Circle Foundation has awarded grants to two United Nations agencies to test whether regulated payment stablecoins can improve humanitarian and development disbursements. The funding will support projects at the UN Development Programme and the World Food Programme focused on speed, cost and transparency in moving money to recipients.
The two initiatives are designed as practical experiments rather than a broad replacement for existing banking channels. Each program will examine how stablecoin-based payments could work within regulatory requirements, beneficiary safeguards and local financial systems.
UNDP plans a digital asset deployment program
At the UN Development Programme, Circle Foundation’s support will go toward creating a Digital Asset Innovation Pool. UNDP says the objective is to help its country offices turn lessons from earlier digital-payment pilots into infrastructure that can be used more consistently across development programs.
That effort builds on previous UNDP work in Syria, Haiti, Guatemala and Gambia. The agency plans to use the new program to address operating procedures, regulatory requirements, beneficiary protection and integration with local financial systems as it considers broader deployment.
UNDP has said the initiative is not intended to replace traditional banking. Instead, it is meant to add another payment option in cases where digital infrastructure could improve how funds are delivered.
WFP will examine cross-border payment corridors
The World Food Programme is taking a more direct humanitarian-payments approach. Circle Foundation funding will support the governance, risk management, compliance, reconciliation and technical systems needed to assess stablecoin-based transfers.
WFP plans to evaluate two to three payment corridors over the next three years. Those corridors would connect WFP systems with local financial-service providers and markets, with the goal of moving money into countries where banking infrastructure is slow, costly or difficult to access.
The agency’s review is expected to focus not only on speed and settlement, but also on whether transfers can comply with sanctions controls, local regulation and beneficiary-protection requirements, while still being converted into spendable value in practice.
Focus remains on testing costs, delays and safeguards
The grants are aimed at determining whether stablecoins can reduce friction in aid delivery rather than proving a predetermined outcome. Circle Foundation’s philanthropic arm is backing the projects as experiments to see if digital payment rails can lower costs and cut delays in getting funds to intended recipients.
The practical questions are central to both trials. Any wider use would depend on whether the systems can function reliably within existing compliance frameworks and local market conditions, while protecting beneficiaries and fitting alongside established financial channels.
Next steps center on pilots and evaluation
The next confirmed step is implementation of the two programs: UNDP will establish its Digital Asset Innovation Pool, and WFP will begin evaluating two to three payment corridors over a three-year period. Those efforts are expected to show whether earlier small-scale pilots can be scaled into repeatable systems and whether stablecoin transfers can operate effectively in humanitarian settings under real-world constraints.
Source: bitcoinist.com