Cronos (CRO) Launches x402 PayTech Hackathon to Drive AI-Based Payment Innovations

Cronos (CRO) Launches x402 PayTech Hackathon to Drive AI-Based Payment Innovations - Blockchain.News

Cronos (CRO) has announced the launch of the x402 PayTech Hackathon, a global initiative aimed at exploring AI-driven payment innovations, according to Cronos. This event invites developers, AI engineers, and payment innovators worldwide to investigate how autonomous agents can interact with on-chain real assets.

Accelerating Change with AI

The hackathon comes at a time when AI agents are increasingly taking over traditional user roles, executing commands on-chain, orchestrating workflows, and handling value independently. As these systems mature, there is an escalating need for reliable payment rails, programmable payment logic, and infrastructure to support automated economic activities on a large scale.

Exploring Agentic Finance

Participants in the x402 PayTech Hackathon are encouraged to delve into various aspects of the emerging Agentic Finance stack. Key areas of exploration include AI-driven payment flows using x402, wallet automation, agent-triggered on-chain actions, data virtualization, and Cronos × Crypto.com ecosystem integration.

This initiative marks the first time Cronos is opening its powerful stack to the global builder community, offering a chance to create systems that manage value autonomously, precisely, and verifiably.

Significant Enhancements by Cronos

Over the past year, Cronos has optimized its platform for fast, autonomous, and computationally intensive AI agents. This includes a tenfold reduction in gas fees, sub-one-second block times, a 400% increase in daily transactions, expanded integration across Crypto.com, and infrastructure supporting institutional-grade assets.

Hackathon Prize Structure

The hackathon features a total prize pool of $42,000, with the top award linked to the Cronos Ignition Builder program. This prize offers a total of $24,000 USD, with $6,000 paid upon project completion and $2,000 monthly for nine months. Additional prizes include $5,000 for the best x402 AI Agentic Finance solution, $3,000 for the best Cronos × Crypto.com ecosystem integration, and $3,000 for the best development tooling or data virtualization layer.

Key Dates and Resources

Registration for the hackathon runs from November 27 to December 11, 2025, with the build period lasting from December 12, 2025, to January 23, 2026. Participants will have access to resources such as office hours with Cronos Labs and Crypto.com engineers, x402 and Crypto.com AI Agent SDK workshops, quickstart guides, and a Discord & Telegram support channel.

The x402 PayTech Hackathon is an opportunity for innovators to be part of the early architecture of AI-native finance, exploring possibilities in payment logic, development tools, and RWA automation.

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