Mastercard Sponsors XRP Ledger Hackathon in October

Mastercard will participate as a sponsor for the XRP Ledger Hackathon taking place in New York on October 24-25. This event will last for 36 hours and is scheduled for the weekend right before Ripple's Swell 2026. Organized by XRPL Commons, it provides a platform for developers to create and present projects based on the XRP Ledger. The event is divided into four tracks: Protocol Innovation, Agentic Finance, Lending & Borrowing, and Open Track. The Protocol Innovation track includes a three-day core development bootcamp running from October 20-22. The XRP Ledger is a public blockchain network on which Ripple operates, and discussions have recently been ongoing about expanding its lending, custody, and delegation features. The hackathon is more focused on testing network functionalities and services rather than short-term supply and demand of specific tokens. In November 2025, Mastercard announced a collaboration with Ripple to utilize Ripple Dollars for settlement of fiat payments for the Gemini Credit Card. In 2023, Ripple was included as an early participant in Mastercard's CBDC partner program. This hackathon is a significant event showcasing the intersection between payment companies and the XRP Ledger developer ecosystem.