Algorand x402 Workshop & Global Challenge
Ship a paid API endpoint on Thursday. Enter a $100K challenge by Monday.
The Algorand Global x402 Challenge closes to new entrants at 11:45 pm ET on 1 September. To enter you need a live, paid x402 endpoint on Algorand Mainnet — not a pitch, not a prototype. This session is where you build one.
Ninety minutes, fully remote, build-along. You bring a working local API and leave with it deployed, taking real USDC, listed in the Bazaar, and on the competition leaderboard.
📅 Tuesday 25 August, 18:00 – 19:30 CEST
💻 Online — https://app.livestorm.co/p/2099fbf7-c2f4-4519-9389-79a67e56fede
🚨 🚨 Register here before Sept 1 to participate🚨 🚨 https://algorand.co/global-x402-challenge
What's actually on the line
The Global x402 Challenge is Algorand's competition to turn APIs into live pay-per-request services. $100,000 USD plus 500,000 ALGO in prizes.
1st $25,000 · 2nd $22,500 · 3rd $20,000 · 4th $17,500 · 5th $15,000
500,000 ALGO split across the top 20 endpoints on the leaderboard
Top 50 on the leaderboard are considered for 10 finalist spots
Finalists present live at Devcon 8 in India; winners announced by 12 November
Ranking is on real on-chain usage, measured over an unannounced window in October. Judges weigh four criteria evenly: volume of USDC settled, use case quality, sustained potential, and innovation.
Full details & registration: https://algorand.co/global-x402-challenge
Official Rules: https://algorand.co/hubfs/x402%20competition%20Official%20Rules.pdf
⏳ The deadline is the whole point
Registration closes 11:45pm ET, Monday 1 September — that's the early hours of Tuesday 2 September in Berlin. You cannot register without a MainNet endpoint already settling payments through the GoPlausible facilitator.
Five days after this session. That is the entire runway, and it is why this is a build session rather than a talk.
Before you join — 20 minutes of prep
Do this beforehand or you will spend the session catching up:
Read the readiness checklist: https://algorand.co/blog/the-x402-global-challenge-is-live-how-to-build-submit-your-entry
Clone the Algorand Foundation demo server and client: https://github.com/algorandfoundation/x402-demo/tree/main/x402-basic-tutorial/server https://github.com/algorandfoundation/x402-demo/tree/main/x402-basic-tutorial/client
Get it running on TestNet — network ALGORAND_Testnet_CAIP2, USDC ASA 10458941, payTo account opted in to USDC and funded from the dispensers.
Have a Mainnet account ready and opted in to USDC (ASA 31566704), with a few dollars of USDC in it for your first real payment.
Have somewhere to deploy over public HTTPS. Localhost does not qualify.
Major Links
Technical questions can go straight to the official Algorand Discord
Share your endpoint to gain first users in the Algorand Berlin Builder Telegram group (also for FAQ)
Building with an AI assistant? Install the Algorand agent skills — https://github.com/algorand-devrel/algorand-agent-skills/tree/main/skills — or the GoPlausible plugins for OpenClaw and Claude Code: GoPlausible/openclaw-algorand-plugin GoPlausible/claude-algorand-plugin
Pick your entry type
The challenge accepts three shapes. Know which one you are before you build.
Standard — one project, one endpoint, one price. Most teams.
Composite — several endpoints under one project sharing a payTo address. Their volume rolls up into one leaderboard entry.
Orchestrator — your product's value is calling and paying other people's endpoints. You still expose one paid endpoint of your own; downstream payments count as real activity for both sides.
Who this is for
Anyone running an API that could charge per request instead of per month
Agent builders who need machine-payable services to call
Teams who already started on x402 and haven't gone to MainNet yet
Founders looking at usage-based pricing without subscriptions or logins
You need a working API and the ability to deploy it. This is not an introduction to APIs.
Common things to charge for
Data — datasets, reports, market signals, verification results, one request at a time.
Compute — pay only when a model runs or a file is processed.
Actions — an agent pays when it sends a message, books a resource, generates a file.
Verification — trust scores, proofs, audit trails, reputation checks.