- Astar Network announces Toyota Motor Corporation’s sponsorship of the Web3 hackathon event.
- Toyota looks toward blockchain technology to support its company operations.
- This is Toyota’s first-ever Web3 hackathon.
The global automobile giant, Toyota, is sponsoring its first-ever Web3 event in collaboration with Astar Foundation to explore use cases of blockchain technology.
Toyota, the largest-selling Japanese automotive brand in terms of cars sold worldwide, is seeking to experiment with Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) by partnering with a Japanese-based crypto firm, Astar Foundation, a multi-chain smart contract and decentralized application (DApp) network by sponsoring a Web3 hackathon for DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) developers.
On February 1, Astar Network published the news about the recent collaboration on its Medium page, announcing the event and the date it will commence. The founder of Astar Network, Sota Watanabe, commented on the partnership with Toyota, expressing his thoughts about the desire of the automotive brand to extend its influence in the crypto industry.
“We are excited to be hosting the Web3 hackathon on Astar with Toyota. Sometime in the future, I think we will see blockchain integrations in cars,” he said.
The products will be invented on Astar Network, a layer-1 blockchain, and hosted in COZMISE, the crypto firm’s Polkadot-based metaverse. Astar Foundation and Web3 Foundation will give the winners of the Web3 hackathon event a $100,000 prize.
How does this benefit Toyota?
Globally recognized as one of the largest car companies in the automobile industry, Toyota has over 330,000 workers worldwide and is looking for intra-company DAO support mechanisms to help its employees perform efficiently in the future.
This sponsorship aims to find potential products and not only PoC (Proof of Concept) within the car company. This is Toyota’s first web3 hackathon event, in which it is the main sponsor and is looking to Web3 space to support its vision of enhancing the company’s operations.
“If a good tool is produced, Toyota employees will interact daily with products on Astar Network,” Sota Watanabe explained.
The event is set to begin on February 25 and will end on March 18, when the participants will be expected to have completed their projects. Astar Foundation, Toyota, Web3 Foundation, HAKUHODO KEY3, and Alchemy will determine the winners of the Web3 hackathon.
Although this hackathon event is Toyota’s opportunity to explore distributed ledger technology (DLT) and how it can be harnessed to assist in the company’s operations, it is not Toyota’s first involvement with the Web3 space.
In 2020, Toyota Systems, Toyota’s IT subsidiary, announced that it would commence a digital currency pilot in collaboration with DeCurret, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange.
DeCurret mentioned that the development of Toyota Systems’ digital currency would be an experiment with the IT subsidiary employees, in which they would be allowed to purchase items (previously obtained with the company points) using the token developed by DeCurret.
Conclusion
The Toyota Motor Corporation is expanding its dominance in the automobile industry by experimenting with blockchain technology. In its recent bid to find innovative ways to support its vision and boost its company’s operations, it partnered with Astar Network to sponsor a Web3 hackathon event.
