318 Teams Join '2026 Blockchain AI Hackathon'... Fierce Competition for Innovative Mobile ID-Based Services Begins

The high level of interest in the digital authentication ecosystem was confirmed as more than 300 teams participated in the '2026 Blockchain AI Hackathon,' which aims to discover service ideas based on artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain using mobile identification.

The Korea Digital Authentication Association (Chairman: Heungyeol Yum) announced on June 30 that a total of 318 teams participated in the preliminary round of the hackathon, which was held to discover creative services utilizing blockchain and AI technologies.

This year marks the second time the Korea Digital Authentication Association has hosted the event, following last year. This year’s hackathon is co-organized by RaonSecure (Co-CEOs: Soonhyung Lee and Jeonga Lee) and the Global Digital Innovation Network (GDIN, CEO: Kim Joungho), and is sponsored by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The number of participants increased by 50.7%, from 211 teams last year to 318 teams this year. This indicates growing interest among developers, prospective entrepreneurs, and startups in developing new services that combine blockchain and AI based on mobile identification. In particular, the competition for the 10 spots in the final was fierce, with a ratio of about 32 to 1.

The preliminary screening focused on the creativity of the idea, technical feasibility, and business potential. An initial 25 teams were selected through document review, and after face-to-face presentations held over two days on June 25 and 26, the final 10 teams advancing to the final round were confirmed.

This hackathon is significant in that it demonstrated the potential for mobile identification to expand beyond a simple means of personal authentication into various digital trust-based services. The participating teams presented a wide range of ideas using mobile resident registration cards and mobile driver’s licenses to solve real-world issues in fields such as finance, administration, content, and welfare.

In the AI sector, attention was drawn to a platform for managing and safely sharing the history of AI-generated works using mobile identification. As the use of generative AI expands, the ability to track, verify the source, and authenticate the truthfulness of content is becoming more important, and solutions were proposed to manage the creation, modification, and sharing history of AI-generated works.

In the digital asset sector, ideas included an on-chain wallet that allows for real-name verification based on mobile identification, as well as a tokenized securities (STO) platform that executes transactions through smart contracts after investor verification procedures. An AI-based digital tourism wallet service was also proposed in response to the increasing number of foreign visitors.

Other ideas addressing social issues were also introduced, such as video authenticity verification, delegation of welfare services, and improved accessibility for people with disabilities. Notable examples include a mobile identification-based certified video authenticity verification platform, a delegation and management service to assist elderly individuals with welfare applications, and a non-visual independent signing device utilizing a mobile disability registration card.

All participating ideas shared the common feature of utilizing mobile identification as the foundation of trust. By securely verifying personal identification, qualifications, and authorization information, and connecting this to AI and blockchain services, new possibilities were demonstrated for applications in finance, administration, transactions, real estate, public services, and more.

In particular, extra points were awarded to ideas utilizing RaonSecure’s open-source blockchain digital ID platforms, 'OmniOne Open DID' and 'OmniOne Chain,' which have been released on GitHub. Participating teams went so far as to consider how to apply mobile identification and decentralized identity (DID) technology to actual service architectures.

The finalists will undergo expert mentoring and technology refinement before the final evaluation on September 30. The final awards will be given to five teams: one grand prize, one excellence award, and three merit awards. The grand prize winner will receive a ministerial award from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The total prize pool amounts to 30 million won.

RaonSecure plans to provide selected teams with an opportunity for startup support valued at up to 1 billion won, in cooperation with Axis Investment and UK-based venture capital Simsan Ventures. GDIN will support follow-up commercialization through global expansion support, overseas investment attraction, and business consulting.

Heungyeol Yum, Chairman of the Korea Digital Authentication Association, stated, "The fact that far more teams participated in this year’s hackathon than last year reflects the growing interest in services combining mobile identification, AI, and blockchain within the industry. As mobile identification becomes firmly established as a digital trust infrastructure in everyday life, we hope this competition will serve as an opportunity to discover practical ideas and expand the domestic digital identity ecosystem."

The '2026 Blockchain AI Hackathon' is expected to serve as a platform for discovering next-generation digital trust services that combine AI and blockchain centered on mobile identification, thereby contributing to the expansion of the related industry ecosystem.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.