Startups · 2 min read · April 25, 2026
HackerNoon Scores Three Early-Stage Projects on Real Utility
MetaCoreX, ZKX Helix, and Tripvento each received Proof of Usefulness scores based on adoption, revenue, and technical stability.
HackerNoon's Proof of Usefulness hackathon highlights three projects scored on concrete utility rather than marketing claims.
- — MetaCoreX scored 93/1000 for building a decentralized OS layering AI agents and smart contracts.
- — ZKX Helix scored 94/1000 for zero-knowledge MFA originally built for military-grade access control.
- — Tripvento scored 69/1000 for a B2B hotel ranking API using geospatial and semantic AI signals.
- — Scores range from -100 to +1000 and reflect user adoption, revenue, and technical stability.
- — Each submission automatically generates a HackerNoon article, providing built-in distribution.
- — The prize pool totals $20K cash plus $130K in software credits from multiple sponsors.
- — The contest runs monthly; two months and one mega-prize round remain in the current cycle.
Frequently asked
- The Proof of Usefulness score is a numeric rating between -100 and +1000 assigned to software projects submitted to HackerNoon's hackathon. According to HackerNoon, it is intended to measure real user adoption, sustainable revenue, and technical stability rather than marketing quality. However, the specific weights and methodology behind the calculation are not publicly detailed in the available materials, making independent verification of any given score difficult.