Cosmos Ecosystem / Internal Hackathon / 2024
3WeekLabs
Hackathon 2024
Tower, Osmosis, and Stargaze — three core Cosmos protocols — assembled for 19 days of building. One week remote. Nine days in Málaga. Three days of finals in Cologne.
— About 3WeekLabs
Three weeks.
Three protocols.
Three cities.
The name says it all. 3WeekLabs is a three-week hackathon format built on the belief that meaningful infrastructure — not throwaway demos — can be shipped in 19 days when the right team is fully focused.
The 2024 edition brought together Tower (formerly Quasar), Osmosis Labs, and Stargaze — three protocol teams that collectively form the DeFi, liquidity, and NFT layer of the Cosmos ecosystem.
Every project was required to integrate at least two of the three protocols. No single-company builds. The result: six working, testnet-deployed prototypes in 19 days.
Week 1 — Online
Teams formed remotely. Scope locked through async workshops, architecture reviews, and a live 2-min pitch day before travel.
Days 8–16 — Málaga
Nine-day in-person sprint. Founder keynotes on Day 2, cross-team code reviews daily, live testnet demos on Day 16.
Sep 18–20 — Cologne
Three finalist teams presented in Cologne for formal judging, a public demo session, and the final awards ceremony.
Cross-Protocol Mandate
Every build had to integrate at least two protocols — forcing genuine collaboration that wouldn't happen remotely.
— Participating Protocols
Three protocols.
One ecosystem.
Tower's vault infrastructure. Osmosis's interchain DEX. Stargaze's NFT layer. Together: the full DeFi surface of Cosmos.
Tower (formerly Quasar)
Multi-Chain DeFi Vault Infrastructure
📍 Madrid, Spain · Est. 2021
Originally launched as Quasar Finance, Tower is an application-specific Cosmos SDK chain purpose-built for self-governed, cross-chain DeFi vaults. Their flagship vaults optimise liquidity provision across Osmosis pools via IBC. Now pivoting to BTCFi infrastructure on Babylon Chain.
Osmosis Labs
The Interchain DEX & Liquidity Hub
📍 Remote / US-based · Est. 2021
Osmosis is the leading DEX and liquidity hub of the Cosmos ecosystem — a sovereign appchain connecting 100+ IBC-enabled blockchains. Built by core Cosmos SDK contributors, it pioneered GAMM pools, Superfluid Staking, and Concentrated Liquidity in the interchain.
Stargaze
Cosmos-Native NFT Marketplace & L1
📍 Remote / Distributed · Est. 2021
Stargaze is a Proof-of-Stake L1 blockchain and the premier NFT marketplace in the Cosmos ecosystem. Built by veteran engineers, it runs CosmWasm smart contracts and pioneered on-chain perpetual royalties, IBC-connected NFTs, and no-code collection launches.
— 3-Week Timeline
19 days across
three cities.
One week remote, nine days in Málaga, three days of finals in Cologne. Every day was deliberate.
Week 1 — Online Pre-Hack
Remote · Sep 1–7, 2024
- All-hands video call with founders
- Teams of 6–9 engineers formed
- Project brief distributed
- Async IBC protocol deep-dive
- Osmosis AMM internals video series
- Stargaze CosmWasm standards
- Teams submit project proposals
- Cross-protocol requirements defined
- Async feedback from tech leads
- Architecture diagrams reviewed
- IBC channel topology agreed
- Contract interfaces drafted
- Repos created, CI/CD wired
- Cosmos testnet provisioned
- Shared tooling configured
- First CosmWasm stubs committed
- IBC relayer smoke tests run
- Research spikes completed
- 2-min team pitches over video
- Scope locked & signed off
- Travel to Málaga begins
Days 8–16 — In-Person Sprint
Málaga, Spain · Sep 8–16, 2024
- Welcome at Hotel Málaga Palacio
- Founder keynotes from all three protocols
- Networking dinner at El Pimpi
- Tower vaults — Valentin Pletnev & Laurens Kubat
- Osmosis GAMM & Superfluid — Sunny Aggarwal
- Stargaze CosmWasm — Shane Vitarana
- Contract APIs locked
- IBC channels finalised
- UI wireframes reviewed
- Cosmos SDK modules scaffolded
- CosmWasm contracts structured
- IBC relayer configured
- Feature sprints underway
- Cross-company code reviews
- Senior engineer office hours
- Cross-protocol integration
- Testnet transactions running
- Mid-point presentations
- Testnet deployment of all 6 projects
- Security review & gas optimisation
- Bug hunt across teams
- Final features shipped
- Live demo rehearsal on testnet
- Docs & READMEs finalised
- Live in-person presentations
- Technical Q&A by judges
- Top 3 projects nominated
Days 17–19 — Final Results
Cologne, Germany · Sep 18–20, 2024
- Teams travel to Cologne
- Final refinements & staging deployments
- Judges conduct technical review
- Top 3 finalist presentations
- Open public demo session
- Judge deliberation panel
- Winners announced live
- Three award categories presented
- Closing celebration & next steps
— Hackathon Projects
Six products.
Zero shortcuts.
Scoped online, built in Málaga, demoed live in Cologne. Every project integrated at least two protocols.
OsmosisVault
Tower + Osmosis Labs · 8 engineers
Automated yield-optimisation vaults deploying Tower's self-governed vault logic against Osmosis GAMM and Concentrated Liquidity pools. Depositors receive auto-compounded OSMO rewards via IBC — no manual claiming, no bridge overhead.
IBC NFT Bridge
Stargaze + Osmosis Labs · 7 engineers
A trustless IBC module for transferring Stargaze NFT collections to any ICS-721-compatible Cosmos chain. Preserves on-chain royalty metadata across hops and uses Osmosis as the routing layer — making Stargaze NFTs truly interchain-native.
NFT Liquidity Protocol
Stargaze + Tower · 6 engineers
Fractionalise Stargaze NFT collections into fungible STARS-denominated shares and deploy them as collateral inside Tower vaults. The first protocol to bridge Cosmos NFT market liquidity into structured DeFi yield products.
Superfluid NFT Yield
Stargaze + Osmosis Labs · 6 engineers
Extends Osmosis Superfluid Staking to Stargaze NFT holders. NFT owners can provide security to the Osmosis appchain and earn $OSMO staking rewards without selling or locking their collections.
Interchain Analytics Hub
All three protocols · 9 engineers
A unified, real-time analytics dashboard aggregating Tower vault APY data, Osmosis DEX volume and GAMM pool metrics, and Stargaze NFT collection performance — queryable via a single GraphQL API.
CosmWasm Router SDK
All three protocols · 7 engineers
A composable CosmWasm SDK that routes cross-contract calls through Tower vaults, Osmosis liquidity, and Stargaze NFT contracts in a single atomic transaction — dramatically simplifying multi-protocol integrations.
— The Builders
43 engineers.
One shared goal.
Founders, protocol engineers, CosmWasm developers, and product designers — including the co-founders of all three protocols — in one building for nine days.
Valentin Pletnev
Founder & CEO · Tower (Quasar)
Founder and CEO of Tower (formerly Quasar). Built the original vision for self-governed, IBC-native DeFi vaults on Cosmos SDK. Led Tower's pivot to BTCFi infrastructure on Babylon Chain alongside co-founder Laurens Kubat. Delivered the Day 2 vault architecture keynote.
Sunny Aggarwal
Co-founder · Osmosis Labs
Core Cosmos SDK developer, dropped out of UC Berkeley to join Tendermint. Co-launched Cosmos, IBC, and Gaia. Forbes 30 Under 30 Finance (2025). Led the AMM & Superfluid Staking workshop on Day 2.
Shane Vitarana
Co-founder · Stargaze
Nearly 3 decades of engineering experience. Published iOS apps (Drum Kit, TED), contributed to Ruby on Rails, early Groupon hire. Co-founded Stargaze at TruStory, the first-ever Cosmos SDK protocol.
+25 more engineers participated across all six project teams
— Outcomes & Impact
What three weeks
produced.
The 3WeekLabs format proved that focused, cross-protocol collaboration produces better infrastructure than months of async coordination.
Key Highlights
OsmosisVault moving to mainnet
The winning DeFi project — a joint Tower + Osmosis Labs build — has been greenlit for mainnet deployment. Vault contracts were audited on-site and IBC integration is in final testing.
IBC NFT Bridge entering formal audit
The Stargaze + Osmosis IBC NFT Bridge (ICS-721 compliant) is entering a third-party security audit. Stargaze plans to deploy it as a core protocol feature in Q1 2025.
Tower formally adopts Osmosis as liquidity backend
A direct result of nine days in-person: Tower confirmed Osmosis GAMM and Concentrated Liquidity as the primary liquidity backend for all future vault strategies.
Interchain Analytics Hub open-sourced
The analytics project built by all three teams will be open-sourced under the Cosmos community, giving any chain a ready-made GraphQL analytics layer.