Nimiq Offers $17,000 to Developers Building Mini Apps for Crypto Payments

By Lidia Yadlos

Nimiq is giving developers another four weeks to build inside its payments ecosystem.

The open-source crypto project has opened Cycle II of its Mini Apps Competition, offering $17,000 in prizes to developers, AI builders, vibe coders and indie hackers creating applications for Nimiq Pay.

The new round follows a first cycle that attracted 62 Mini App submissions and forms part of a three-cycle competition offering more than $50,000 in total prizes. Cycle II runs through Sept. 18.

Building Apps Directly Inside Nimiq Pay

The competition is built around the Nimiq Pay Mini Apps Framework, which lets developers create lightweight web applications that users can access from within Nimiq Pay.

Nimiq Pay provides the wallet functionality and payment rails, while developers retain control of their apps, infrastructure and intellectual property. That structure is designed to remove some of the friction that comes with conventional app distribution.

Builders can make their Mini Apps available to Nimiq Pay users without submission fees, platform commissions or revenue-sharing requirements. Because payment functionality is already built into Nimiq Pay, developers also avoid having to create their own payments infrastructure before launching.

"This is an 'App Store moment' for crypto payments," said Max Burger, Executive Director at Nimiq."Developers can ship extensions to Nimiq payment experience and put it in front of real users immediately, inside an app where it works with everything else, not in a silo."

The framework reflects a broader shift in Nimiq's strategy as it looks to turn its payment app into a platform where outside developers can add new functionality. Rather than limiting Nimiq Pay to payments alone, Mini Apps can extend the experience into areas including games, marketplaces, productivity tools, social applications and other web-based services.

AI Builders and Vibe Coders Are Welcome

Nimiq is also opening the competition to a broader group of builders than traditional software developers.

Participants can use AI development tools throughout the process, making the competition accessible to AI builders and vibe coders who may rely on generative coding tools to move from an idea to a working product. The goal is to shorten the distance between building an app and getting it in front of users.

Traditional mobile development can involve app-store submission processes, platform fees and separate payment integrations. Nimiq's model keeps the application web-based and places distribution inside Nimiq Pay itself.

Developers keep ownership of what they build while Nimiq supplies the surrounding wallet and payments environment.

Cycle II opened Aug. 24 and gives participants four weeks to launch a working Mini App. Builders can register, review the competition rules and access development resources at miniappscompetition.com.

Published on Blockster

Nimiq Offers $17,000 to Developers Building Mini Apps for Crypto Payments