LUKSO, the blockchain built for creators and culture, has launched Hack The Grid, a builder challenge running through April 2025 that invites developers to build mini-apps—lightweight, context-aware applications—directly into Universal Profiles using LUKSO’s feature: The Grid.
A total of $150,000 LYX in grants will be awarded across multiple rounds, with 42,000 LYX available in the third round that opened March 25.
What is Hack The Grid?
Hack The Grid is a four-level builder program designed to reimagine how developers create, distribute, and interact with blockchain-native applications. Each round distributes $42,000 LYX in grants across three tiers:
- Prime Grants: 2 × $9,000 LYX
- Core Grants: 3 × $5,000 LYX
- Origin Grants: 4 × $2,250 LYX
The winning projects from each level get the chance to move to Level 4, where $24,000 LYX will be distributed through a Gitcoin quadratic funding round.
This 3- month program is designed to make blockchain development more social, contextual, and user-friendly, offering a clear on-ramp for developers to experiment with profile-native apps.
“Hack The Grid is where culture and code collide,” said Tom Serres, Narrative Strategist at LUKSO. “We’re not just building apps—we’re exploring entirely new forms of digital interaction.”
What is The Grid?
The Grid is a new feature within Universal Profiles that transforms smart accounts into interactive containers for embedded mini-apps. Built on LUKSO’s smart contract standards (LSPs), The Grid allows developers to create applications that live inside profiles, not outside them.
This includes:
- Context-aware permissions (via LSP6 Key Manager)
- On-profile configuration and metadata (via LSP2, LSP3, LSP12)
- Embedded interfaces with one-click connection (via UP Provider)
LUKSO’s co-founder Fabian Vogelsteller said, “The future of web3 isn’t just financial. It’s social, creative, and programmable. With The Grid, we’re giving developers a canvas to build that future—directly inside a smart profile.”
By opening up new possibilities and opportunities for builders, The Grid is designed to transform Universal Profiles into interactive and dynamic spaces where creativity, social interaction, and digital identity take center stage. Builders can track their projects’ visibility via The Grid’s public leaderboard, which showcases live and featured mini-apps across the network.
Who Should Join + What You Can Build
Hack The Grid is open to developers, AI experimenters, designers, and curious web3 builders of all kinds. You don’t need to start from Level 1, each round is open to new participants.
Some of the most promising categories include:
AI Agents
Build profile-native agents that personalize interactions, automate transactions, or adapt to user data using smart contract permissions and identity.
Creator Tools
Develop mini-apps that enable creators to issue and sell digital or phygital assets directly through their profile, using LUKSO’s advanced metadata standards (LSP7, LSP8).
Social DeFi
Integrate identity and reputation into financial tooling, such as lending, staking, or tipping, using Universal Profiles as trusted, verifiable accounts.
Gamified Interfaces
Use The Grid as a layer for interactive, gamified experiences. Achievement tracking, asset inventory, and social mechanics can all live inside profiles.
“Add a layer of fun to The Grid with gamified experiences that integrate asset management, social challenges, and dynamic metadata,” LUKSO notes in its builder docs.
How It Works
To be part of the Hack The Grid program, users can join at any active level. There’s no need to start at the beginning.
Projects must be deployed to the LUKSO Mainnet, use Universal Profiles, and implement LSP standards (not just ERCs).
Submissions must include a demo video and architecture diagram, published on GitHub.
Builder support is available via Discord office hours, workshops, and community channels.
Conclusion
The Grid introduces a new approach in blockchain UX, where apps are social, identity-aware, and embedded directly into user profiles. Instead of forcing users to connect wallets and jump between dApps, The Grid allows them to live inside persistent, programmable smart accounts.
For developers, Hack The Grid offers a low-barrier, high-upside entry point to experiment with this new model, without needing to build full-stack platforms from scratch.
One early example is Design Everydays, a mini-app already live on The Grid. Projects like this gain visibility through the public leaderboard and Gitcoin round, offering both exposure and funding for early builders.
With 42,000 LYX available in the current sprint, Hack The Grid is a timely opportunity to shape what profile-native blockchain apps look and feel like in the next era of web3.
