This one is a little late, but better late than never! We’re a few months into the year and it’s been a whirlwind of activity for us.
A lot of what we have been building towards is now out in the world being used, tested and pushed forward by real communities. It is early, but the energy and momentum so far in 2026 has been hard to miss. Here’s what we’ve been up to.
Drips Wave is LIVE
We launched Drips Wave and what a ride that has been!
We have shared quite a bit already about what Wave is and how it works, so won’t rehash all of that here. Check out this post here if you need a refresher. What matters is that it is out there, running in the wild and people are benefiting from it.
We’ve already completed three Waves with the Stellar Development Fund and so far each cycle has brought in more contributors, more completed work and more momentum for open source devs and projects. Thousands of developers have now come through Wave, many onboarding to Stellar for the first time and earning grants by contributing to open source. Seeing people go from first interaction to being rewarded for meaningful contributions, often within the span of a single Wave, has been THE highlight of the quarter for the Drips team.
It has also been great to see how quickly things start to compound. Contributors come back for the next Wave, maintainers get better at scoping work and each round feels a bit smoother than the last. There is a rhythm forming, which is exactly what we were hoping for.
There is still plenty to improve, and we are iterating with every cycle but the early signal is strong. Huge thanks to everyone who has jumped in so far and helped shape what Wave is becoming - we can’t wait to see where we are at the end of Q2!
Exploring funding with UNICEF
This quarter also saw us start working with the UNICEF Office of Innovation (OOI) to explore more sustainable ways to fund digital public goods.
The pilot looks at how Drips can be used to support critical open source infrastructure beyond Web3. How do you fund important open infrastructure in a way that is transparent, ongoing and actually tied to the work being done?
This collaboration feels very aligned with what Drips is about. Much of what we build is about making sure funding flows are more directly connected to real work and real impact. We’re thrilled that this is something the OOI also feels passionate about.
Find out more about this pilot in our blog post here, or watch the video explainer below.
Protocol updates
We also updated the Drips Protocol to validate ownership of GitHub repositories using Lit Protocol. This makes project claiming faster especially on Filecoin, and adds an additional layer of verifiability to repo claims thanks to Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). It also removes Gelato Functions as an chain-specific dependency, allowing the Drips Protocol to be deployed on additional chains much faster.
Mentoring in Mexico City
We also spent some time on the ground this quarter mentoring at the Código Alebrije hackathon in Mexico City.
It was a great few days. We met a lot of thoughtful, ambitious teams and got to support them as they built on Stellar. You know we love IRL connection here at Drips being in the room for these moments, seeing ideas come together in real time and getting a feel for how people are approaching the ecosystem - nothing beats it!
More than anything, it reinforced how much is happening in LatAm right now. There is real energy, strong technical talent and a growing interest in open source and new funding models. We are looking forward to spending more time in the region later this year and building on the connections we made.
We hope to be back in LatAm very soon!
That’s it for Q1!
If you want to stay up to date with what we are working on, follow us on X or Bluesky, join our Discord & keep an eye on the blog for future updates.