Global economy is about to undergo a major change – and according to Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, the software company that built one of the best stablecoins in the world, it will center around the cryptocurrency. To ease this transition, Circle is creating what Allaire calls a “cost-effective operating system for the Internet.”
“Basically, new operating system paradigms are emerging all the time. Web is one thing, mobile is one thing, cloud is another, AI is the next operating system paradigm,” Allaire told WIRED editor Steven Levy on stage at the Substantial Interview event in San Francisco on Thursday. “And these blockchain networks are the paradigms of the economic operating system, at least what we do.”
Circle is best known for USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, which is currently worth approximately $78 billion. Unlike most cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, stablecoins are designed to provide confined price fluctuations. USDC is based on the US dollar, which means that if you hold one USDC, you can exchange it for $1. Allaire generally touted USDC and stablecoins as a better, faster way to move money across borders and an attractive option for people living in countries with less stable currencies than the U.S. dollar.
But according to Allaire, stablecoins are just the beginning. The next evolution in the cryptocurrency space, he said, is “money as an application platform” on which a modern, purely digital economy will develop.
Circle’s vision for an “economic operating system” is this Bowwhat the company describes as a “trusted, neutral” platform that aims to be the platform for the entire range of blockchain-based technologies and therefore the “foundation” of a “new online financial system.” According to Allaire, the transition to a modern economic system “will be a huge part of what happens on the Internet in the next five to 10 years.”
Photo: Annie Noelker