Austria's Erste Bank Awards Ethereum Projects in Startup Contest

Austrian bank Erste Bank sponsored a blockchain startup contest, awarding the teams behind two ethereum-focused projects.

The two winning projects were Etherisc, an automated insurance tool, and Status, a mobile-based browser that combines support for payments and decentralized applications. Each team received €5,000, paid in ether.

Three additional submissions, out of dozens submitted from 29 countries worldwide, received prizes in bitcoin worth €1,670. These were Bernstein (anonymous documentation tool), Minebox (decentralized cloud support) and Helperbit (decentralized insurance and donation platform). A total of 20 finalists were initially selected, the bank said in a 30th November announcementhttps://www.erstegroup.com/en/news-media/presseaussendungen/2016/11/30/winners-blockchain-startup-contest.

In statements, Erste Bank suggested that it was sponsoring the contest in support of its current investigation of blockchain, which the institution indicated could ultimately lead to new kinds of client-facing services.

Petia Niederländer, the bank’s head of retail and corporate operations, said of the contest:

“As one of the sponsors of the Blockchain Startup Contest, Erste Group is particularly pleased at the fact that all of the many interesting submissions for this competition have a similarly strong focus on the customer.”

Other firms involved in the organization of the contest include Austrian energy firm Energie Steiermark, eCounting, Kapa Ventures and BlockchainHub Granz.

Image Credit: Hadrian / Shutterstock.com