The Future Is Built Together

Reflections on building community, opportunity, and purpose through StarMaker

There's a version of Web3 that exists almost entirely online. It lives in metrics, token prices, timelines and endless conversations about what the future could look like.

But across Latin America, we've learned that the most important part of building the future still happens the old-fashioned way: through people meeting each other, sharing ideas, learning together, and realizing they are not building alone.

At Blockchain Acceleration Foundation (BAF), that belief sits at the center of everything we do.

BAF is a nonprofit organization founded in California with a global vision around education, technology and opportunity. Over the years, the organization has worked across different initiatives and ecosystems, always with the same intention: helping people access the tools, knowledge and networks they need to create meaningful impact through emerging technologies.

Our alliance with Stellar, however, has focused specifically on Latin America; and in many ways, that collaboration has become proof of what can happen when infrastructure and human potential are treated with the same level of importance.

Over the last year and five months, through the Star Maker Ambassador Program, BAF and Stellar have worked together to create educational opportunities, mentorship spaces, retreats, hackathons, scholarships and community experiences designed to help builders across LATAM grow their ideas into real projects.

Today, the community includes more than 1,300 ambassadors across countries like Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, and Costa Rica; while also welcoming participants from many other regions who continue joining because they believe in what this ecosystem is trying to build.

And while Web3 conversations often focus on products and protocols, the real story behind Star Maker has always been people:

People looking for a place to start, people searching for collaborators, people trying to understand whether their ideas are actually possible.

Some arrive wanting to build startups, others come searching for grants or technical knowledge.

Some simply want to understand what blockchain technology can do beyond speculation…

…What they often find instead is community.

Through educational courses, virtual and in-person events, bootcamps, ideathons, buildathons, ambassador programs and retreats, we've tried to create spaces where builders can learn without feeling excluded from the conversation.

Because talent has never been the problem in Latin America. Access has.

One of the most meaningful parts of this journey has been working alongside Stellar. From the beginning, Stellar believed deeply in the value of Latin American builders and consistently supported the vision behind what we were trying to create through StarMaker.

Not only by providing infrastructure and funding opportunities, but by making the ecosystem itself feel accessible. That matters more than people realize.

Many of our ambassadors have had the opportunity to connect directly with members of the Stellar Development Foundation, interact with experienced developers, receive mentorship, and understand that the people building this technology are real, approachable humans and not distant figures behind a protocol.

In an industry that can sometimes feel impersonal, that proximity changes everything. Because ecosystems are not sustained by technology alone. They are sustained by relationships, trust and shared purpose.

Something that has also deeply aligned BAF and Stellar is the intention behind the projects we support. We are not interested in building "solutions" disconnected from reality or creating technology for the sake of trends.

We care about builders who are trying to solve real problems around them: Builders who understand their communities and builders who want to create impact that can actually be felt in everyday life.

During the first quarter of 2026, that vision came to life through programs like GIVE Medellín and Código Alebrije.

GIVE Medellín, Stellar's volunteer initiative hosted in Medellín, Colombia, brought together more than 45 builders from across Latin America to collaborate on ideas and solutions capable of generating impact within Colombia's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

What made the experience special was not only the projects themselves, but the environment that formed around them. People from different countries, backgrounds and skill levels came together with a shared intention: to build something meaningful.

Código Alebrije carried that same spirit forward. The program began with a large-scale educational bootcamp that attracted more than 500 participants from across LATAM. Builders received mentorship, technical resources, guidance and support to start developing their ideas from zero.

From there, selected participants were invited to continue growing within the ecosystem. Some received scholarships to attend GIVE Medellín, while others advanced into the next phase of Código Alebrije in Mexico.

The program later divided into two tracks: Genesis, focused on helping newer builders transform ideas into functional MVPs; and Scale, designed for projects that already had traction and needed support accelerating toward the next stage.

Fifteen projects were ultimately selected for the Alebrije accelerator experience, where teams received the opportunity to continue developing their startups and pursue their first Instawards through Stellar Community Funds.

But the most meaningful outcomes were not always measurable:

Some participants found funding.

Others found co-founders.

Others gained mentorship, friendships, or the confidence to finally start building.

Sometimes the biggest transformation is simply realizing you belong in these spaces too.

That feeling became even more visible through the retreats organized as part of StarMaker. Across different countries, these gatherings created moments where builders could step away from online noise and reconnect with creativity, collaboration and long-term thinking.

Because the future of technology cannot be built entirely behind screens. It needs human connection. It needs spaces where people can sit together, exchange ideas honestly, challenge each other and imagine better systems collectively.

That same philosophy is also why experiences like Meridian mattered so much to our community. In 2025, Meridian, the Stellar's largest annual conference, took place in Rio de Janeiro, and through scholarships provided by the program, more than 70 StarMaker ambassadors had the opportunity to attend.

For many of them, it was their first time entering a global technology conference and realizing they were not outsiders to this industry. They were already part of it.

At BAF, we still believe the most important infrastructure is human infrastructure.

The protocols matter.

The tools matter.

The funding matters.

But none of it means anything without people who are willing to learn, collaborate and use those systems to create something meaningful for the communities around them.

That is what we continue building through Star Maker alongside Stellar. Not just an onboarding program into Web3, but an ecosystem where people across Latin America can access opportunities, develop ideas with purpose, and feel empowered to shape the future they want to live in.

And honestly, we're still just getting started.

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Alejandra Vargas Associate Lead of Star Maker & Community Manager

AV

Written byAlejandra Vargas