Please take the time to read the Notion thoroughly, as it contains essential information, resources, and guidelines to help your team succeed throughout the challenge.
Hosted by Velocity and presented by the Stellar Development Foundation.
We are excited to have you as a participant in this innovation challenge which runs from November 2nd-18th. By participating in this challenge you are developing innovative solutions that expand financial access for underbanked populations worldwide.
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Need help during the Innovation Challenge?
Join the Stellar Developer Discord(https://discord.gg/stellardev) to ask technical questions. For all other challenge questions, email [email protected]
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Happening Friday, Nov. 6
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No schedule events today. Work on your solutions and prepare for your scheduled advisor meetings happening Monday, Nov. 9th.
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Innovation Challenge Participation Agreement
Click the link above to review the expectations for the challenge.
The intention of the Stellar Blockchain Innovation Challenge is that each team begins developing a solution on day one of the challenge and individuals do not bring any existing Intellectual Property into the event. Failure to disclose that you are bringing in existing ideas could result in your removal from the challenge or disqualification for prizes.
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The Blockchain Innovation Challenge powered by Stellar invites students to build social impact solutions on the Stellar network. The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit dedicated to equitable access to the global financial system. Stellar is a decentralized, scalable blockchain built for financial services: transactions settle in roughly five seconds, cost a fraction of a cent, and extend through Soroban, its Rust-based smart contracts platform.
The challenge targets everyday financial services (EDFS): payments, savings, credit, insurance, and asset ownership, which remain out of reach for billions. The World Bank's 2025 Global Findex reports that 79% of adults now hold a financial account, up from 74% in 2021, yet roughly 1.3 billion adults remain unbanked globally. Women constitute about 55% of that population, and more than half come from the poorest 40% of households. Account access alone is insufficient: many holders still cannot affordably send money abroad, protect earnings from inflation, obtain credit, or invest.
Quality financial access is a strong enabler for many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The problem spaces in the innovation challenge specifically advance SDG 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Each problem space in the Blockchain Innovation Challenge names a customer and a problem rather than an architecture, and is open to teams should consider distribution, underwriting, policy, and design, in addition to software.
Where solutions touch money movement, digital assets, or settlement, teams should build on Stellar (payments, assets, anchors and ramps, Soroban), whose speed and near-zero cost often make small-value economics viable. The strongest solutions will not ask a funder to subsidize serving underserved users; they will make serving those users structurally cheaper, so unit economics work at market prices.