Stellar partnered with Rise In to host Hack Pera, Turkey’s largest IRL Web3 hackathon during Istanbul Blockchain Week in June 2025, attracting 200+ developers and resulting in 72 projects. Ten teams won shares of $25,000 in prizes, with one launching on Stellar mainnet and gaining 100+ users immediately. The event featured strong mentorship, high participant satisfaction (4.86/5), and a focus on building real on-chain value in the Stellar ecosystem.
In June 2025, Stellar and Rise In organized Hack Pera at the historic Pera Palace in Istanbul, drawing over 200 selected developers from 500+ applications for a 36-hour Web3 hackathon. The event produced 72 projects, with 10 winners sharing $25,000 in prizes across Consumer and DeFi/Infra tracks, including standout projects like Kale Predict, Luminate, Riskon, and PayStream built on Stellar and Soroban. One winning team launched on Stellar mainnet during the hackathon, quickly attracting 100+ users, while others progressed toward SDF grants. Key success factors included pre-event bootcamps, on-site mentorship from Stellar team members and local grantees, 50+ travel scholarships, ~25% women participants, and a collaborative community atmosphere yielding a 4.86/5 satisfaction score. Rise In handled seamless logistics, curation, and education, fostering high-quality prototypes with real traction potential. Experienced builders and newcomers alike participated, blurring lines between historic venue and futuristic coding. Several teams are now pursuing grants and ecosystem integration.