# HackATOM 2022 & Korea Blockchain Week: Retrospective

**Authors:**

- LPX, EvmosDAO

## Summary

Proposal #42, "Evmos Sponsorship of HackAtom Seoul 2022 and Participation in Korea Blockchain Week" was passed by the Evmos Community on July 22nd with the support of 75% in favor, less than 1% against, and 23% choosing to abstain.

Interchain Foundation and KryptoSeoul welcomed the Evmos Community with a fee-waived Platinum Sponsorship spot, allowing the bulk of the funds to go directly to the hackathon prize pool ($100K total for three teams).

Three representatives from the Evmos team as well as a volunteer from the Laurel Project was in attendance, along with myself and logistical helpers and volunteers from the Korea-based Beehive Validator.

The events, networking, outreach, and meetings surrounding Korea Blockchain ~Week~ Month lasted from July 27th to August 22nd, when the last Evmos core team member departed Korea.

**Quick Links**

- [HackATOM Seoul 2022 Announcement](https://blog.cosmos.network/announcing-cosmoss-hackatom-seoul-b6858b9beac7)
- [Commonwealth Discussion](https://commonwealth.im/evmos/discussion/6083-passed-evmos-sponsorship-of-hackatom-2022-seoul-and-participation-in-korea-blockchain-week)
- [Proposal #42](https://www.mintscan.io/evmos/proposals/42)
- [CoinDesk Korea's Exclusive w/ Evmos Co-Founder Nic](https://www.coindeskkorea.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=80730)

## HackATOM Sponsorship & ETH Seoul Outreach Efforts

The hackathon took place from July 29 to 31, with a Solidity-based track making its first appearance at a HackATOM event. Of the 4 sponsor tracks (incl. Cosmos, Juno, Osmosis), the Evmos track had the most participants with [5 teams comprised of nearly 20 individuals.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mpcWPyeFkaVGFs8l5mTMmrDUpdwwx0LHgZtWrg9Af6E/edit#gid=0)

- [Evmos Presented at HackATOM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrjtVFewboU)
- [EVM: Trailblazing the Inter-Chain with Loredana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CftjjgCkBD0)
- [Hackathon Winners Announcement](https://youtu.be/QA_k6tUNxCk?t=25914)

Although ETHSeoul was not in the scope of the original proposal, indirect participation and developer outreach efforts were made to raise awareness for the Momentum Hackathon. While difficult to provide exact numbers, we were able to funnel at the minimum 8 projects and 40+ developers (that we are aware of) to further develop their ideas and ultimately participate in the Momentum Hackathon. The actual numbers are likely higher but without an exit survey of all Momentum Hackathon participants, the exact figure will remain uncertain.

## Networking and Community

Perhaps the most important and fruitful outcome of the community funding of Korea Blockchain *Month*, in my personal opinion, were all the personal and professional relations that were forged throughout this incredibly tiring, but rewarding time. I am now fully convinced that the Cosmos and IBC community in Korea is far stronger than that of Ethereum's -- making Korea a statistical anomoly. While there are several theories on how this came to be, the purpose of this retrospective is not to be political. However, one thing is certain: Korea is a huge, thriving Cosmos Hub -- and Korea is incredibly bullish on Evmos.

I sincerely want to thank the Korean community for making the Evmos team feel welcomed and at home in Seoul. Evmos팀은 한국에서 코스모스 커뮤니티가 성장하고 있음을 확실히 체감했고 커뮤니티에서 보여주신 따듯함을 느꼈습니다. 항상 더 노력할 수 있는 에너지를 주셔서 감사합니다. And of course, thank you to our awesome Evmos Community that made all this possible.

Some more specific thank you's and awknowledgement of frens we've made (in no particular order -- forgive me if I have missed anyone or any team):

- ICF & team
- Erica + KryptoSeoul
- Chainapsis & team
- Beehive Validator & team
- Cosmostation & team
- Crescent Network & team
- Stargaze & team
- Nonce Community
- The Laurel Project
- The Orbital Apes team
- DSRV Labs
- Blockwave Labs
- Sooho
- Xangle
- Web3Korea
- BlitzLab
- CoinDesk Korea
- Fellow blockchain warriors we've met from Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Klaytn, and everyone else fighting the good fight.

## Financials

82,759 EVMOS tokens were requested from the community pool, or roughly $170K at the time of the proposal submission. 68,276 EVMOS were sent to a multi-sig controlled by four members present in Korea and one member not present, while the rest were immediately put to use for marketing, accomodations, airfare, etc. Unfortunately, between the time when the proposal was submitted and the time when voting ended, the price took a sharp decline from $2.05 to a low of $1.35, when liquid funds were needed the most (effectively cutting our working budget by ~35% at the time).

While trying to be responsible in the liquidation of funds by spreading out the sells over multiple days, the Nomad bridge was exploited, further straining our budget. Operating as lean as possible, we finally found some relief in early August as the price rallied to around the $1.75 level.

Despite the initial stress and worries, we managed to conclude Korea Blockchain Month with 2,314 EVMOS leftover and are now in the process of returning the tokens back into the Community Pool as originally proposed.