La Dolce Vita - IXH25 Hackathon in Rome, Italy
In November 2025, we partnered with De Componendis Cifris, the Italian Association of Cryptography, Roma Tre University, and the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) to host a three-day hackathon in Rome. Over 60 university students, including many Aquarium residents, partook in seminars, technical discussions, and hands-on building.
The €10,000 XRPL track prize was awarded to a Swiss team for PermiX, a permissioned DEX on XRPL leveraging verifiable credentials and OpenID4VP to enable compliant identity-based access control. The Best Developer Feedback award went to Joy and Divgun Singh, Aquarium alumni.
Blockchain over Pasteis de Nata – Blockchain Confluence Conference in Lisbon, Portugal
Last November, XRPL Commons joined the Blockchain Confluence Conference in Lisbon and hosted an Academic Insight workshop at Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE). Participants engaged in ecosystem deep dives, research exchanges, and sessions linking academia and builders, including an XRPL Commons workshop focused on the innovation stack and open-source public goods.
Aquarium Alums Ekonavi and Pop Wallet showcased live demos and community-driven projects highlighting the impact of open collaboration on XRPL. The Academic Insight session also featured research talks, a lab tour, and an introduction to the XRPL Commons Aquarium Residency. Open-source workshop materials from the workshop are available at xrpl.at/nova-insight
DeFi Showcase in Paris - Aquarium Demo Day
Our second DeFi cohort concluded at the end of the year with one final community event ahead of the holidays. During Demo Day, each resident had just 90 seconds to pitch their project before a jury panel and live audience. Following the rapid-fire presentations, attendees met the teams at their booths to explore the solutions in greater depth and engage directly with the builders.
Jury Prize: Blockvault
Community Award: Trustline
Aquarium Reward: Swap.Show.
You can read more about all three projects on page X. What a way to close out the year!
Shoreditch Shenanigans - 3 Events in 2 Days in London
In February 2026, we returned to our favorite rainy city (after Paris!) to bring the XRPL community together across three events. We kicked things off with the first-ever XRP Ledger Dinner Club, a new Commons initiative designed to complement our international meetups. In a relaxed, members-only setting, selected leaders and builders from the global blockchain ecosystem gathered for thoughtful discussions and shared industry challenges.
We continued with our second Research Workshop at Exponential Science, organized in partnership with Associate Professor Jiahua Xu and the UCL Department of Computer Science. The four-hour session brought together PhD students and researchers to explore frontier topics in blockchain, AI, and finance, reinforcing the global academic leadership of the UBRI network. We concluded with an XRPL Meetup focused on Institutional DeFi, featuring speakers from VS1 Finance, Soil, and MiCA Crypto Alliance, where Odelia Torteman presented the XRP Ledger’s DeFi roadmap and upcoming amendments.
Check out our upcoming events and meetups:
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