From lofty visions to real-world impact: Stellar launches community-powered Build Better hackathon

Through Stellar’s new initiative, community-sourced ideas will be brought to life in future hackathons by the Stellar developer community. With the new Stellar smart contract platform now giving builders a tech stack unlocking new applications, this program aims to incubate ideas that will shape the future of finance.

The best way to predict the future is to build it

We all know what it feels like to be inspired by big, bright visions of the future – especially in crypto. From blockchain-enabled opportunities for creators to own their work, to expanding on and off-ramps that make it possible to bank the unbanked, a powerful future made possible by crypto is right around the corner.

But we also know how it feels when progress is slow, stagnant, or blocked. And we’ve seen the pitfalls of those visions coming up short, when people lose faith in crypto and momentum slows. We can see the future – why is it so hard for us to get there?

Stellar has created a new initiative to answer this problem. Already known as a network that prioritizes creating real-world impact, today it’s launching an exciting new platform to as part of the Build Better movement. Combining community inputs, inspirational ideas, Build Better invites dreamers to share their biggest, most transformative visions and matches them with builders to make it happen.

Visions, powered by the people

The first phase of Build Better is all about tapping into the voices of our community. The campaign focuses on three key areas where Web3 can create meaningful change.

Better Finance: Reimagining financial systems for speed, accessibility, and fairness
Better Creativity: Empowering artists and creators with new tools for ownership and monetization
Better Access: Breaking down barriers to participation in the digital economy

Over 8 weeks on the Build Better microsite, we’ll source inputs in the form of polls, questions, and video submissions. It all starts with a simple question: What would you build better?

Each submission on the Build Better site will count as an entry to win one of several prize packages with a prize pool valued at $30,000 USD.

What’s next for all these submissions? Taking them forward into reality. The Stellar Development Foundation will collect all the inputs from our community and translate them into hackathon tracks, providing tangible directions and problems to solve for the devs that participate.

Why Build Better now?

It’s time to make an impact.

The crypto winter has separated the signal from the noise. While we’re all emerging into the relative hopefulness of what looks like an impending bull cycle, there are a whole host of speculative, overhyped projects that have been left behind – and leave questions about what’s next for Web3 to break into the mainstream.

The fundamental promise of Web3 remains strong: the power to rebuild outdated systems, create more equitable access, and enable new forms of creativity and value exchange. But this time, we’re setting out to prove not only that the concept of that promise is strong, but that it can be delivered on.

That means that Build Better isn’t just another hackathon – it’s a bridge from Web3 to the wants, needs, and visions of our community. A movement to identify what's broken, imagine what could be better, and actually build it.

As one person we spoke to at Money2020 put it, “We have a community that's really focused on real world challenges. That’s what excites me most about Stellar”.

Stellar’s blockchain already powers over 550 million tokenized assets and connects to over 475,000 cash-to-crypto ramps across 180 countries. This isn’t theoretical – it’s infrastructure ready to support the next wave of innovation.

Join the movement

Whether you’re a builder, creator, visionary – or just someone who has an idea on how you’d like to see the world change – there are ways for you to get involved in the movement to Build Better.

Visit the Build Better site, and share your vision of better for a chance to win from a $30K USD prize pool
Join the conversation on social by using #BetterOnStellar to connect and collaborate with others who also want to see positive change

The future of Web3 isn’t just about technology – it’s about the problems we solve and the new world we create in the process of doing so.

If you’re ready to build better, learn more and join us here.

About Stellar

Stellar is more than a blockchain. Powered by a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network made for financial products and services and a thriving and passionate ecosystem that includes a non-profit organization driven by a mission, Stellar is paving the path to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology. Built with speed and low costs in mind, the Stellar network provides builders and financial institutions worldwide a platform to issue assets, and to send and convert currencies in real time creating real world utility.