APU Triumphs at ETHTaipei 2024 Hackathon

The team secured multiple accolades and walked away with a total prize money of USD5,100.

Published 30 Apr 2024

In a recent spectacular display of innovation and teamwork, a group of 5 students from Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU) secured multiple awards at the ETHTaipei 2024 Hackathon, walking away with a total prize money of USD5,100.

An international hackathon competition focusing on Ethereum technologies, the ETHTaipei 2024 Hackathon challenged participants to create cutting-edge blockchain applications, drawing over 300 participants from 12 countries.

APU’s team, Team CrossYield, shone brightly among the 70 competing teams by clinching multiple accolades for their groundbreaking project, "CrossYield." The innovative protocol tackled some of the most pressing issues in decentralised finance such as high transaction fees, inflexible loan structures and significant loan liquidation risks. Their solution, an inter-blockchain self-repaying loan protocol, impressed the judges, earning them 1st place for using dual investment on Dyson Finance as a source of yield, 1st place for deploying smart contracts on ThunderCore, 2nd place in the Best Overall Project on Zircuit and Best Application for Crypto Capital Markets from Circle.

Team lead Yudhishthra Sugumaran, who is pursuing a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science (Cyber Security) at APU, spoke about the project’s objectives, saying, "CrossYield aims to revolutionise the DeFi landscape by addressing the lack of flexibility in traditional borrowing and lending platforms, the associated high transaction fees and loan liquidation risks." His leadership and vision, combined with his extensive hackathon experience, clearly played a pivotal role in the team’s performance.

The diverse backgrounds of the team members were also a significant asset. The team included Vanessa Chan Jia Wei, a Bachelor of Banking and Finance (Hons) student specialising in Financial Technology; Benjamin Tan Kerk Zheng, a Cyber Security student also working as a Frontend Developer and Developer Relations in the blockchain sector; Viman Vinesh, a Software Engineering student overseeing marketing and pitch strategies; and Cheong Yee Chian, a Cyber Security student excelling in trading and market research in the blockchain industry.

Supporting their journey was Professor Dr. Vinesh Thiruchelvam, the team's mentor and APU’s Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer, who praised the holistic educational approach. He remarked, “The development of both hard and soft skills based on multiple intelligences has become a core strength of higher education. As a Premier Digital Tech University, APU is committed to offering top-notch technology courses that enhance students' employability through diverse intelligence training, ensuring our highly-skilled graduates continue to flourish and meet future job demands both locally and globally.”

APU's win at the ETHTaipei 2024 Hackathon showcased the university's commitment to fostering cutting-edge skills in technology and innovation, ensuring that its students excel in developing practical, innovative solutions in the blockchain space.