Build the Future of DeFi: 15+ Ideas to Kickstart Your CTRL+Move Hackathon Project
With $100,000+ in prizes, hands-on support and a thriving global builder community, CTRL+Move is the place to turn bold ideas into production-ready products.
But sometimes the hardest part is figuring out what to build. To spark inspiration, here are 15+ ideas you can bring to life during CTRL+Move across three key tracks.
Trading & Market Infrastructure
Reimagine the rails of global trading.
The next wave of trading innovation will stem from rethinking the infrastructure itself. With Aptos’ parallel execution and sub-second finality, imagine if you could build systems that scale with the speed of the markets:
Matching Engines & CLOBs: High-performance central limit order books (CLOBs) that settle instantly
New Order Types all natively composable on‑chain
Capital-Efficient Vaults: Smarter strategies that optimize liquidity across venues
DeFi Dashboards: Unified interfaces that aggregate trading, analytics, portfolio management and beyond
Developer Tooling: SDKs, APIs, and infrastructure to empower other Aptos builders
DeFi Integrations: Plug into—or build upon—experiences on Aptos-native projects like Merkle Trade, Hyperion and Tapp Exchange
New DeFi Products
Invent what DeFi hasn’t seen yet.
DeFi is still full of friction. CTRL+Move challenges you to solve real problems and build products that unlock new forms of value coordination:
RWA Marketplaces: Tokenize real-world assets (RWAs) like invoices, treasuries or collectibles
Prediction Markets: Predict the outcome of real-world events in seconds
Social Investing Apps: Such as DAO-managed portfolios, or group-based investing
Reward-Based Vaults: Reward users for optimizing strategies or pooling liquidity
Dynamic Liquidity Systems: Liquidity that automatically rebalances based on market signals
Mobile-First Interfaces: Make trading accessible and intuitive for billions of smartphone users
Trading Bots: Automated strategies powered by Aptos’ speed and composability
Payments & Value Transfer
Build payments that move as information spreads on the internet.
Aptos' sub-second finality and low fees make it ideal for rethinking how value moves across borders and apps:
Real-Time Payroll: Stream employee payments in seconds, not days
Cross-Border Remittances: Enable instant global transfers powered by native USDC, USDT and USDe
Embedded Wallets: Seamlessly integrate wallets directly into consumer apps
On/Off Ramps: Build fast, intuitive fiat bridges for global markets
Smart Payment Flows: Recurring payments, streaming subscriptions, and split transactions natively on‑chain
Builders, Enter Your Launchpad
CTRL+Move is more than a hackathon. It’s your jumpstart to the next wave of DeFi innovation.
Register now to join builders from San Francisco, NYC, Buenos Aires, Vietnam, China, the UK and Nigeria now through October 3. Winners will be announced October 16 at the second Aptos Experience, with winning teams splitting up to $100,000+ in prizes, ecosystem visibility and the opportunity to scale their products with Aptos-native partners.
Whether you’re rethinking market infrastructure, creating entirely new financial primitives, or reinventing payments, now is your chance to build what’s missing in the future of DeFi.
Register for CTRL+Move today and start shipping.