MIAMI, July 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The month long coding competition came to an end on Monday, July 23rd at the Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM) public charter school in Miami, Florida. Ten finalists from around the world came together to pitch to an esteemed panel of judges including: Armando Christian Perez, aka Pitbull, world-renowned Artist, Entertainer and Entrepreneur; Demian Brener, Founder & CEO, Zeppelin; Jack Selby, Managing Director, Thiel Capital; and Manny Medina Jr., Bassist for Kip Moore, Songwriter.

Armando Christian Perez, aka "Pitbull," kicked off the "Smackathon," a blockchain music challenge at eMerge Americas 2018. The competition was designed for teams to use the Ethereum platform to disrupt the current state of the music industry. Zeppelin provided technical support to the teams, and also shared their widely used open-source smart contracts library OpenZeppelin.

"Music sells everything but itself. I want to make sure that future artists are protected and have a chance to enjoy the fruits of their labor," said Armando Christian Perez, aka "Pitbull." "Tonight we are seeing history in the making."

Singapore-based HyperValence was named the winner of the inaugural Smackathon. HyperValence is a crowdfunding platform that allows fans to support emerging artists by buying digital collectibles. Miami-based SONIFY, a Decentralized music streaming service, was awarded 2^nd place. The team members of the winning pitch received scholarships to Woz U and invitations to attend DesTechAZ to meet Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder and past eMerge Americas keynote speaker. Woz U offers a career-based technology program that enables students to quickly enter the exciting and expanding Information Technology workforce.The winning pitch also won a $6,000 cash prize and the chance to showcase their success at eMerge Americas 2019.

eMerge Americas 2019 will take place on April 29-30, 2019 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.  Startups interested in pitching their ideas to investors can apply for the 2019 Startup Showcase. The Startup Showcase provides a unique platform for over 100 innovative startups from around the world to connect with hundreds of strategic investors and potential partners. To apply for the startup showcase visit: emergeamericas.com/startups/

About eMerge Americas
eMerge Americas serves as the preeminent platform transforming Miami into the technology hub of the Americas. eMerge Americas convenes and connects global industry leaders and investors with top business executives, technology decision makers, and entrepreneurs throughout the Americas. In 2018, the eMerge Americas annual conference brought together more than 15,000 attendees, over 400 participating companies and 110 innovative startups from around the world. The eMerge Americas founding partners include: Medina Capital, A Rod Corporation, Greenberg Traurig, Knight Foundation, Miami-Dade County, and the Miami Herald. For more information about eMerge Americas, please visit: emergeamericas.com.

SOURCE eMerge Americas

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http://www.emergeamericas.com/