ShardLab, the blockchain innovation arm of Hashed, said on August 20, 2026 that it will close Protocol Camp Cohort 9 with a Final Demo at Melasti Beach in Bali the next day.
The milestone caps an expanded partnership with Indonesia’s Ministry of Creative Economy, known as EKRAF, under a Memorandum of Understanding signed at Southeast Asia Blockchain Week 2026 in Bangkok.
Six Indonesian participants joined the 12-week bootcamp after an international screening process, and ShardLab CEO Hojin Kim said the goal is to make Protocol Camp the launchpad where builders from Indonesia and across Asia connect and scale real projects.
The Bangkok MoU Behind Cohort 9’s Indonesia Push
The agreement between ShardLab and EKRAF is built around growing national capacity in blockchain and digital assets, and Cohort 9 is the first batch to place Indonesian builders under that framework.
At Southeast Asia Blockchain Week, EKRAF Deputy Chairman Muhammad Neil El Himam outlined how blockchain and real-world asset tokenization could turn Indonesian intellectual property into investment-grade assets, a theme Indonesia’s Minister of Creative Economy, Teuku Riefky Harsya, echoed by calling for more Indonesian founders and developers to build for global markets rather than just use imported tools.
Cohort 9 passed its Mid Demo checkpoint in Seoul in July 2026 and wraps up its 12 weeks in Bali this week. According to ShardLab’s announcement, participants are fully sponsored, matched with a weekly mentor, and leave with a working product instead of a certificate.
Two earlier teams from the program already shipped results: BeBridge won the grand prize at the SEABW 2026 AI Hackathon and launched a Google Play app letting stablecoin holders gain exposure to tokenized U.S. equities, while ContentDAO now matches brand campaigns with creators across more than 30 countries.
Malaysia Sun’s coverage of the upcoming Bali close framed it as the clearest sign yet that the EKRAF partnership is moving from paperwork to placements.
Cohort 10 Applications Close August 30
Applications for Protocol Camp Cohort 10 are open now through August 30, 2026, with the next 12-week run starting during EastPoint:Seoul 2026 and covering both blockchain and AI tracks.
The program has selected roughly 124 builders from about 500 applicants so far, and this next batch is open to developers, designers, and product builders across Asia, not just Indonesia.
Anyone weighing whether to apply should watch whether other Southeast Asian ministries follow EKRAF’s lead and sign their own Protocol Camp arrangement, the kind of government-to-builder deal our news section tracks as regulators in the region shift from writing crypto rules to funding crypto talent.
What this means for you: If you’re new to crypto, programs like this are one of the paths builders use to break into the industry with mentorship and funding instead of raising money on their own first.
