Agentic Economy on Arc
The official Agentic Economy on Arc Hackathon will take place on April 25–26, 2026 in San Francisco, CA, as the on-site finale of a global hybrid event. In the days leading up to the SF gathering, teams will build remotely and ship projects that demonstrate how developers can, for the first time, process sub-cent transactions onchain, gas-free and high-throughput, while retaining full control of funds.
Circle Nanopayments and Arc unlock a new primitive for the internet: programmable USDC payments measured in fractions of a cent, settled predictably on a stablecoin-native blockchain. This hackathon will showcase how high-frequency, usage-based payments between users, APIs, and AI agents can work in practice using Circle’s Nanopayments and Arc.
This fundamentally changes the economics of building onchain. By removing gas friction and enabling high-throughput, sub-cent transactions, developers can design systems where pricing aligns precisely with usage, without transaction costs eroding margin.
Instead of subscriptions and billing cycles, developers can charge per API call, per query, per millisecond of compute, or per action. High-frequency, low-value transactions become economically viable at scale.
Participants will explore gas-free micropayments and agentic commerce through hands-on challenges and mentorship opportunities. Projects will focus on building applications on Arc using USDC and Circle infrastructure such as Nanopayments, CCTP, Circle Wallets, and related developer tooling. Teams will design systems that enable real-time, sub-cent transactions while leveraging Arc for stablecoin-native settlement with predictable USDC fees and deterministic, sub-second finality.
Backed by Circle and Arc, the hackathon will reward creativity and technical excellence with a $10,000 prize pool, on-site pitching opportunities, and recognition for selected teams. The most impactful teams will be invited to participate in person in San Francisco to present their work, connect with ecosystem partners, and help demonstrate what the Agentic Economy on Arc can enable.
Location
San Francisco, California, USA
Please note: On-site capacity is limited. Priority access will be given to selected teams. Travel and accommodation will not be covered.