors, and startup resources.
Zeus Network
Zeus is leading the charge to onboard the next billion users into crypto by enabling social apps to scale with speed, cost-efficiency, and unmatched user experience. Now actively building in the Solana ecosystem, Zeus is pioneering the future of decentralized social.
TBV is a Web3-focused venture capital firm that supports early-stage startups through funding, advisory services, and global event hosting. They aim to build engaged communities and provide hands-on support for fundraising, token launches, and growth strategies.
