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Argentina Builder Challenge concludes two-week virtual hackathon (Sept 12-27) with winners announced. 44 developers created 20 projects across Genesis (new ideas) and Scale (existing) tracks, with participants from Argentina, Peru, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Third-place winner: Changuito, an AI shopping assistant using Stellar smart contracts for USDC payments.

The Stellar Developers Meeting introduces Raven, an AI assistant for builders navigating the Stellar ecosystem. Kaan from SDF and Themes from Guava Global discuss how Raven helps with documentation, context, and checking what's already been built. The meeting covers Hack Meridian details: a two-track hackathon (Oct 25-26 in Lisbon) with workshops and mentorship, plus 20+ activation events across European cities.

SDF's Sean Lippincott explains InstaAwards: $1k-$5k grants for early-stage builders in ambassador chapters working on 30-day sprints. The program scales to $15k total across three rounds. Funds prototyping and infrastructure costs, not marketing or user incentives.

Hack Meridian (Oct 25-26, Lisbon) is Stellar's two-day hackathon with mentorship, office hours, and prizes. Two tracks: Genesis for new builders with ideas, Scale for lifting existing projects. 20+ European regional events running now to prepare.

The Stellar Journey to Mastery program wrapped its initial 6-month run with a demo day showcasing 10+ builders who shipped live products to mainnet. The belt-based progression system, which scaled from 5,000 applicants to 4,849 active participants across 32 countries, proved extended support produces shipped goods—not abandoned hackathon projects.

Kaan shares his journey from law degree to Web3 developer advocate at Stellar Development Foundation. After years in legal practice, he discovered blockchain's pace was a better fit. Now at SDF following Risein bootcamp, he encourages others to make the transition.

Turkish blockchain educator Aybars discusses his career path from founding blockchain education initiatives to becoming a Stellar ambassador and AI identity builder. He shares insights on ecosystem support mechanisms and his vision for scaling AI agents in e-commerce on Stellar mainnet.

Fundable Live: weekly Spaces on web3 earnings. Covers Fundable Finance's payment/payroll/offramping platform, token opportunities on Robinhood chain, and Drip, a Stellar-based open-source contributor rewards program.

Educational guide for new builders joining the Stellar ecosystem. Explains the three pillars of Stellar (SDF, independent validators/developers, and global community), then focuses on the Stellar Community Fund—how it works as a grants program, evaluation criteria, and the step-by-step process for submitting projects and connecting with other builders.

Weekly show Onchain Africa interviews Koxy, co-founder of Choppaddi, a Stellar-based food and grocery delivery platform serving Africa. Discussion explores blockchain payments, creator economy infrastructure, and multi-currency transaction options for vendors and riders across West Africa.

Vietnamese team SEI Lab discusses Family Haven, a non-custodial wallet for families built on Soroban. The product addresses $7 billion in elderly asset losses through guardian protection and recovery features, deployed on testnet. Team won third prize at the APAC Hackathon.

Emin Kargöz (Kaptan), a developer from Turkey, traces his path into blockchain from initial curiosity about the technology to becoming an active Stellar ecosystem builder. Hackathons proved the turning point, offering deadline pressure and community that tutorials couldn't match. His project Subrosa, a privacy and coordination infrastructure on Stellar and Soroban, won the Build on Stellar hackathon in Istanbul. Now as a developer advocate, he mentors others.