The Hedera AI Agent Bounty

Hedera has launched a five-week bounty program rewarding developers who ship AI agents on the network. The Hedera AI Agent Bounty went live on May 18 and distributes a combined $4,750 in HBAR across five weekly challenges, with submissions due each Sunday at 23:59 UTC.

The program reflects a broader push by layer-one networks to position themselves within the rapidly expanding AI agent ecosystem. Autonomous software systems capable of executing tasks and on-chain transactions on behalf of users have become a focal point for networks seeking developer adoption, and Hedera's offering is structured around the Hedera Agent Kit, an open-source toolkit available in JavaScript and Python.

Each week the competition runs a different bounty with a separate payout. Week 1, currently live, offers $500 in HBAR for a Fun Basic Hedera Agent. Week 2 raises the bar to an Enterprise Agent with a plugin integrating a real-world tool, with a $750 payout. Week 3 focuses on pay-triggered execution using MCP or the x402 standard, for $1,000. Week 4 introduces a Hedera Commerce Agent built around payment-gated services, also at $1,000. Week 5 closes the program with a Hedera Policy Agent, capable of executing policy-constrained payments in HBAR or USDC, with a $1,500 payout. Submissions must take the form of a public GitHub repository built with the Hedera Agent Kit in either JavaScript or Python. Each project must include a live demo or social media post, a written description, and structured feedback on a Hedera developer tool. Developers may submit to a single bounty, but every submission is automatically considered for an additional bonus bounty announced at the end of the program.

The rules place explicit safety constraints on agent design. Submitted agents may not pose a financial risk to users, and any agent deployed on mainnet must include a human-in-the-loop mechanism or equivalent safeguards to prevent unauthorized use of funds. Payouts are calculated using the 30-day running average price of HBAR prior to the announcement of winners and are scheduled to be distributed within 90 days of the final submission deadline.

The AI Studio team at Hedera is hosting daily Discord office hours from Monday to Thursday at 2pm UTC throughout the program window. Final submissions close on June 21 at 23:59 UTC, with all winners announced on July 13.

The bounty program adds Hedera to a growing list of blockchain networks competing for AI agent developer mindshare in 2026, alongside efforts from other major layer-ones to attract builders working at the intersection of autonomous agents and on-chain payments. The structure, with escalating payouts tied to increasing technical complexity, is designed to surface production-grade reference implementations that can serve as templates for future deployments on the network.

More information about The Hedera AI Agent Bounty: links