AI Trading Hackathon 2026: Win $1.88M Prize Pool with CoinGecko API (Live Market Data)

With the competition entering its decisive stage, AI Wars: WEEX Alpha Awakens — the flagship global AI trading hackathon launched by WEEX Labs is gearing up for its highly anticipated Finals. Following a fiercely contested Preliminary Round, the top-performing teams from each group will advance to the Finals, where they will face off in live-market conditions for a prize pool exceeding $1 million. The ultimate champion will claim the Bentley Bentayga S, marking one of the most prestigious grand prizes ever awarded in an AI trading competition.
As part of this expansion, the hackathon has introduced a dedicated CoinGecko API Track, supported by its own exclusive prize pool. By integrating CoinGecko’s trusted, real-time crypto market data API, participating teams gain a measurable edge in building more robust and responsive AI trading strategies, while also qualifying for additional track-specific rewards, including a full year of professional CoinGecko API access valued at over $1,500. This dual-track structure enables builders to compete simultaneously for both the main $1.88 million USDT global prize pool and CoinGecko’s dedicated incentives — a rare opportunity to turn technical excellence into multiple forms of recognition.
In AI trading, data is the weapon, execution is the test, and only real performance defines value.
Why Top AI Traders Use CoinGecko API: Real-Time Data for 24M+ Tokens
AI trading strategies live or die by data quality. The CoinGecko API is the most comprehensive and reliable crypto market data API available, providing access to price and market data for over 24 million+ tokens across more than 250+ blockchains and 1,700+ exchanges.
Hackathon participants can eliminate the engineering overhead of fragmented data sources. Focus on strategy development instead of building price and market data infrastructure from scratch.
3 Ways to Feed Live Crypto Data to Your AI: WebSocket, MCP & REST API
CoinGecko offers three data delivery methods optimized for different AI trading workflows.
- WebSocket API: Persistent connections push price updates and on-chain trades the instant they occur. Sub-second update frequencies enable strategies that react to volatility before standard polling methods register the change.
- MCP Server: The Model Context Protocol (MCP) allows LLMs like Claude or OpenAI to query CoinGecko data directly through structured tool calls. Ideal for rapid strategy prototyping with autonomous AI agents.
- REST API: Comprehensive real-time and historical data spanning 10+ years for backtesting and deep market analysis. The various market discovery endpoints such as onchain pools Megafilter, trending search, top gainers and losers also enables traders to easily filter and uncover assets that may be worth monitoring.
$1,500+ in Prizes: How to Win a Year of Pro API Access (Even as a Beginner)
Every participant approved for the CoinGecko API Dedicated Track receives a complimentary 2-month Analyst Plan API key valued at $258. This grants access to all exclusive endpoints that CoinGecko API has to offer, including the WebSocket API for real-time streaming during the period of the competition.
Track Prizes
The CoinGecko API track awards the top 10 builders in addition to the main WEEX Hackathon prize pool.
Each of the 10 winners receives a 1-year CoinGecko Analyst API Plan valued at $1,548, plus global media exposure across CoinGecko's official channels including X, their website, and newsletters.
These prizes stack with main WEEX AI Wars rewards. A strong submission can win both tracks simultaneously.
Step-by-Step Guide: From Registration to Submission in 72 Hours
Step 1: Complete the CoinGecko API Dedicated Track Registration Request Form with your details and intended API usage.
Step 2: Build your strategy using CoinGecko API’s data in a meaningful manner such as for market discovery, backtesting, or risk monitoring.
Step 3: Submit your project via the CoinGecko API Track Submission Form with your DoraHacks BUIDL link, GitHub repository, and an explainer walkthrough video.
- Track Duration: January 13, 2026 to March 3, 2026
- Registration Deadline: February 2, 2026
- Winner Announcement: TBA
The CoinGecko API track represents a clear opportunity for WEEX AI Wars participants to enhance their AI trading strategies with trusted and comprehensive crypto market data to compete effectively and qualify for additional prizes.
Click here for more details about the dedicated CoinGecko API hackathon track and visit the CoinGecko API documentation to learn more about the available data and endpoints CoinGecko has to offer.
Beyond sponsorship, CoinGecko’s involvement in WEEX Global AI trading hackathon reflects a shared commitment to raising the technical standard of AI-driven trading. By providing transparent, reliable, and institution-grade market data, CoinGecko enables builders in the WEEX AI Trading Hackathon to focus on execution and performance rather than narrative-driven signals, reinforcing a core principle of the competition: in AI trading, only real data and real markets can prove real value.
About WEEX
Founded in 2018, WEEX has developed into a global crypto exchange with over 6.2 million users across more than 150 countries. The platform emphasizes security, liquidity, and usability, providing over 1,200 spot trading pairs and offering up to 400x leverage in crypto futures trading. In addition to traditional spot and derivatives markets, WEEX is expanding rapidly in the AI era — delivering real-time AI news, empowering users with AI trading tools, and exploring innovative trade-to-earn models that make intelligent trading more accessible to everyone. Its 1,000 BTC Protection Fund further strengthens asset safety and transparency, while features such as copy trading and advanced trading tools allow users to follow professional traders and experience a more efficient, intelligent trading journey.
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Mixin has launched USTD-margined perpetual contracts, bringing derivative trading into the chat scene.
The privacy-focused crypto wallet Mixin announced today the launch of its U-based perpetual contract (a derivative priced in USDT). Unlike traditional exchanges, Mixin has taken a new approach by "liberating" derivative trading from isolated matching engines and embedding it into the instant messaging environment.
Users can directly open positions within the app with leverage of up to 200x, while sharing positions, discussing strategies, and copy trading within private communities. Trading, social interaction, and asset management are integrated into the same interface.
Based on its non-custodial architecture, Mixin has eliminated friction from the traditional onboarding process, allowing users to participate in perpetual contract trading without identity verification.
The trading process has been streamlined into five steps:
· Choose the trading asset
· Select long or short
· Input position size and leverage
· Confirm order details
· Confirm and open the position
The interface provides real-time visualization of price, position, and profit and loss (PnL), allowing users to complete trades without switching between multiple modules.
Mixin has directly integrated social features into the derivative trading environment. Users can create private trading communities and interact around real-time positions:
· End-to-end encrypted private groups supporting up to 1024 members
· End-to-end encrypted voice communication
· One-click position sharing
· One-click trade copying
On the execution side, Mixin aggregates liquidity from multiple sources and accesses decentralized protocol and external market liquidity through a unified trading interface.
By combining social interaction with trade execution, Mixin enables users to collaborate, share, and execute trading strategies instantly within the same environment.
Mixin has also introduced a referral incentive system based on trading behavior:
· Users can join with an invite code
· Up to 60% of trading fees as referral rewards
· Incentive mechanism designed for long-term, sustainable earnings
This model aims to drive user-driven network expansion and organic growth.
Mixin's derivative transactions are built on top of its existing self-custody wallet infrastructure, with core features including:
· Separation of transaction account and asset storage
· User full control over assets
· Platform does not custody user funds
· Built-in privacy mechanisms to reduce data exposure
The system aims to strike a balance between transaction efficiency, asset security, and privacy protection.
Against the background of perpetual contracts becoming a mainstream trading tool, Mixin is exploring a different development direction by lowering barriers, enhancing social and privacy attributes.
The platform does not only view transactions as execution actions but positions them as a networked activity: transactions have social attributes, strategies can be shared, and relationships between individuals also become part of the financial system.
Mixin's design is based on a user-initiated, user-controlled model. The platform neither custodies assets nor executes transactions on behalf of users.
This model aligns with a statement issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 13, 2026, titled "Staff Statement on Whether Partial User Interface Used in Preparing Cryptocurrency Securities Transactions May Require Broker-Dealer Registration."
The statement indicates that, under the premise where transactions are entirely initiated and controlled by users, non-custodial service providers that offer neutral interfaces may not need to register as broker-dealers or exchanges.
Mixin is a decentralized, self-custodial privacy wallet designed to provide secure and efficient digital asset management services.
Its core capabilities include:
· Aggregation: integrating multi-chain assets and routing between different transaction paths to simplify user operations
· High liquidity access: connecting to various liquidity sources, including decentralized protocols and external markets
· Decentralization: achieving full user control over assets without relying on custodial intermediaries
· Privacy protection: safeguarding assets and data through MPC, CryptoNote, and end-to-end encrypted communication
Mixin has been in operation for over 8 years, supporting over 40 blockchains and more than 10,000 assets, with a global user base exceeding 10 million and an on-chain self-custodied asset scale of over $1 billion.

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