PAY.
An official MERGE hackathon — where institutions meet crypto & web3.
Autonomous AI agents are about to start transacting — with each other and on behalf of humans. The default rail won't be cards. It will be stablecoins on programmable chains: instant, sub-cent, machine-readable, 24/7.
That shift is creating a new category of sponsor — stablecoin issuers, agent-payment infrastructure, L1s — all racing to be the rail of choice.
Built on stablecoins. Funded by the rails fighting to power them. Launched in September, announced live at MERGE Madrid, built at a 48-hour hackathon two weeks later, with finalists demoing on the Main Stage of MERGE LatAm Buenos Aires.
Sep + Oct + Nov 2026
March 2027
IN MADRID.
NOVEMBER 2026.
Hackers on site for 48h.
Mentors, stations and judging on the final day.
Top projects shortlisted for Buenos Aires.
In November 2025, MERGE ran a 48-hour hackathon at Fundación ONCE Madrid — with BSV Association as title sponsor, and Fundación ONCE, Mastercard and the Comunidad de Madrid Clusters funding challenge prizes.
- Title sponsor
- MERGE × BSV Association
- Challenge partners
-
- Venue & date
- Fundación ONCE Madrid · 29–30 Nov 2025
Build an autonomous agent that transacts in the real world — buying services, data, compute or goods — paying in stablecoins, end to end, with no human in the loop.
Build the rail itself: streaming micropayments between agents — pay-per-API-call, pay-per-token, pay-per-second — at sub-cent cost and machine-speed throughput.
Sponsors live in one of four layers of the agent-payment stack. Entry from €7,500 plus a single €5,000 contribution to the prize pool (€2,500 for L4). Layer-dependent.
Choose where your product lives in the stack.
L1 co-sponsored · L2 single exclusive · L3 per vertical · L4 by category.
€5k–€20k entry + €2.5k–€5k to the prize pool.
The bigger your pool contribution, the more builders pick your stack.
Where the transactions land. The blockchain that records every agent payment. Builders deploy here; sponsors anchor here.
Multichain by design: 2–5 chains coexist as co-sponsors. The bigger your prize contribution, the more builders choose your stack.
- Track-level naming: "powered by [chain]"
- All builders on your chain → your ecosystem
- Main Stage moments at Madrid + Buenos Aires
- Dedicated mentor station on the floor
The settlement currency. The stablecoins agents actually move — the denomination of every transaction.
One stablecoin becomes the default settlement currency for the entire cohort — the cleanest commercial position in the deck.
- Default settlement for all builders
- Branded "Best [Stablecoin] integration" prize
- Demo Day stage segment in Buenos Aires
- Direct intros to finalist builders for pilots
Wallet-as-a-service and agent platforms that builders integrate. Two verticals, sold separately.
Wallet OR agent platform. Naming, default integration, branded challenge, mentor seat.
SDK integration, co-branded challenge, mentor seat, dev-facing logo.
Cloud, AI labs, frameworks and security audits — the services builders need to ship and harden their projects.
No single provider covers all the services. Sponsors compete by category — cloud, AI labs, frameworks, audits — bigger grants attract more builders.
- Credits / in-kind to all hackers
- Branded "Best use of [Service]" prize
- Brand placement on builder onboarding
- Audit / credits package for top 3 finalists
Built layer by layer — every sponsor contributes a single minimum to the pool, on top of their entry fee.
| Layer | Pool / sponsor | Expected count | To pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 · Base Chain | €5,000 | 2–3 co-sponsors | €10k – €15k |
| L2 · Currency | €5,000 | 1 exclusive sponsor | €5k |
| L3 · Infrastructure | €5,000 | 1–2 co-sponsors | €5k – €10k |
| L4 · Support | €2,500 | 2–3 co-sponsors | €5k – €7.5k |
| Cash prize pool | Base commitments | €25k – €37.5k | |
MERGE convenes the three audiences that matter for agentic payments — developers and crypto-native builders, fintech and tech corporates, and the institutional capital that funds adoption.
First commitments shape the anchor positions on each layer. Custom packages on request — reach out for layer details, dual-role bundles and timelines.