State of the Network '25
How Superteam Nigeria built a $1M parallel economy and became Solana's global talent factory.
Some people live through lifetimes and never see the sun. They wander through cold, dark shadows, unnoticed and forgotten. It's a sad thing, really. To never feel the warmth, never squint against the brightness, never gasp at the glory of that blaze.
But we, we got lucky. We glimpsed the glare, stood under the heat, and let it make us fluorescent—this sun, Sol: the energy, light, and life-giver.
It's no wonder that when Hashed Emergent dropped their inaugural Nigeria Web3 Landscape Report, the data didn't mince words: Solana is the chain of choice for builders nationwide. And sitting right at the epicenter of that system was Nigeria's most active Web3 community. Us.
Superteam Nigeria rode that sun's energy so much so that by mid-year, the spiel had completely shifted. It went from a passive "Oh, look, Solana is growing in Nigeria" to an undeniable "Nigeria is building Solana", to a now definitive "Solana is Nigeria".
But we didn't get here without hard-knock lessons, pivots at dead ends, and a little scraping of our knees in the toil. Regardless, we moved as a collective unit, lived the work-to-earn ethos like a religion, and shipped things in both code and in conduct.
This report tracks Superteam Nigeria's 2025. It's the story of how a Solana collective sailed the sun, captured its heat, and redirected that energy into our people: builders, believers, and the rest of the world.
By the end, you'll see how the scale of impact grew from a puny 1 to a resounding 100. The wins, the jobs, the hackathon sweeps, and the culture that tied it all together.
Alright. Let's get scrolling.
— Editor's Note
The Nigerian Condition
Nigeria is a place of stubborn storms. Prices of commodities climb like the desert heat, and inflation has been a persistent pressure on households. Poverty is not an abstraction in this climate; millions live close to or under international poverty lines, and multidimensional poverty remains a serious drag on opportunity.
When money is shrinking in value, and day-to-day life is a repeated stretch exercise, people naturally look for shelter. For many Nigerians, crypto looked like shade and shelter. A way to hedge the naira, preserve savings, and access new income streams outside traditional channels. But that shade did not come without wind.
The Central Bank's 2021 directive pushed regulated banks away from crypto channels, driving much activity onto peer-to-peer and alternative rails; only later did official policy start to open up again. Meanwhile, regulators such as the SEC have signalled a more formal digital-asset framework in recent years.
So you have a hungry population, big macro squeezes, and a technology with the potential to reroute value flows. This is the exact terrain where a community like Superteam Nigeria could truly matter.
The Superteam Nigeria Anecdote
Built as the Nigerian chapter of Solana's talent layer, Superteam Nigeria has become a force multiplier for work opportunities and the broader work-to-earn culture. Led by Nzubechukwu Ezudo and Harrison Obiefule, we haven't just run a community; we've incubated and funded builders, created jobs for our members, run bounties that deliver meaningful payouts to local talent, and backed Solana-native products that everyday Nigerians actually use—products that have gone on to generate revenue.
Recently, government and public institutions started to recognize the opportunities in the kind of training, inclusion, and talent development that Web3 communities like ours were already delivering on their own. New partnerships and public engagements that brought blockchain education and youth empowerment into official agendas signaled a move from "underground curiosity" to mainstream acknowledgment. We've been at the forefront, opening channels for government collaboration and aligning Web3 work with national youth, skills, and digital-economy goals.
In January of 2025, the community was at $422,624 in GDP, and month after month, the numbers compounded. By August, we crossed the $1 million mark, and by November, community GDP was sitting pretty at $1,179,340.
Community GDP Growth 2025
Source: Superteam Nigeria GDP Reports
$464,904
Bounties
Gigs and competitive mini-contests across writing, design, development, and more.
$426,500
Grants (Instagrants)
Fast, flexible funding for builders, writers, and creators pushing new ideas into the Solana ecosystem.
$190,465
Hackathon Prizes
Earnings from frequent code and content hackathons with partners across the ecosystem.
Hackathons
Developer Hackathons
Key Wins
Sonic Mobius Hackathon
One of the year's biggest innovation events with a $1M prize pool. Swiv secured 3rd place in the DeFi track, earning $20,000 for building a decentralized exchange leveraging Sonic's high-speed infrastructure.
Solana Breakout Hackathon
SuperteamNG organized weekly calls, 'Build in the Open' sessions, Design Jams, pitch-deck reviews, and creative side events. Nigeria ranked second globally with 175 entries.
Altschool Breakout Hackathon
Partnership with AltSchool, Africa's leading tech school. Verxio Protocol took 1st place for loyalty infrastructure, Nectar Finance secured 2nd with stablecoin-based savings tools, and The Jaja Project earned 3rd for Mythic Realms.
DreamNet x SendaiFun Hackathon
Chidi took home $8,000 for Fable, an AI-powered, emotion-aware chat application.
Cypherpunk Hackathon
Nigeria ranked among the top two countries globally in registrations. SuperteamNG ran a dedicated track with a $10,000 prize pool. Nectar Finance took 1st ($5,000), Use Stream 2nd ($3,000), and Rust Undead 3rd ($2,000).
Devfun World Cup
Blabzr, built by FortuneofWeb3, emerged as a winner, beating entries from India, Europe, and Asia.
Content Hackathons/Competitions
Solana Global Creator Competition (SGCC) — 6 of 14 Winners
Organized by Little Unusual, out of 14 total winners, six were from Superteam Nigeria—nearly half of all placements.
Redacted Hackathon — 45 Track Wins
Organized by Helius Labs. In May, Nigerians won 22 out of 38 tracks, earning over $20,000. By July, they recorded the highest number of wins with 45.
Solana Contentathon — Multiple Wins
Month-long content competition spanning multiple creative tracks, with strong participation and wins from members.
Products and Founders
The year 2025 was sprouting with beautiful startups showing sheer ingenuity across domains that define the new internet: payments, DeFi, gaming, social, AI, and enterprise tools. For the first time, founders felt the thrill of going from idea to revenue.
Featured Products
Airbills Pay
Lets users pay bills with stablecoins on Solana
Ribh Finance
Building cross-border invoice and payment rails for African businesses
Paj
Enabling seamless crypto off-ramps
NectarFi
Creating savings tools and on-chain banking primitives tailored to Nigerian behavior
How We Supported Founders
- Pitch Clinic Demo Days: Live-fire arenas where founders learned to weaponize their narratives in front of the community.
- Builders' Roundtable: Led by Harri Obi, business models were dissected, challenged, and rebuilt by peers.
- Build in the Open: Weekly surgical theater where half-built products were examined and returned with precise prescriptions.
- Roast-to-Flame Sessions: Weak ideas were burned away until only strong features remained.
Other notable products: Fiat Router, Staipy, Chatter, Verxio Protocol, Rhiva, Swiv, Juju Games, Streamlink, SwitchedFun, The Jaja Project, Rust Undead, Goondu Games, Coresightbot, HeySolana, Solara Pay, Blockroll
Government and Institutional Partnerships
In 2025, Superteam Nigeria moved beyond online circles and entered the formal arenas that shape national direction. The focus was to shift crypto from its reputation as a threat into a credible, practical engine for youth empowerment and economic advancement.
Key Achievements
- Opened a direct line with the Federal Ministry of Youth Development
- Presented before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee
- SEC Director General delivered a keynote at our summit
- Kwara State invited us to contribute to the design of its digital future
- 17 startups secured ₦1 million each through the NiYA Startup Pitch program
Academic Reach
Dean of Computing at Modibbo Adama University • UNILAG and FUNAAB campuses • Mita School foundations • AltSchool partnership for Breakout Hackathon • Web3Bridge learning cohorts
Distribution & Market Access
When Quidax, Busha, and Jeroid onboarded Solana, it marked a large-scale migration across Nigeria's biggest SEC-regulated on-ramps. These were platforms already trusted by millions.
Solana slipped naturally into daily financial behavior. BoundlessPay wove its speed directly into its mobile finance layer. Ridima transformed familiar payment channels into Solana-first experiences. ClapMi made sending USDC feel as casual as sending a text.
Infrastructure Partners: MeteoraAG, Jupiter, Solflare, DeBridge, Birdeye, Redot Pay, FlipCash
Crypto Partners: Quidax, Busha, Zabira, IkonShop, Jeroid, BoundlessPay
Events & Community Gatherings
“”
Event Stats
Community Moments
- Developers vs Creatives football match
- Summit hiking crew catching sunrise
- Movie Nights and All-White Mixers
- Founders Mixers from Lagos to Enugu to the Southwest
Devs vs Creatives
Founders Meetup
All-White Mixer
Sunrise Hike
Movie Night
Physical & Digital Infrastructure
Innovation doesn't survive in vacuum, it needs an actual place to breathe.
Build Stops & Hacker Hostels: Abuja, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, Port Harcourt — Physical locations that became the heartbeat of the ecosystem
Co-Hack Tour (7 states) • Demo Circuits (5 regions)
Human Capital (Jobs)
The gig economy surely evolved in 2025. The system produced jobs and went a step further to prove that skill is liquid, opportunity is instant, and the market rewards those with solid proof of work.
Media Recognition
Our voice grew into a headline this year. We moved from requesting stage time to owning it.
Conferences: Crypto & DeFi Forum (1,000+ attendees with SEC and MasterCard) • Unchain Conference (keynote) • Stellar West African Conference • Africa Stablecoin Summit (Cryptonia won pitch competition) • BlockFest Africa • CryptoFest 2025
Superteam Nigeria Growth 2025
Indexed Growth (Jan = 100%)
Source: Superteam Nigeria's Substack
The Big Pivotal Moments of 2025
Crossing the $1M ecosystem GDP mark
Partnering with the Ministry of Youth Development
Nigeria's second-place global ranking at the Solana Breakout
Revenue-generating products achieving market fit
Standout Members
“”
Harri Obi
Moved from breaking down community building and Web3 marketing on podcasts to shaping policy in the National Assembly, then flew to Cape Town to host Solana's African flagship.
Nzube Ezudo
Anchored the core, delivering the foundational keynote at Startup Village and earning judging roles on global stages.
Uncle Tochi
Transformed a simple idea into Paj and popularised the term "Paj it"—became the go-to payment rail for other products.
FX
Earned global attention when his open-sourced Bifrost caught Anatoly Yakovenko's eye.
Donatus
Evolved from founder to continental operator, selected for Balaji's Network School and tapped as a Talent Scout.
Toochukwu Okoro
Scaled Useazza to move more than $4.9M on-chain, making Solana its natural home.
Guild Leads: Outis, TOC, Damidx, Ashley, Alex, Kryptdou Monarch, Goddess
My Impact Story
So you're probably wondering. Where was I in all of these?
[Your personal contribution story goes here]
Cultural Moments
Paj It
The phrase that became synonymous with seamless crypto off-ramping
No Brakes
The rallying cry of relentless building