Sonic Summit Jailbreak Hackathon 2025: Users vs Developers

We're excited to announce the Sonic Summit Jailbreak Hackathon, a unique, online hackathon kicking off on May 6 as part of Sonic Summit 2025 in Vienna.

Beyond your typical hackathon, this is a strategic showdown between users and developers to compete for $15,000, leveraging cutting-edge AI and smart contract technologies.

Thanks to our partners Cantina, DoraHacks, and Google Cloud for making this possible!

The Challenge

Two distinct tracks — users and developers — compete simultaneously to drain a prize pot of $15,000 secured in a smart contract.

The users must extract a private key guarded by an AI through prompt engineering, while the developers must identify and exploit a smart contract vulnerability. The prize pool will increase as users pay fees to submit their AI prompts.

The first one to complete the challenge… wins it all.

User Track: AI Jailbreak

Users must extract a secret private key guarded by Google's Gemini AI through prompt engineering.

• Mechanics
  Users submit prompts via a dedicated UI, each attempt requiring an on-chain fee paid in S, which goes toward the prize pool. The fee increases gradually over time.
• Challenge
  Outwit the AI using creative and potentially multiple inputs (text, voice, images).
• Win Condition
  Successfully retrieve the private key and claim the prize pot through a verification process on DoraHacks.

This track is delivered by Google Cloud and DoraHacks.

Developer Track: Smart Contract Exploit

Developers must identify and exploit a deliberate vulnerability embedded by Cantina in the prize pot smart contract.

• Mechanics
  Developers analyze provided smart contract code, aiming to discover an exploit or vulnerability that will allow them to drain assets held in the smart contract.
• Challenge
  Technical expertise and rapid problem-solving to uncover the vulnerability.
• Win Condition
  Demonstrate the ability to drain the prize pot and claim funds through a verification process on Cantina.

This track is delivered by Cantina.

The Motivation

Security is one of the most important challenges in a decentralized world, but it’s often treated like an afterthought until something goes wrong.

With the Summit Jailbreak Hackathon, we're flipping the script. Rather than reacting to vulnerabilities, we're proactively hunting them down. By bringing together users and developers in a competitive environment, we aim to show real-world risks in blockchain and AI, while highlighting the creativity it takes to tackle them.

It's not just about winning a prize, it's about strengthening the security mindset that keeps decentralized technology trustworthy and accessible to everyone.

Partners

The Summit Jailbreak Hackathon is a collaborative effort powered by Sonic, Google Cloud, DoraHacks, and Cantina, each contributing technical expertise, community, and infrastructure.

• Google Cloud
  Responsible for providing Gemini AI and necessary cloud infrastructure, while advising on AI security and challenge difficulty for the user track.
• DoraHacks
  Responsible for handling private key verification and prize distribution for the user track.
• Cantina
  Responsible for smart contract/exploit development and exploit verification for the developer track.
• Sonic
  Responsible for overall execution, prize funding, UI development, and event marketing.

Further Information

The competition will run globally online upon its launch on May 6 — exact timing will be announced closer to the date.

The official winner must KYC to claim their prize following the hackathon.