BNB Chain OpenClaw Hackathon Awards $100K to 10 AI Agent Projects
Tony Kim Feb 22, 2026 21:15
BNB Chain's Good Vibes Only hackathon concludes with 600 builders shipping 200 projects. Winners focus on DeFi security, autonomous agents, and onchain verification.
BNB Chain has named 10 winners in its Good Vibes Only hackathon, splitting $100,000 among projects built on the OpenClaw AI agent framework. The two-week sprint drew 600 builders who shipped 200 live projects—no pitch decks, just deployed contracts.
The winning projects reveal where builder attention is heading: autonomous DeFi protection and AI-powered security tools dominated the selections.
Security Takes Center Stage
Four of the ten winners tackle the persistent problem of DeFi exploits on BNB Chain. ShieldBot promises real-time transaction interception before dangerous contracts execute—a step beyond existing tools like BscScan and TokenSniffer that only flag scams after the damage is done.
Aegis Protocol takes a different approach, using LLM reasoning combined with DEX data to monitor positions and execute protective actions autonomously. VibeCheck analyzes newly launched BSC tokens and generates AI-powered safety scores with onchain attestation on opBNB.
IBITI EPK addresses a root cause of many exploits: unlimited token approvals. The project introduces a permission kernel that replaces blanket approvals with per-action limits and revocable capabilities.
Agent Infrastructure Emerges
Several winners are building the plumbing for an AI agent economy. AGOS Clawjob Marketplace creates a platform where OpenClaw agents can buy and sell services from each other using USDT, with all transactions verified onchain. Clawgency targets creator-brand collaborations with trustless payment rails.
ProceedGate tackles a problem that becomes critical as agents gain autonomy: governance. The project monitors other agents, enforces spending limits, and prevents runaway execution.
OpenClaw's Growing Footprint
The hackathon comes as OpenClaw continues its rapid expansion. The open-source AI agent framework has accumulated over 145,000 GitHub stars and recently released version 2026.2.21 with Gemini 3.1 integration and enhanced security features. Creator Peter Steinberger has reportedly turned down acquisition offers to keep the project open-source, though OpenAI has hired him to lead a personal AI agents division.
The framework's appeal for hackathon builders is clear: it handles the complexity of bridging LLM providers, messaging interfaces, and blockchain execution while letting developers focus on application logic.
Scoring and What's Next
Final rankings combined 40% community voting on DoraHacks with 60% judge evaluation. The top three—Zhentan (an onchain behavioral assistant), Strike (a Telegram-based prediction market using Pyth oracles), and ShieldBot—will likely see the largest prize allocations, though BNB Chain hasn't disclosed the exact distribution.
For builders who missed this round, BNB Chain is signaling more hackathons ahead. The chain's bet on AI agents as a growth vector is becoming explicit—and the $100,000 prize pool suggests they're willing to pay for momentum.
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