Heartbreaks & Hackathons: BI-OJK Hackathon
Sometimes, the best innovations come from teams with the most “tragic” names.
In late October 2025, my team Tiwas Tak Gondeli Tenanan 💔, was invited to Jakarta as finalists for the FEKDI X IFSE: BI-OJK Hackathon. Out of a staggering 2,300+ proposals submitted nationwide, we were selected as one of the few to pitch our solution directly to the regulators.
The Genesis of GardaChain
This competition marked the first formal iteration of GardaChain, a smart contract auditing platform. Built upon the foundation of Bagus Raka’s Bachelor Thesis, we aimed to bridge the gap between regulatory oversight and decentralized transparency.
It was an intense week of mentoring and pivoting. We spent our days in Jakarta, refining our business model and ensuring our technical architecture met the rigorous standards required by Bank Indonesia and the OJK (Financial Services Authority).
The Result: Top 5
While we ultimately finished as Top 5 Finalists in the Student Category, the experience was anything but a “loss”. We prevailed over 2,300 other ideas to stand on that final stage and gained invaluable insights from industry leaders in the Indonesian FinTech ecosystem.
A huge shoutout to my teammates Moh Rizky Arif and Bagus Raka for the sleepless nights and the constant iterations.
Competing at this level taught me that building software for the financial sector isn’t just about the code. It’s about trust, regulation, and scalability. We might not have taken home the trophy this time, but we left with a battle-tested prototype and a much clearer vision for the future of GardaChain.
“We might have ‘held on for nothing’ in the name, but we held our own against 2,300 teams. We’ll be back stronger.”