Foreword - 2024 Circle's Global Impact Report

Animated by our mission of raising global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value, at Circle we are broadly engaged in building a more open and equitable financial system. Because nothing worth doing is worth doing alone, our work with Circle Impact is meant to catalyze an ecosystem of partners and to reimagine the value chain of financial access in ways that show the art of the possible. For example, our groundbreaking digital cash collaboration with the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency alongside the Stellar Development Foundation , has mobilized millions in USDC supporting thousands of war-displaced Ukrainian refugees.

While many organizations may take pride in these critical one-off projects, at Circle and under the Circle Impact program, we are tirelessly pushing to accelerate a social impact space race. One in which every humanitarian organization, developer and technologist can leverage digital currency innovations, like USDC and EURC – as well as our open infrastructure – to advance their vital work.

In our first Circle Impact report, we are demonstrating a growing wave of adoption among leading aid agencies, from agencies across the UN system – led by UNHCR and an expansion of the Ukrainian digital cash assistance program – to a grassroots social entrepreneurship movement, where USDC and global pitch competitions are finding veritable diamonds in the rough. Powerful and diverse examples in this report demonstrate the power of open blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

With this value chain, what can be referred to as the third iteration of the internet (or Web3), and armed with little more than a low-cost internet-connected device, people now have the opportunity to come out of the financial shadows and into the light of economic prosperity.

From dynamic startups like Goodwall – where fraternal founders Omar Bawa and Taha Bawa do not see youth in the global south as a liability, but rather as an asset – to Ensuro , which is pioneering parametric micro-insurance to cover crop failure and other complex risks, the wave of entrepreneurs who are a part of Circle’s ecosystem, and for whom USDC is the most trusted digital dollar, is as inspiring as it is impactful.

The fact remains, that unchanged, so much of the global economy and traditional financial system will remain out of reach for billions of people insofar as it remains enshrined in brick and mortar and largely analog. By this measure and as evidenced by the unique projects, entrepreneurs and initiatives outlined in this report, payment stablecoins like USDC, EURC and the broader power of open financial systems are not to compete or disrupt the traditional economy, but rather to complete unfinished work.

This work may take a generation of leaders, will require uncommon coalitions and will be incredibly difficult in the face of entrenched systems that favor status quo and incumbents. There may be risks in succeeding, but there are also clear and present dangers in failure – perhaps the greatest of which is the failure to imagine a better, more equitable world and the failure to do something about it.

We take collective pride in the partnerships, efforts and, most of all, measurable impact delivered by the people, partners and organizations highlighted in this Circle Impact report and most of all we look forward to continuing this vital work.