Colosseum Eternal

All crypto developers and startup founders are welcome to participate when Eternal is open. If you started a sprint during an active Eternal window, you can continue through your personal deadline even if Eternal is later paused.

Chain choice does not affect Eternal Award eligibility. To be eligible for the Award, however, the team cannot have raised venture capital for the startup submitted to Eternal. Accelerator eligibility is separate; see the Accelerator FAQs for the current program requirements.

Yes, if it has materially changed since that submission. This generally means a clear pivot, substantial progress made over several months, and/or meaningful traction. Please don’t resubmit a product with only minor feature updates or design changes.

If you’re resubmitting, link the prior submission and explain what changed in your product. Please use the “anything else judges should know” question for that purpose.

The Eternal Award will be given roughly every six months to the Eternal applicant who builds a product that provides a step-function increase in onchain adoption. Think of the Eternal Award as an ongoing opportunity to present your innovative product to the broader ecosystem outside one of our primary hackathons.

At the end of each Eternal period, a new winning team will be chosen to receive $25,000 in non-dilutive stablecoins.

All builders are required to:

• Sign up for a Colosseum account. Once logged in, you’ll have access to Colosseum’s Cofounder Matching directory, Discord community, and Eternal dashboard.
• When Eternal is open, click “Start Challenge” in the Eternal dashboard to initiate your four-week startup sprint. If you start during an active window, you can continue through your personal deadline even if Eternal later pauses.
• At the end of each week, submit a brief update with a one-minute video explaining what you prioritized, what you shipped, and any notable challenges.
• In the final week, submit the same core materials requested at the end of our primary hackathons: a product name and description, team background, product GitHub repository, pitch video, technical demo, and any other context critical to understanding your product and business.
• Colosseum reviews Eternal submissions on a first-come, first-served basis and may invite teams to a short interview.
• A judging panel of experienced crypto founders and the Colosseum team evaluates shortlisted products for the semi-annual Eternal Award.
• Eligible teams considered for the Accelerator will be notified of an acceptance or rejection decision within 14 days of submission.

As in our primary hackathons, founders applying to Eternal are evaluated across several dimensions:

• Founder + Market Fit: Who is the team creating this product? Does the team have the right skill set and experience to succeed in the market they’re entering? Why are they interested in solving this problem?
• Insight: Does the founding team have some unique insight based on their deep understanding of the problem space? Is there a new technology, or a new trend that creates an opportunity for their startup to succeed?
• Product + Execution: How well does the product work? How does it stack up against the competition? How quickly is the team shipping product updates and addressing user feedback?
• Potential Market Size: How big is the total addressable market for this project? Is it already large, or small but growing rapidly? What will be the impact of this project on the growth rate of their market?
• Founder Communication: Are the founders clearly communicating the product vision and capable of growing their product’s user base?
• Viability: Is there a scalable and sustainable business to be built around this project? At its core, Eternal is a startup competition, so this is critical. Make sure to allocate enough time on your presentation to give a holistic view of your startup.

Eternal products remain private until the Colosseum team has finished evaluating the submission.

After that point, builders may choose to make their product public and feature it in a directory on the Colosseum platform. This is entirely optional.

There isn’t a set number. Accelerator batch size varies based on the quality and composition of the eligible teams selected through our primary hackathons and Eternal. See the Accelerator FAQs for current program eligibility.

Eligible teams considered for the Accelerator will be notified of an acceptance or rejection decision within 14 days of submitting. Accelerator eligibility is separate from the Eternal Award, which is presented roughly every six months to one eligible Eternal applicant.

Visit the Colosseum Hackathon page for more information.

Visit the Colosseum Accelerator page for program information and benefits.

No. Hackathon submissions are judged on the work completed between the competition’s start and end dates.

Participating in a primary hackathon can still help an eligible team demonstrate its ability to execute before Accelerator selection. See the Accelerator FAQs for current program eligibility.

We understand that startups ship code quickly and that systems and approaches may change rapidly. Mostly, we want to see that you and your team:

• Did significant work during your Eternal sprint
• Were the ones to do this work, rather than a third party
• Prioritized feature development strategically
• Have implemented a meaningful onchain integration

A few things that we are not looking for:

• Using a particular language or framework
• Specific design patterns, best practices, or code-quality checks

Builders may submit only once per product.

If you have another product idea you’d like to submit, you may complete the challenge again three months after your previous submission.

Weekly updates are an important part of the Eternal process. While missing an update won’t automatically disqualify you, consistent weekly updates demonstrate your team’s ability to execute and iterate effectively. Missing updates may negatively impact how your submission is evaluated.