Richard Branson’s Extreme Tech Challenge Announces List of 10 Semi-finalists Including Three Blockchain Projects

2018-11-20 16:29

At the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), competing teams, are getting ready to go face to face in the next phase of the competition. After selecting the top 25 projects in October, XTC narrowed down the list to 10 semi-finalists who will now compete for the top 3 final spots before the final competition begins at Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island.

The Stage Is Set

The semifinals of the competition will take place on January 10th, 2019 at CES in the Bellini Ballroom at the Venetian from 1pm-3pm. Apart from the top 10 teams, there will also be a wildcard entry – NYX, fighting to make it to the XTC Finals on Necker Island on April 3rd, 2019. BitFury, Zoom, Cisco, INCMTY, OWC and Joy Ventures are sponsoring the 2019 event.

The top 10 teams for this year’s competition come from Turkey, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Thailand and the United States. The teams will be measured against their performance, but not necessarily in comparison with each other.

The Blockchain Teams in the Competition

Three blockchain companies have also made it to the top 10 of the competition.

The first among them is BitLumens which aims to connect rural communities to a decentralized power network. The communities who do not have access to the power line will be provided a credit score using blockchain technology. The Switzerland based company offers solar home systems to farmers, which can be paid for in installments.

The second company is Last of Ours based in Thailand. The startup aims to bring people together to protect endangered species and natural zones. It helps in creating shared values between real-life situations and social entertainment. The team has created digital tokens on the blockchain, each of which represents a real endangered animal species, one-to-one. The digital mirroring project provides a unique take on animal conservation.

The last blockchain project is Liven, which is based in Australia. The rewards-based lifestyle payment platform creates a seamless payments experience powered by blockchain that connects merchants and even charities with the users. The network provides users with transparent dollar-value rewards that they can either use for payments or give away to charities.

One these three companies could claim the top spot at the event, considering that last year’s winner was Power Ledger, an Australian software company that utilized blockchain technology to enhance accessibility and adoption of clean energy.

Richard Branson’s Extreme Tech Challenge Announces List of 10 Semi-finalists Including Three Blockchain Projects was originally found on [blokt] - Blockchain, Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

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