What are the XRPL Grants Terms & Conditions?
Terms and Conditions for XRPL Grant can be viewed here. Grantees are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct, and to support making the XRPL community welcoming and harassment-free.
From the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct:
“Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment include:
- Using welcoming and inclusive language
- Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
- Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
- Focusing on what is best for the community
- Showing empathy towards other community members
Examples of behavior that does not contribute to creating a positive environment include:
- Using sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances
- Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
- Public or private harassment
- Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission
- Other conduct that could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting”
What use cases are funded?
While XRPL Grants are open to all use cases, the program is currently prioritizing funding projects with the following use cases:
- Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
- Real World Asset (RWA) Tokenization
How do judges evaluate an application?
The XRP Grants program seeks to fund software development projects and ventures leveraging the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
The judging panel includes renowned subject matter experts in blockchain business development and business: CTOs, product managers, VCs and investors, and XRPL Community members, including past awardees. The judging committee can be viewed here (subject to change).
When evaluating applications, judges take a detailed and holistic look at the project to determine whether it has:
- A strong founding team with technical experience to execute the project
- A viable business use case that solves a problem or need in the industry
- A product with strong market opportunity
- Alignment with the capabilities of the XRPL
- Sustainability - does the team have a plan for how this project will be maintained long-term?
Additionally, the XRPL Grants program reserves the right to decline any project. The XRPL Grants program team encourages program teams to encourage a positive environment and be supportive of other projects within the XRPL ecosystem. Reports of harassment, doxing, etc., that target other members of the community, members of the program team, or Judges will not be tolerated under any circumstances. All projects and teams are expected to adhere to the XRPL Grants Terms of Service and the XRPL Developers Contributor Code of Conduct. If the XRPL Grants program determines that you have violated these terms, especially in an egregious manner, your application to the program will not be accepted.
Projects are scored on a Technical Assessment Rubric and a Business Assessment Rubric based on the following criteria:
Technical Assessment: To determine the team’s technical strength and ability to build execute and maintain the project.
- Technical Team Strength: Does the team have the relevant technical skills and experience to build, execute, and maintain the project?
- Technical Design and XRPL Alignment: Does the project’s overall system design, architecture, technical approach, and alignment with the XRPL’s capabilities and integration requirements?
- Code Walkthrough and Review Quality: - The project shared original coding work (code may be a mix of original work with forked or open source components) that is generally readable and runnable - The project provided documentation with basic information about the project’s features and instructions for running the code - The team has demonstrated coding best practices, such as basic security considerations and authentication handling
- Product Roadmap and Milestones: The roadmap is realistic, and well-thought-out, and demonstrates an understanding of necessary steps, resources, and timelines necessary to complete the project, and the XRPL integration prioritized as an early milestone
Business Assessment:
- Team Strength: the project has a strong founding team with the ability to execute the proposed roadmap
- Project Roadmap and Milestones: the team provides a clear, step-by-step roadmap and milestones for executing the project
- Market Opportunity: The project fills a needed market gap, and the team demonstrates an understanding of the competitive landscape
- Project Traction: the project has demonstrated growth in terms of user adoption, or revenue growth
- Financial Project Sustainability: the project team has demonstrated that they have a sustainable financial plan for long-term viability
- XRPL Utility and Onchain Activity Use Case Alignment: the project supports growth for the XRPL ecosystem, and has the potential to drive incremental onchain transactions, and/or provide key infrastructure and/or developer tooling for the XRPL ecosystem
- Commitment to the XRPL: the team is committed to building/integrating with the XRPL in the long-term
Who can apply for a Grant?
Employees at Ripple are not eligible to apply for the XRPL Grants Program.
Why build on the XRP Ledger?
The XRP Ledger has powered over 2.6 billion transactions, facilitating transactions worth over $1 trillion, a testament to its reliability and scalability.
This is your chance to tap into ample XRP liquidity of 4.5M+ XRP wallets and become a part of an exciting network that includes 1000+ apps.
What personal information do I need to provide?
You will be required to share full legal names and bios of all team members, as well as a copy of a government-issued ID (front and back). If considered for a finalist interview, we will complete additional compliance, legal, and sanctions screenings.
Do I have to receive a grant in order to build on the XRP Ledger?
What is the application period?
XRPL Grants and the XRPL Accelerator have moved to a unified rolling application process starting in Spring 2025. Click here to view current funding opportunities and apply.
What information will I need to provide on the application?
To apply you must use the official application form during a designated application wave. On the application form you will need to provide:
- Project Prototype
- Proof of Project Code (ex. Github Repository)
- 2-min Project Demo
- A detailed description of your project
- Product and development Roadmap
- Timeline of 3 to 12 Months
- Plan for Financial Growth/Sustainability
- Clear XRPL Use-case reasoning and integration plan
- At least one experienced software developer on the core project team
Does the Github repository need to be public?
No, but we require that your submitted Github repository can be shareable with application reviewers at least temporarily, in order to make the review process smooth and as fast as possible a list of handles to share your Github repo with is included on the application form.
What information will I need to provide on the application?
Awards range between $10,000 and $200,000 per project in non-dilutive grant funding based on attaining funding milestones.
“There are two milestone types:
- Product & integration milestones (about 30% of the award)
- Growth-based milestones (about 70% of the grant) that include on-chain metrics on the XRP Ledger or other key growth metrics
How should I determine what size of an award to apply for?
The award amount you request should be determined by the scope of work that you wish to complete using your grant. Your application must contain milestones/scope of work and a budget breakdown detailing how you intend to spend any awarded funds. Your budget should include estimates for conversion rates and taxes.
Can I apply for a follow-on grant?
While the opportunity for additional funding from either the Grants program or other Ripple funding programs is a possibility, it is not a guarantee. Part of the application process is sharing your plan for project sustainability, i.e. how will you support the project past funding from the XRPL Grants program. If you are a previous awardee and interested in applying for follow-on funding, please contact the program team to discuss.
The Grants program will likely not fund a single project more than twice.
Are there restrictions on what I can apply awarded funds toward?
We are looking to support technical project development and related expenses. Projects requesting funding for general infrastructure (including validators) and overhead may not be funded. Your budget may include salaries, legal fees, external audits, etc.. You are responsible for figuring out tax rates and any estimated conversion and including them in your budget estimations. (See below FAQ for additional information on Tax Implications.)
Can I submit an Application in a language other than English?
At this time, all applications must be submitted in English and interviews will be conducted in English.
Can I apply with more than one project?
No. We will only consider a single project per organization/team/project lead. We recommend putting effort into submitting your strongest proposal, instead of submitting multiple proposals.
How mature does a project need to be in order to apply for funding?
All projects must have a prototype or proof-of-concept that we can review on GitHub. The minimum is at least a few days of work (e.g. a proof of concept created over the course of a weekend or during a hackathon). XRPL Grants will not fund projects that are just an idea or do not show sufficient initial work. Additionally, the reviewers are looking for overall effort, not just base code.
What are the tax implications of receiving funding?
Often this money is treated as taxable income, but recipients are responsible for determining the tax implications of receiving an award based on their respective countries’ tax laws and compliance requirements. You should factor in and include the estimated taxes in your submitted budget document.
Do I have to have a company in order to receive funding?
No. We will fund individuals and small teams, as well as companies. See above question regarding tax implications. If a team is awarded, funds are paid to one individual (the project lead) and the project lead will be responsible for disbursing and managing the funds for the project.
Do I need to have prior experience building on XRP Ledger to apply for funding?
Previous XRPL experience is not required, but highly encouraged. In order to receive funding judges will be evaluating your genuine interest, understanding of the XRPL and technical ability to execute the project by your core team. If you are new to blockchain and the XRPL we recommend you take the free courses on the Learning Platform and/or review the documentation at XRPL.org.
How do I start building on XRPL?
I don’t know if XRPL Grants is the right program for me.
How can I learn more?
If you have any other questions, please contact us at info@xrplgrants.org.