UDAX debuts after a six-week pilot cohort at Berkeley

Ripple and the University of California, Berkeley have jointly unveiled a new accelerator program to help developers turn early-stage blockchain ideas into deployable products on the XRP Ledger. 

According to the stablecoin issuer’s press statement published on Friday, Ripple University’s Blockchain Research Initiative is launching a University Digital Asset Xcelerator (UDAX) that promises to provide founders with hands-on technical support, direct mentorship, and access to capital networks. 

Ripple is adding its academic footprint through UBRI, the multi-year program based at UC Berkeley that has been contributing to blockchain research and talent.

UDAX debuts after a six-week pilot cohort at Berkeley

According to Ripple, the first iteration of UDAX launched in fall 2025 as a pilot cohort hosted at UC Berkeley. The program was a product of a collaboration between Ripple engineers and a multidisciplinary group of Berkeley faculty and lecturers.

Over six intensive weeks, nine startups worked alongside mentors to develop their concepts into solutions for market deployment. The program began with a launch summit held in Berkeley, where founders were introduced to the XRP Ledger’s architecture and the Ripple ecosystem. 

It all concluded with a closing summit and demo day at Ripple’s San Francisco headquarters, featuring words of encouragement from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and CTO Emeritus David Schwartz, placing the startups in front of XRP Ledger developers, Ripple executives, and representatives from 13 venture capital firms.

One of the several startups involved in the program is WaveTip. This platform provides instant tips for Twitch streamers, which completed its transition to the XRP Ledger Mainnet during the accelerator and is now available through the Chrome Web Store.

X-Card, another startup that converts physical collectibles into liquid digital assets, onboarded more than $1.5 million in inventory during the six-week period. The team also secured partnerships with merchant communities and thousands of collectors, according to program disclosures.

UDAX helped BlockBima, which is developing automated climate-risk microinsurance products for vulnerable communities, triple its active user base. The teams worked with mentors, including Andrea Barrica, to sharpen their pitches enough that they could appeal to investors.

Ripple reported that participating teams hit an average 67% increase in product maturity and a 92% average increase in fundraising confidence after the program. 

Moreover, the accelerator also supported institutional finance and cross-border capital flow projects like CRX Digital Assets, which used UDAX for exporting Brazilian credit products and increased its tokenized asset volume from $39 million to $58 million.

Stablecoin-based financial services Blockroll launched stablecoin-backed virtual cards for African freelancers in global markets.

“Blockroll will use RLUSD as the institutionally accepted stablecoins to streamline remittance settlements from Sub-Saharan Africa’s leading source, and enable financial access use cases such as stablecoin-backed debit cards that work globally.” Sadiq Isiaka, Blackroll, CEO commented. “This also unlocks world-class wealth-building opportunities for African users, including stablecoin yields and tokenized US stocks.”

Other teams addressed infrastructure and compliance challenges. WellArrive refined its platform into a dual-sided marketplace model after working with legal and corporate affairs mentors. Spout finalized a complex equity tokenization model and secured meetings with venture capital firms, while Mintara Labs worked to validate its go-to-market strategy for crypto-bank insurance.

UC Berkeley and Ripple’s partnership grows

The California University, Berkeley’s College of Engineering announced the launch of a new Center for Digital Assets in conjunction with Ripple Labs last October, Cryptopolitan reported. At the time, UCB stated that 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 contributed $1.3 million in Ripple USD, the company’s US dollar-backed stablecoin. A 2025 report from the International Data Corporation estimates that worldwide data volumes will reach 175 zettabytes, with some projections mentioning 181 zettabytes.

“Digital content has been part of our human experience and economic systems for decades,” said Tarek Zohdi, associate dean for research at Berkeley Engineering and the center’s faculty director. “The overall mission of the center is to foster pioneering research, education, innovation, and entrepreneurship within the broader digital asset technology landscape.”

UCB engineers are also studying the “twinning”  of physical assets, making replicas that can be analyzed, tested, and assigned present and future value to be traded onchain.

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