---
title: "Pillar Hackathon #1"
url: "https://radix.wiki/contents/history/pillar-hackathon-1"
updated: 2026-08-27
last_verified: 2026-08-27
license: CC-BY-4.0
license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
version: "2.2.3"
---

# Pillar Hackathon #1

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Event – Hackathon** |  |
| Title | Pillar Hackathon #1 |
| Category | History / Community Event |
| Dates | 17–18 January 2019 |
| Format | Three-track integration hackathon |
| Status | Completed |
| Organiser | [Pillar Project](https://www.pillar.fi) |
| Video Recording | [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/hLrbQAmWV0w) |
| Post-Event Write-up | [Medium Article](https://medium.com/pillarproject/after-the-pillar-hackathon-1-a0c74ef8c0f) \| [Pillar Blog](https://www.pillar.fi/blog/after-the-pillar-hackathon-1/) |
| Related Project | [Pillar Project Official Site](https://www.pillar.fi) |

## 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) because [Radix DLT](/contents/history) – 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 had worked together once before, the previous summer, at the [Pillar Unconference](/contents/history/pillar-unconference) of 15–22 July 2018, where Radix ran its first hackathon.

## 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)** – 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

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

![](https://j9ytchrzkvqpcul7.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/b2b83437-d19c-4876-91d0-9674074a9a17.webp)

![](https://j9ytchrzkvqpcul7.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/73c6c1f3-fddf-435a-b60a-e87f3280731e.webp)

![](https://j9ytchrzkvqpcul7.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/81849e9f-0efe-4c93-8c6f-314a9ed782ce.webp)

## 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)