Circle Founder: Why I'm More Optimistic About Cryptocurrency Than Ever?

Author: Jeremy Allair

Translation: TechFlow

I am more bullish on crypto than ever before. At @Circle, where I’ve been building for over 11 years, I’ve never been more optimistic. I also believe the vast majority of people have an extremely narrow and limited understanding of what’s actually happening—and that’s precisely why I’m so bullish.

This article explains why I’m so optimistic.

My perspective comes from closely observing about 35 years of internet technology adoption cycles.

We've seen wave after wave of open networks, open protocols, and open-source software emerge—layer upon layer of internet infrastructure deepening the utility of the internet for society and the economy. Each wave transformed major industries, raised living standards, disrupted or reshaped unit economics, and unlocked entirely new possibilities.

In fact, the collective contribution of open intellectual property to this ongoing internet revolution appears to be accelerating—and crypto seems poised to drive society and the economy forward in unprecedented ways.

More than 11 years ago, when Sean and I were thinking about this space, it was clear to us that crypto represented the next logical layer of internet infrastructure. The internet had already enabled frictionless, near-zero-cost movement of data, and seamless connectivity and deployment of software and hardware across global networks—but it was clearly struggling under its own success and weight.

The internet lacked a trust layer—and without a trust layer, its utility to the world is inherently limited. The inability to achieve fully trustworthy data, transactions, or computation led to increasing reliance on hyper-centralized entities (corporations and governments). At the same time, the internet’s role in society continued to expand, and its potential to reshape how societies and economies are organized became increasingly evident.

It was at this moment that Bitcoin emerged, and a growing number of sharp technologists began exploring how to extend crypto’s foundational principles into broader internet infrastructure—becoming foundational for society and the economy. Digital tokens issued on public blockchains and mediated by smart contracts could unlock a globally accessible, trusted environment—the foundation upon which nearly every building block of society and the economy could become natively digital and internet-native.

This is what drew me into the space.

I clearly saw back then that this would unfold—that these new decentralized internet computers would scale and eventually unleash transformative waves far exceeding anything we’ve seen from the information and communication internet.

In 2013, these ideas were considered crazy. Anything related to Bitcoin or crypto was seen as highly fringe, possibly illegal, and largely uninteresting technically to most experts. The technology was extremely limited, slow, expensive, and complex to operate.

Banks, accounting and auditing firms, insurers, regulators—the very institutions of trust—were deeply hostile and fearful toward anything in this space. Media coverage focused almost exclusively on darknet markets, Silk Road, and the Winklevoss twins’ BTC purchases.

But if you paid close attention to what most young, highly creative builders were thinking and doing, you could clearly see a much bigger vision unfolding—even if the timeline was unclear.

For those of us who’ve been building and working in this space since 2012 (many even earlier!), where we are today is extraordinary. And as I often say, given the tremendous progress we’ve made over the past decade, we’re still genuinely in the early stages of crypto adoption worldwide—which makes me incredibly bullish today.

How far have we come? The achievements and technological advances are countless.

Public blockchain infrastructure has evolved to the third generation, delivering globally scaled network computers capable of handling large-scale applications with trusted data, transactions, and computation. Dozens of major blockchain ecosystems now exist worldwide, continuously improving and innovating core technologies—data availability, computation, security, privacy, transaction throughput, and more.

We are in the early broadband phase of blockchain networks. Guess what comes next?

We’re seeing breakthroughs in security, privacy, and scalability powered by ZK technology and now FHE. We can envision a world where encrypted computing becomes the foundation for the most important applications. Tens of thousands of startups around the globe are building on this infrastructure.

Digital assets have become part of an emerging global financial system, with nearly every major country establishing clear rules for the issuance, use, and trading of digital assets.

Bitcoin itself has become one of the largest and most significant alternative investment assets in the world.

The world’s largest asset managers are offering products and services based on blockchain technology and providing access to underlying digital commodities.

As crypto’s importance to national competitiveness becomes increasingly apparent, crypto has become a global political issue. Governments worldwide are racing to address it—ensuring innovation in this space is both responsible and encouraged.

We’re seeing product user experiences unlocking consumer-scale adoption in unprecedented ways, giving us a clearer picture of billions of users engaging in the coming years.

As the advantages of public blockchains and stablecoins become evident, most of the world’s largest payment companies are actively using this technology and exploring how to expand its use.

Stablecoins have experienced explosive growth in scale and usage—they are crypto’s most important killer app, unleashing digital dollars around the world, bringing more people into the on-chain economy, beginning to fulfill the promise of banking the unbanked, reducing remittance costs, and enabling seamless cross-border commerce.

Stablecoins are becoming legally defined and accepted forms of digital currency in nearly every major jurisdiction. By the end of 2025, stablecoins will be recognized as “legal electronic money” in almost every region, capturing an increasing share of the $1 billion+ digital money market.

The infrastructure for building, deploying, and running blockchain applications has advanced dramatically, with enterprise-grade products and services available for using these networks, scalable hosting infrastructure supporting self-custody by end users, and robust systems trusted by the world’s largest banks and asset managers.

Developer tools, SDKs, and knowledge are spreading rapidly, creating more and more “blockchain natives.” Major consumer-scale companies are launching online applications connected to public blockchains, using digital tokens across diverse use cases. Governments are investing in blockchain infrastructure and ecosystem development, and incentivizing businesses to build in their regions through legislation.

We see exciting new technical applications emerging weekly—from payments, social, gaming, ticketing to enterprise use cases. I could go on, but compared to a decade ago, the scale of what’s happening now is truly staggering. Like prior waves of open internet infrastructure, this wave is gaining momentum—and growing stronger by the day, by the week. And as I said earlier, we are still in the early stages of crypto adoption, with enormous future potential, and significant upside in market value and price.

What will it look like when digital tokens become widely understood and legally used forms of incentive, governance, and record-keeping worldwide?

What will it look like when more financial and commercial activities are executed and intermediated by smart contracts on public blockchain infrastructure?

What will it look like when fourth-generation blockchain networks support billions of users and millions of applications?

What will it look like when on-chain organizations are legally recognized and experience explosive growth, competing for labor and capital, and consistently outperforming traditional multinational corporations?

What will it look like when political institutions—cities, states, nations, and new network states—adopt on-chain governance and improve how democratic values are expressed in the internet age?

What will it look like when 10% of the world’s economic currency is stablecoins, when credit intermediation shifts from fractional-reserve lending to on-chain credit markets built on safer digital cash instruments like stablecoins, and when credit and debt are opened up to long-tail supply and demand the way Amazon did for commerce and AdWords did for advertising?

All of this is achievable within the next decade or more. Time moves fast—but when you zoom out and consider what’s already been achieved, and how these accomplishments lay the foundation for our future, it’s hard not to feel incredibly optimistic.