
Next Hackathon
Band of Agents Hackathon
Starts Jun 12, 2026
In this hybrid hackathon powered by Arc and Circle, developers will build the next generation of Agentic economic applications using Circle’s Nanopayments infrastructure with settlement on Arc in USDC.
For the first time, high-frequency, usage-based transactions between users, APIs, and AI agents can operate without gas overhead eroding margin. Arc provides stablecoin-native settlement with predictable, dollar-denominated USDC fees and deterministic, sub-second finality — enabling real-time coordination and economically viable per-action pricing at scale.
📅 April 20 – 26, 2026
• Apr 20 – 25 (Online): Submit projects by Apr 25.
• Apr 25 (On-site Build - SF, CA): Teams refine projects.
• Apr 26 (On-site Demos & Awards - SF, CA): Live pitches & winners announced.
Get guidance from Arc and Circle experts through on-site support.
📍 On-site Venue (April 25-26):
MindsDB SF AI Collective
3154 17th St, San Francisco, California, USA
🤝 Go solo or team up, it's your flow.
🏆 Compete for a $15,000+ Prize Pool.
📍 Please note: If approved for the on-site experience, you’ll also have the opportunity to showcase your project live. Travel and accommodation will not be covered.
🧑🏻💻 Secure your spot now – sign up before the Kick-Off Stream!

Our AI hackathon brought together a diverse group of participants, who collaborated to develop a variety of impressive projects based on:
2051
Participants
599
Teams
227
AI Applications
This event has now ended, but you can still register for upcoming events on lablab.ai. We look forward to seeing you at the next one!
Check out Upcoming Events →
Build the Agentic Economy on Arc using USDC and Nanopayments.
Your mission is to design and ship an application, agent, or developer tool that leverages programmable USDC and Nanopayments for economically viable transactions to unlock new economic models for APIs, AI Agents, marketplaces, or machine-to-machine commerce.
You’ll choose one of the tracks below (or naturally align to one) and submit a working demo plus a clear explanation of your use case and feedback. You must align your project with at least one track. Winners are selected based on the best overall solutions, regardless of track. All submissions must: • Demonstrate real per-action pricing (≤ $0.01) • Show transaction frequency data (at least 50+ onchain transactions in demo) • Include a margin explanation: why this model would fail with traditional gas costs
This forces economic proof, not just a demo. Tracks:
🪙 Per-API Monetization Engine Build an API that charges per request using USDC, demonstrating viable per-call pricing at high frequency.
Create autonomous agents that pay and receive value in real time, proving machine-to-machine commerce without batching or custodial control.
Design an application that charges per query, per compute unit, or per task with real-time settlement aligned to actual usage.
Build a buyer or seller experience where economic activity is triggered and settled per interaction, not per subscription.
Your mission is to build and launch an AI-native product using X402 Payments - a programmable payments infrastructure designed for the next generation of agentic and automated economies.
In this edition of Launch & Fund Your Startup, you’ll have 6 days to validate an idea, build a working prototype, and present a credible path toward real users and on-chain revenue.
This challenge is open to everyone - from early-stage founders to existing startups looking to expand or pivot their products.
Your submission should clearly show how your solution integrates or reimagines X402 Payments in the context of real-world financial interaction
Tracks
Choose one - or mix and match. Each track explores a core use case of programmable payments in the age of agentic systems:
Challenge: Build a system where two or more agents autonomously trigger and settle payments—e.g., for usage-based services, access control, or dynamic pricing. Your product should demonstrate a working agentic payment loop with minimal human input.
Challenge: Develop an AI assistant that can make payments on a user’s behalf—with built-in rules like spending limits, approval checkpoints, or identity verification (KYC/AML). Showcase how your product handles decision-making, compliance, and safeguards.
Challenge: Build a tool for businesses to manage real-time payments and financial operations—like tracking cash flow, enforcing policies, or generating audit-ready records. Highlight automation, accuracy, and visibility into payment activity.
Challenge: Launch a digital product or service with a built-in revenue model using X402. Think: token-gated access, real-time rev-splits, or instant payouts to contributors. Your prototype should demonstrate seamless, trustless commerce flows.
Gemini is Google’s family of next-generation multimodal AI models designed for agent-driven commerce, capable of reasoning across text, images, code, video, and audio. Gemini also supports Function Calling, allowing agents to securely interact with Circle APIs and smart contracts as part of real-world payment and settlement workflows.
Google AI Studio is a browser-based environment where developers and creators can easily explore and prototype with Gemini models - test prompts, refine outputs, and experiment with different modalities before integrating them into real-world applications through the Gemini API.
Challenge:
Build with Gemini models and Google AI Studio to power the intelligence and interface of your agents, then run them on Arc with USDC for agent-driven commerce.
Your project should:
• Use Gemini (via Google AI Studio or Gemini API) for reasoning, chat, or multimodal understanding, and Function Calling, enabling agents to interact directly with Circle APIs and smart contracts.
• Run agent-driven or automated workflows that make decisions based on user input, data, or context.
• Coordinate and settle value on Arc with USDC using Circle infrastructure (e.g. Circle Wallets, Circle CCTP/Bridge Kit, Circle Gateway) as part of your commerce flow (subscriptions, usage-based APIs, tipping, marketplace payments, etc.).
Recommended Gemini Models:
Participants are encouraged to select the Gemini model that best fits their agent use case:
Gemini 3 Flash
Recommended for transactional and payment agents. Optimized for speed and low latency, making it ideal for real-time commerce flows such as checkout, payment execution, balance checks, and on-chain confirmations.
Gemini 3 Pro
Designed for advanced reasoning and “Deep Think” capabilities. Ideal for agents that need to negotiate prices, analyze complex transaction histories, manage treasuries, or coordinate multi-step financial workflows.
Multimodal Commerce Examples:
Gemini’s multimodal capabilities enable new forms of agent-driven commerce, such as:
• Using vision models to verify physical goods or delivery proof before releasing a USDC payment
• Analyzing invoice or receipt images to automate settlement, reconciliation, or refunds on Arc
Access to Technology:
Participants can explore Gemini through two main options - both include free access:
🌐
Google AI Studio: A
free, browser-based IDE for experimenting with Gemini. You can write prompts, test outputs, tweak parameters, and prototype without needing to set up billing or any API keys. Perfect for prototyping and rapid iteration during the hackathon.
💻
Gemini API: For developers ready to integrate Gemini directly into their apps. The free tier includes a
monthly allowance of tokens
for text and multimodal inputs/outputs, letting you test and build with Gemini’s core models at no cost. Paid usage only applies for higher-volume or production-level apps.
🔓 Google Cloud Credits:
New Google Cloud accounts receive $300 in free Google Cloud credits, valid for 90 days.
These credits can be used across eligible Google Cloud services, including Gemini API usage, subject to Google Cloud’s standard terms and regional availability.
Note: After the free credits are used or expire, continued usage of billable services requires enabling billing on your Google Cloud account. Charges only apply if you choose to continue using paid services.
🚀 How to Get Started
1. Visit the Gemini docs
2. Follow the Quickstart Guide to explore Gemini in AI Studio
📘 Resources:
Featherless provides access to a wide range of specialized AI models across domains such as coding, medical, legal, and multilingual use cases. It enables developers to build agent-driven, cost-efficient AI systems, making it a strong fit for projects leveraging USDC and the Agentic Economy on Arc.
Challenge:
Access to Technology:
Featherless will provide $25 in credits per participant, available to up to 1,000 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Access is valid for 1 month from activation.
👉 To activate your access, follow the setup guide below:
🚀 How to Get Started with Featherless
1. Open the setup guide using the link above
2. Scan the QR code or follow the signup link inside the guide
3. Create your account and activate your free Premium access
4. Generate your API key from your account dashboard
5. Choose a model from the catalog and start building
📘 Resources:
• Featherless Documentation
• Featherless Quickstart
⚠️ Important Notes:
AI/ML API will provide $10 in credits per participant, available to up to 1,000 participants. Access is activated via a promo code during signup.
Access is valid until the winners announcment on the 26th of April.
👉 Claim your unique promo here: AI/ML API Coupon
🚀 How to Get Started with AI/ML API
• Register on the AI/ML API website
• Go to the billing section
• Click redeem promocode on the banner
• Enter your unique promo code (Instantly receive $10 on your account)
• Up to 1,000 participants. First come first served.
• For the technical support, visit AI/ML API Discord.
Pro tip: start with smaller models for quick tests. Scale up when it counts
⚠️ Important Notes:
• Credits are provided by AI/ML API and are subject to their delivery
• Credits are limited to 1,000 participants and subject to availability
• AI/ML API is a subscription-based service
• If you do not plan to continue using the service after the hackathon, make sure to cancel your subscription to avoid charges
• lablab.ai is not responsible for credit distribution or billing
Speaker: Joanna Slupczewska
Head of Marketing
Speaker: Isaac Gemal
Developer relations
Speaker: Karen Sheng
Chief Product Officer
⭐On-site prizes
🥇 1st place -
💰$3,000 in USDC
🥈2nd place -
💰 $1,500 in USDC
🥉3rd place -
💰 $1,000 in USDC
⭐Online prizes
🥇 1st place -
💰 $2,500 in USDC
🥈2nd place -
💰 $1,500 in USDC
💰 Rewards from $500 in USDC
X - Community Hub - Discord
📋 Basic Information
• Project Title
• Short Description
• Long Description
• Technology & Category Tags
📸 Cover Image and Presentation
• Cover Image
• Video Presentation
• Slide Presentation
💻 App Hosting & Code Repository
• Public GitHub Repository
• Demo Application Platform
• Application URL
📝 Circle Product Feedback (Required)
Each team must complete the “Circle Product Feedback” field as part of their final project submission.
💡 The most detailed and helpful responses will be eligible for the Product Feedback Incentive ($500 USDC in rewards).
Include:
• Which Circle products you used (e.g. Arc, USDC, Circle Wallets, Circle Gateway, Circle CCTP/Bridge Kit, Nanopayments)
• Why you chose these products for your use case
• What worked well during development
• What could be improved
• Any recommendations to make the product or developer experience more seamless or scalable
Please ensure your submission clearly states which challenge track you participated in and which Circle products were used.
📸 Required: Transaction Flow Demonstration (Video)
Your submission video must clearly demonstrate how a USDC transaction is processed end-to-end using Circle infrastructure and Arc settlement, including:
• A transaction executed via the Circle Developer Console
• Verification of that transaction on the Arc Block Explorer
This helps judges validate correct integration and on-chain execution
All submissions must demonstrate real per-action pricing (≤ $0.01), show transaction frequency data (at least 50+ onchain transactions in demo) and include a margin explanation: why this model would fail with traditional gas costs.
For further details and guidance, please visit Submission Guidelines
Join lablab.ai hackathon and innovate using the latest models in the market. Discover all the relevant details below.
The start date of the hackathon is mentioned according to the date specified on the hackathon page, cover and schedule. The hackathon will take place on the lablab.ai platform and lablab.ai Discord server.
Everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of previous AI or coding experience! We encourage anyone with a passion for AI or an interest in exploring how it can be used in their field to join.
If you don't have a team, don't worry! You can connect with other participants from all over the world on our dashboard or Discord server. We also recommend checking out our Discord server to find teammates and bounce around ideas. You can join the server here.
The hackathon will take place online on lablab.ai platform and lablab.ai Discord Server. Please register for both in order to participate. To participate click the "Enroll" button at the bottom of the page and read our Hackathon Guidelines and Getting Started Guide.
To get ready for the hackathon, visit our AI Tech pages and read up on all the available technologies. You can also check out our tutorials page for more information on how to use them. Get a head start on your project by using the resources on lablab.ai!
Submissions from the teams participating in the Agentic Economy on Arc event and making it to the end 👊
Check out the roster and find teams to join

Next Hackathon
Band of Agents Hackathon
Starts Jun 12, 2026