Getting Ready for Seoul

We’re now just ~7 days away from activating Seoul, the 19th upgrade to the Tezos protocol. As with every upgrade before it, this one arrives thanks to community participation and on-chain governance.

What’s included in Seoul:

• Native multisig support for tz4 accounts, making it easier and safer for teams and institutions to manage funds on-chain

• Aggregated attestations, which reduce bandwidth and help the network scale more efficiently

• Open unstake finalization, improving the experience for both bakers and delegators by removing friction in the unstaking process

As the network prepares to transition from Rio to Seoul, node operators and bakers have a few important tasks to complete ahead of September 19. Chris Pinnock, Tezos’ Chief Baker, shared a useful checklist for getting ready:

• Update your Tezos nodes and bakers to Octez v23.2. This version is required for compatibility with Seoul and will ensure you stay in sync once the protocol activates.

• If you’re running separate bakers for different protocols, consider switching to the new consolidated baker and accuser setup, which allows one instance to handle all protocols. If you make the switch, be sure to stop your existing baker instances to avoid double baking.

• For anyone using Signatory for remote signing, make sure you upgrade to version 1.3.0, which supports the changes coming with Seoul.

• And if you run into trouble, don’t hesitate to reach out for support. The Tezos Discord is open and active.

Upgrades like Seoul are a reminder of what sets Tezos apart, an ecosystem that ships, iterates, and votes together.

Etherlink Summer of Code: New Protocols, New Builders

As the Tezos network gears up for Seoul, it’s worth taking a look at what’s already being built on top of it and Etherlink’s recent Summer of Code Hackathon gives us a good idea.

Hosted by Encode Club and backed by over £25,000 in prizes, the event drew builders from around the world to ship working dApps across DeFi, gaming, on-chain art, AI, and beyond. But the real story isn’t just the prize pool, it’s what people choose to create.

In DeFi, Builders Focused on Practicality

The DeFi track winners leaned into usability. These weren’t just finance experiments but actual efforts to solve real problems.

• 1st Place – STACK: A mobile-first, Gen Z-friendly investing platform that turns financial decisions into something familiar and even fun. Think Smart Cards that round up spare change into investments, community “baskets,” AI-based personalization, and even a Battle Pass–style reward system for good financial habits.

• 2nd Place – Superlink: A vault-based protocol that automatically rotates stablecoin holdings between USDC and USDT based on yield, a dead-simple way to earn without needing to jump between platforms.

• 3rd Place – MeshPay: A mesh-network payment system that lets users send and receive crypto without Wi-Fi or mobile data. Transactions settle on Etherlink once connectivity returns, a clever way to support users in places with unreliable infrastructure.

In Gaming, It Was All About Polish and Playability

The top entries in the gaming track were fully playable, built to show how Etherlink’s fast confirmation times and low fees can keep up with dynamic gameplay.

• 1st Place – Bounce to Earn: A Unity-based, skill-driven platformer where you earn points (and potentially XTZ) by nailing perfect landings and hitting score multipliers. It’s smooth, fun, and on-chain.

• 2nd Place – Seas of Linkardia: A pixel naval battle sim where players choose factions, fight over territories, and earn rewards through a persistent world map. Social logins made jumping in simple.

• 3rd Place – JetPack Runner: A retro-style 2D runner with NFT-powered upgrades, a live leaderboard, and a token economy, all living entirely on Etherlink.

In Art and Culture, Collaboration Took the Spotlight

The Collab Culture track rewarded projects that explored creative collaboration on-chain.

• 1st Place – Permalink: A fully on-chain generative art platform where artists upload code (like p5.js sketches) and mint them directly. Art and ownership stay on Etherlink, permanent and censorship-resistant. It also took home the overall Grand Prize.

• 2nd Place – Avalon: A creative gig platform where briefs, submissions, and rewards are handled on-chain. Every creator builds a public reputation as they complete tasks and earn royalties.

• 3rd Place – Foretell: A sentiment-based survey tool that rewards users based on how closely their answers match the group’s overall mood, all without sending your data off-device.

AI Takes the Wheel in the Vibecode Challenge

A new track this year invited teams to experiment with AI-assisted coding, and the results didn’t disappoint.

• 1st Place – Time Stone: A decentralized time capsule dApp where files are locked until a future date. The capsule opens when a time oracle verifies that the set date has arrived.

• 2nd Place – Etherlink Agent Kit: A dev toolkit for building AI agents that can read, write, and interact with Etherlink directly with LangChain support and sample agents included.

• 3rd Place – EtherBlinks: A tool that turns blockchain actions into shareable links or QR codes. You can use it for receiving tips, selling NFTs, or accepting payments with one link, one click.

Special Awards: Ticketing and FOMO Insurance

Two standout projects received special honors:

• Tickety (Community Choice): A ticketing platform that mints each ticket as an NFT. It’s harder to counterfeit, easier to use, and opens up all sorts of event-specific perks.

• FOMO Insurance (Judges’ Choice): A DeFi protocol for the indecisive. It lets you cash out to stablecoins but still hold a claim if prices rise later. A simple, clever hedge.

Etherlink Is Shipping

What stood out across all categories was how many projects were aimed at solving actual problems, not just running tech demos. There were live games, user-friendly dApps, and interfaces built for people who may never know what a rollup is and that’s exactly the point.

Etherlink gives builders what they want: EVM compatibility, fast transactions, low fees, and trustless ownership on Tezos. And in return, the builders are delivering.

Once again, congratulations to all the winners and to the teams already working on what comes next.

This Week in the Tezos Ecosystem

Quests, XP, and $7K in Rewards: TZ Apex Season 7 Has Arrived

As the Tezos ecosystem ramps up for Token2049 Singapore, the latest season of TZ Apex is now live and this one is bigger than ever.

Season 7 launched this week with over $7,000 USD in rewards up for grabs, plus fresh quests, surprise drops, and a spotlight on the projects and events shaping Tezos this fall. Running until October 3, this new season ties into the excitement around Token2049 and gives the community a way to engage, explore, and earn along the way.

What’s in store?

• Explore the full lineup of #TezosAtToken2049 happenings

• Dive into new projects from the Fortify Labs cohort

• Take on bonus quests and unlock fresh content as the season progresses

• Bonus XP for players from Season 6 and WebX Edition — arriving before the gacha store opens

The journey starts now and if previous seasons are anything to go by, it’ll be worth checking in often. Start your Season 7 run here.

Tezos Community Events

Token 2049 | Singapore

All eyes are on Singapore as TOKEN2049 kicks off this fall and once again, Tezos will have a presence.

On October 1–2, Arthur Breitman, co-founder of Tezos, takes the main stage to share his thoughts on what it takes to keep a decentralized network adaptive. His talk explores the careful balance between shipping upgrades quickly and safely, maintaining user confidence, and protecting momentum across years of development. With Tezos nearing its 19th protocol upgrade and a consistent track record of forkless evolution, it’s a topic the network is uniquely qualified to address.

But the conversation doesn’t stop when the conference does.

Join the Tezos Breakfast Club the following morning, a more casual gathering where builders, bakers, and curious minds can grab a coffee, make connections, and reflect on the week. If you’re in town, come through and say hello.

🗓 October 3
⏰ 10:00 – 12:30 (GMT+8)
📍 Hapi Cafe, 138 Cecil St, Cecil Court
🔗 RSVP here

Don’t forget that it’s Staketember!

It’s that time of year again. Staketember has returned, and with it comes Tezos’ most sacred tradition: making fun of network infrastructure for internet points (and a little tez).

Whether you’re a baker, delegator, or just someone who knows how to explain consensus with SpongeBob templates, the Staketember Meme Contest is your time to shine.

 What to meme about:

• Staking and delegating — the why, how, and hilarious misconceptions

• Tezos’ unique security model (yes, nerd jokes welcome)

• Bakers, rewards, governance… if it keeps Tezos running, it’s fair game

How to enter:
Quote repost this post with your meme and tag @Tezos

Prizes:

• 🥇 Top 3 memes win 100 tez each

• 🥲 Eternal bragging rights and chain-wide clout

• 🗓️ Winners announced September 30

So load up your meme folders, channel your inner staking strategist, and make September the funniest month on Tezos.

Creator Hub – Asia: A New Program for Tezos Artists

As the memes fly and the bakers bake, Tezos is also welcoming a fresh wave of creators into the fold.

Creator Hub – Asia is now live, a new grassroots initiative from longtime Tezos artist @jakestudyos that aims to onboard emerging talent from across the region.

Artists who join will mint their genesis piece on Tezos and receive mentorship from experienced creators already in the ecosystem. It’s powered by Tezos and built on the belief that community grows stronger when knowledge is shared and new voices are amplified.

If you're an artist in Asia and curious about joining the movement, the form is open through September 14 and DMs are open too.

👉 Sign up here.

🔴 Now Streaming: James Lee, a Tezos Artist with Superpowers

James Lee, co-creator of Zero Unbound Art, shares his journey of blending art, music, advocacy, and technology on Tezos blockchain. Through his surreal hand-drawn animations and passion for fully on-chain formats, he's creating artwork that will outlive us all while championing accessibility and permanence in digital creation.

• Converting ADHD into a creative superpower by hyperfixating on learning new skills
• Building Zero Unbound Art platform to make fully on-chain NFTs accessible to everyone without coding knowledge
• Creating the largest fully on-chain animation on Tezos at 261 kilobytes through hand-drawn pixel art
• Living with Tourette's syndrome and discovering that creative activities help manage symptoms
• Experiencing synesthesia where sounds create visual patterns that influence his artwork
• Developing a 118-element periodic table animation project that combines science and art
• Supporting fellow artists by collecting, amplifying, and mentoring throughout the Tezos ecosystem
• Finding new creative inspiration through fatherhood and teaching his children artistic skills
• Leveraging his experience as a former college professor to make blockchain technology approachable

Join us in exploring how blockchain can preserve our creative legacy forever while removing gatekeepers and giving everyone a chance to participate.

Watch the full episode on YouTube.