APAC Stellar Hackathon

About the event

Welcome to the APAC Stellar Hackathon, where the best builders across Southeast Asia come together to ship real-world financial applications on Stellar. It's the largest Stellar hackathon ever hosted in the region, running fully online, with developer workshops, community meetups and university activations across Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Who can join

• Web3 developers & builder teams
• DeFi protocol developers
• Startup founders & early-stage teams
• Student developers
• Engineers curious about financial infrastructure

We're after real products with real utility, not throwaway prototypes.

What to build

User-facing financial apps that solve real problems: payment apps people can actually use, DeFi that does something meaningful with real assets, and tools that connect users to their local economy. We encourage teams to integrate local anchors and assets, and to build with composability in mind: plug into existing Stellar wallets, protocols and on/off-ramps instead of reinventing the wheel.

Integration ideas: on/off-ramps & localized cash-out paths · yield, lending, AMMs & DEX tooling · consumer or merchant payment flows · low-friction wallet & identity integrations.

What you'll gain

• A prize pool of up to $60,000 USD
• Technical mentorship from the Stellar ecosystem
• Developer workshops & training across SEA
• A direct line into the global Stellar community: builders, partners & investors

Prize eligibility is subject to projects meeting the minimum quality and technical benchmarks set by the judging committee.

Program calendar

May 14 → late July 2026, with post-hackathon activities through September. ● Happening now marks where we are today.

1. May 14
   Official Launch Hackathon announced & registration opens
2. May 15 – Jun 15
   Acquisition Happening now Awareness campaigns, AMAs & onboarding
3. Jun 16 – Jul 16
   Integration Workshops, bootcamps & the active build phase
4. Jul 16 – 23
   Judging Projects analysed & scored by the committee
5. Late July
   Demo Day + Grand Finale Top projects announced online, finalists pitch live
6. Aug 1 – 24
   Hackathon Highlights Weekly AMAs with winners & follow-up builds
7. Aug 25 – Sep 25
   Beyond the Hackathon Winner journeys + further grant opportunities

How the finals work

Demo Day (online), late July: watch from anywhere in SEA as the top projects are announced. Grand Finale (in-person), late July: the top teams from each country pitch live for five minutes each, open to the Stellar community, partners and investors.

After the finale, weekly AMAs (Aug 1–24) spotlight winning teams and their build journeys, and the program continues through Sep 25 with pathways to further grants via the Stellar Community Fund. All AMAs are free and open to everyone.