Breez, together with Tether, Lightspark, and other industry players, launches a $25,000 contest to integrate bitcoin into the most widely used open-source software.
Breez, in collaboration with Tether, Lightspark, Draper University, PlebLab, Geyser Fund, Plan ₿ Network, and Fulgur Ventures, has announced the launch of Time2Build, a challenge aimed at developers with the goal of integrating bitcoin into existing open-source applications used by millions of people.
The initiative stands out from traditional hackathons and bounty programs. In Time2Build, only code integrated into projects counts: developers will receive a share of the $25,000 bitcoin prize pool exclusively if their code is accepted and merged by the maintainers of the open-source projects they contribute to.
“There’s never been a better time to build on Bitcoin,” said Roy Sheinfeld, CEO of Breez. “Developers now have the tools to bring peer-to-peer money to anyone, anywhere, anytime. This finally unlocks the transfer of value, just as the Internet unlocked the transfer of information. We’ve launched Time2Build to spark the next generation of open-source apps, and we can’t wait to see what they create.”
Over 45 developer communities across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America have joined the initiative.
Kevin Hurley, co-founder and CTO of Lightspark, as well as a competition judge, emphasized:
“Bitcoin’s potential as a programmable, global money is finally within reach, and it’s developers who will take it the rest of the way. Time2Build is the perfect stage for builders to put that to the test.”
The requirements established by the initiative include:
- integration of Breez’s Nodeless SDK into an existing open-source project;
- the project must have a FOSS license, an active community, and real users;
- the code must be merged or accepted by the project maintainers;
- no limit on the number of participants per team;
- evaluation by a jury of Bitcoin industry experts, including entrepreneur, investor, and author Jeff Booth and Plan ₿ Network director Giacomo Zucco.
The $25,000 bitcoin prize pool will be distributed across three tiers: $7,000 for top-ranked projects, $3,500 for mid-ranked ones, and $1,000 for selected projects. Special prizes are also planned, including programs at Draper University and PlebLab Startup School.
The competition schedule is structured to give developers the necessary time not only to write code, but to collaborate with project maintainers:
- development phase: October 7 – November 15, 2025;
- merge period: November 16 – December 16, 2025;
- winner announcement: January 8, 2026.
The goal of Time2Build is to incentivize integrations that will actually be used by real users, contributing to the adoption of bitcoin as a global payment infrastructure.
