---
title: "Pillar Hackathon #1"
path: "/contents/history/pillar-hackathon-1"
bannerImage: "https://j9ytchrzkvqpcul7.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/573c9542-484f-4115-9c04-7e0ecc3ee534.webp"
version: "2.1.0"
author: "Hydrate"
createdAt: "2026-02-08T07:28:27.664Z"
updatedAt: "2026-07-21T03:08:44.927Z"
---

# Pillar Hackathon #1

<Infobox>
| **Event – Hackathon** |
| Pillar Hackathon #1 |
| History / Community Event |
| 17–18 January 2019 |
| Three-track integration hackathon |
| Completed |
| [Pillar Project](https://www.pillar.fi) |
| [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/hLrbQAmWV0w) |
| [Medium Article](https://medium.com/pillarproject/after-the-pillar-hackathon-1-a0c74ef8c0f) |
      [Pillar Blog](https://www.pillar.fi/blog/after-the-pillar-hackathon-1/) |
| [Pillar Project Official Site](https://www.pillar.fi) |
</Infobox>

## Overview

**Pillar Hackathon #1** was a two-day developer hackathon held on **17–18 January 2019**, hosted by the [Pillar Project](https://www.pillar.fi) as the soft launch of its developer community. Rather than a competitive prize event, it was structured as a set of **integration challenges**: teams from partner blockchain networks worked alongside Pillar's engineers to connect their protocols to the Pillar wallet, and Pillar opened its [GitHub repositories](https://github.com/pillarwallet) to the wider developer community during the event.

The hackathon is part of [Radix's history](/contents/history/history-of-radix) because [Radix DLT](/contents/history/history-of-radix) — then an early-stage distributed ledger project — took part as one of the three integration tracks, marking one of its early cross-project developer collaborations. Pillar and Radix's paths crossed again later that year at the [Pillar Unconference](/contents/history/pillar-unconference).

## The Three Integration Tracks

According to Pillar's [post-event write-up](https://www.pillar.fi/blog/after-the-pillar-hackathon-1/), three partner projects each pursued a distinct integration track:

  - **[NEM](https://nem.io)** — worked on integrating the NEM network into Pillar's blockchain explorer, in the process surfacing limitations in the existing architecture that a multi-chain wallet would need to address.

  - **[DigiByte](https://www.digibyte.org)** — developed an approach for wallet integration and laid foundations for adding additional blockchain forks to Pillar.

  - **[Radix](/contents/history/history-of-radix)** — built a bridge between the two projects (see below).

## Radix Integration

The Radix track produced a working **bridge between Radix and the Pillar wallet**. Per Pillar's write-up, the integration enabled **wallet generation in the Radix address format** and **balance retrieval** from the Radix ledger — an early demonstration of Radix account handling inside a third-party consumer wallet, years before the [Babylon](/contents/tech/releases/radix-mainnet-babylon) network and the official Radix Wallet. It stands as a small but concrete milestone in Radix's early developer-outreach efforts.

## Gallery

![Pillar Hackathon #1 participants](https://j9ytchrzkvqpcul7.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/573c9542-484f-4115-9c04-7e0ecc3ee534.webp)

![Pillar Hackathon #1](https://j9ytchrzkvqpcul7.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/9e5c861d-e7a8-4c56-92e6-15a43dd7da99.jpeg)

![Pillar Hackathon #1](https://j9ytchrzkvqpcul7.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/c57ee495-4c5f-42d7-a501-1d376e28a7a8.jpeg)

![Pillar Hackathon #1](https://j9ytchrzkvqpcul7.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/0d548df1-7596-4a16-bcf1-27aa806c93ef.jpeg)

## External Links

  - [Event video recording (YouTube)](https://youtu.be/hLrbQAmWV0w)

  - ["After the Pillar Hackathon #1" — Pillar Blog](https://www.pillar.fi/blog/after-the-pillar-hackathon-1/)

  - ["After the Pillar Hackathon #1" — Medium](https://medium.com/pillarproject/after-the-pillar-hackathon-1-a0c74ef8c0f)