Ripple and the University of California, Berkeley have jointly announced a new accelerator program to help developers turn early-stage blockchain ideas into deployable products. XRP ledger.
Ripple University’s blockchain research initiative is launching the University Digital Assets Excelerator (UDAX), which promises to provide founders with hands-on technical support, direct mentorship, and access to a network of capital, according to a press statement from the stablecoin issuer released on Friday.
Ripple is adding to its academic footprint through UBRI, a multi-year program based at the University of California, Berkeley that has contributed to blockchain research and talent development.
UDAX debuts after 6-week pilot cohort in Berkeley
According to Ripple, the first iteration of UDAX launched Participate in a pilot cohort at the University of California, Berkeley in Fall 2025. This program is the result of a collaboration between Ripple engineers and an interdisciplinary group of Berkeley faculty and instructors.
Over six intensive weeks, nine startups worked with mentors to develop their concepts into solutions for market deployment. The program began with a launch summit in Berkeley, where I was introduced to the founders. XRP Ledger architecture and Ripple ecosystem.
It all ended with a closing summit and demo day at Ripple’s San Francisco headquarters, featuring words of encouragement from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and chief technology officer emeritus David Schwartz, putting the startup at the forefront of the world. XRP Ledger developers, Ripple executives, and representatives from 13 venture capital firms.
WaveTip is one of several startups participating in the program. This platform provides instant tips to Twitch streamers. Twitch streamers are XRP Ledger Mainnet was used during acceleration and is currently available from the Chrome Web Store.
X-Card, another startup that converts physical collectibles into liquid digital assets, introduced over $1.5 million in inventory during a six-week period. The team also secured partnerships with the merchant community and thousands of collectors, according to program disclosures.
UDAX helped BlockBima, which develops automated climate risk microinsurance products for vulnerable communities, triple its active user base. The team worked with mentors, including Andrea Barrica, to hone their pitch to appeal to investors.
Ripple reports that participating teams experienced an average 67% increase in product maturity and 92% increase in funding confidence after completing the program.
Additionally, the accelerator also supported institutional finance and cross-border capital flow projects such as CRX Digital Assets, which used UDAX to export Brazilian credit products and increased the amount of tokenized assets from $39 million to $58 million.
Blockroll, a stablecoin-based financial service, has launched a stablecoin-powered virtual card for African freelancers in the global market.
“Blockroll will use RLUSD as an institutionally accepted stablecoin to streamline remittance payments from major sources in sub-Saharan Africa and enable financial access use cases such as stablecoin-backed debit cards that work globally,” commented Blackroll CEO Sadiq Isiaka. “This also opens up world-class wealth creation opportunities for African users, including stablecoin yields and tokenized U.S. stocks.”
Other teams tackled infrastructure and compliance challenges. After working with leaders in legal and corporate affairs, WellArive refined its platform into a two-sided marketplace model. Spout perfected a complex equity tokenization model and secured interviews with venture capital firms, while Mintara Labs worked to validate a go-to-market strategy for crypto bank insurance.
University of California, Berkeley and Ripple’s partnership expands
Last October, the University of California, Berkeley Institute of Technology announced the launch of a new digital asset center in collaboration with Ripple Labs (Cryptopolitan) reported. At the time, UCB said the research center would be used to study how blockchain and digital twin technologies can capture, value, verify and exchange physical assets in digital form.
Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative has contributed $1.3 million to Ripple USD, the company’s US dollar-denominated stablecoin. The International Data Corporation’s 2025 report estimates that global data volume will reach 175 zettabytes, with some forecasts mentioning 181 zettabytes.
“Digital content has been part of our human experience and economic system for decades,” said Tarek Zoudi, associate dean for research at Berkeley Engineering and dean of the center. “The Center’s overall mission is to foster pioneering research, education, innovation and entrepreneurship in the broader field of digital asset technology.”
UCB engineers are also researching “twinning” of physical assets, creating replicas that can be analyzed, tested, and assigned current and future values that can be traded on-chain.
