Winners from the 2026 Istanbul Build On Stellar x RiseIn Hackathon discuss why they chose Stellar for their first blockchain projects. They praise the network's ease of use, developer-friendly architecture, and fast transaction settlement. The winners highlight how AI tools like Claude and Cursor accelerated their development process, and emphasize the importance of judge feedback for refining their ideas.
Winners from the 2026 Istanbul Build On Stellar x RiseIn Hackathon discuss their experience building on the Stellar network for the first time. Multiple developers highlight Stellar's ease of use compared to other blockchains, crediting the network's intuitive developer tools, Soroban smart contracts, and low-cost transactions for enabling rapid prototyping. The interview reveals how AI-assisted development tools—particularly Claude, Cursor, and DeepSeek V4 Pro—helped winners accelerate from initial concept to implementation during the compressed hackathon timeline. Winners also stress the critical role of detailed judge feedback in refining their submissions, noting that external perspective from experienced builders fundamentally shaped their final projects and technical decisions. Looking ahead, several winners express plans to continue building on Stellar and aspire to Web3 developer careers.
