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Building the cross-chain future: Flare, XRPL Commons & EasyA hackathon at Harvard

Flare Updates

Sep 4, 2025

Flare is teaming up with EasyA and XRPL Commons to host a 36-hour hackathon at Harvard University on September 20 – 21, 2025. Bringing together 200 developers, the event is a strategic step in growing the XRPFi ecosystem, showcasing how Flare’s interoperability protocols and XRP Ledger (XRPL) technologies can power the next wave of DeFi, payments, and consumer apps.

Alongside a $35,000 prize pool, participants will gain hands-on cross-chain development experience, connect with mentors from the Flare and XRPL ecosystems, and join dedicated in-person workshops led by developers from both ecosystems.

Event details

🔗 Registration

🥇 Prizes

Total prize pool: $35,000
$10,000 dedicated track from XRPL Commons

🗓️ Dates

September 20 – 21, 2025

⌚️ Time

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 09:30 - Sun, 21 Sep 2025 17:30 GMT-4

📍 Location

Harvard University

Hackathon tracks

Participating devs will compete across three tracks:

1) Cross-Chain Finance & Real-World Assets (XRPFi)

Build the future of finance by combining XRPL’s asset issuance and liquidity with Flare’s decentralized data and proofs. Create tokenized assets, lending/borrowing platforms, yield products, and event-driven financial applications anchored in real-world data.

2) Composable dApps & Interoperable Infrastructure

Design next-gen dApps that seamlessly connect XRPL and Flare. Use Flare’s smart accounts, FAssets, and enshrined oracles together with XRPL’s payments and settlement layer to unlock programmable liquidity, cross-chain workflows, and new user experiences.

3) Vibe Coding: Consumer Apps

This track is about creativity and usability. Build lightweight apps that showcase Flare’s protocols (FAssets, FDC, or FTSO) in fun, accessible ways - from prediction games and evolving digital collectibles to community reward systems.

In-person workshops

On Saturday, September 20th, participants can join any of three technical workshops led by Flare engineers.

Workshop 1: Composability & Interoperability with Flare – Victor Muñoz
How to use Flare products (FTSO, FDC, FAssets) with XRPL to create composable solutions and bring Web2 data onchain.

Workshop 2: Programmable Liquidity with Flare + XRPL – Thomas Hussenet
Learn to build programmable on/off-ramps that connect fiat and blockchains using Flare + XRPL.

Workshop 3: Flare Smart Accounts & XRPL Controlled Accounts – Filip Koprivec
Discover how XRPL can control smart contracts on Flare and enable cross-chain account abstraction.

Why Flare + the XRPL Ledger

The Harvard hackathon highlights how the two ecosystems complement each other: The XRP Ledger brings a decade of reliable, high-speed settlement, deep liquidity, and inherent support for tokenization. Flare adds secure interoperability, decentralized oracles, and cross-chain data and proof.

Together, developers can unlock:

Next-Gen DeFi → Event-triggered yields, auto-adjusting lending, structured finance.
Cross-Chain Flows → Secure asset movement across the XRPL + Flare without bridges.
Tokenized RWAs → Bonds, invoices, and notes with onchain verification.
Consumer Apps → Wallets and cross-chain payments for everyday users.

This hackathon builds on Flare’s partnership with EasyA, the world’s largest Web3 education app. Through the #60DaysOfFlare campaign, EasyA is onboarding thousands of developers via in-app challenges that teach Flare’s oracles, FAssets, and staking, creating a pipeline of builders ready to launch real projects in the XRPFi ecosystem.

“We’re building strong, strategic relationships in the XRPL ecosystem - aligning events, education, and integration with product rollouts to connect Flare’s tech to XRPL developers and the XRPL network,” said Max Luck, Head of Growth at Flare. “This hackathon forges a direct loop between the XRPL and Flare infrastructure, bringing economic utility, staking yield, and developer adoption to the XRPL ecosystem.”

“The XRPL stands out for speed, liquidity, and its enterprise-grade infrastructure. Integrating Flare brings true composability, expanding our foundation into a full-fledged DeFi ecosystem,” said Odelia Torteman, Director of Corporate Adoption, XRPL Commons. “The combined strengths of XRPL’s liquidity-rich platform and Flare’s decentralized data unlock new DeFi possibilities.”

Join us at Harvard

Ready to take your innovations from concept to reality?