2023 Outlook: Building the Developer Ecosystem Together

As we begin 2023, we want to highlight Circle’s latest work to support developers building real-life innovations and preview what lies ahead. We’ve built meaningful partnerships, especially in frontier economic markets such as Africa, and broadened education and awareness. But this just scratched the surface. From longtime tech centers like Silicon Valley and Boston, to emerging innovation hotbeds like Singapore and Nairobi, it’s clear that the era of crypto utility is here. Circle will continue to support a community of innovators and developers worldwide to explore, build, and adopt crypto and Web3 technologies. This year we will accelerate these efforts while amplifying support for underserved communities worldwide.

Our Team, Our Purpose

The newly formed Circle Developer and Ecosystem Marketing team is excited to work with builders in Web3 to discover the utility value from applications that layer and power the entire ecosystem. Our mission is to build community partnerships, provide educational resources and guide developers, builders, and entrepreneurs as they create apps and businesses on Circle’s infrastructure.

Here are a few key Web3 projects that our team delivered to thousands of developers in 2022:

• Reviving our Community:
• Circle’s Discord server is now one of the best places to hang out, learn, and connect with other crypto utility builders. Targeted developer events increased dramatically to support in-person conferences such as Avalanche Creates, CascadiaJS, NEARcon, and even Solana Breakpoint to help crypto-curious JavaScript developers learn more about Circle’s APIs. Circle also produced its inaugural crypto conference, Converge22, in San Francisco, with a dedicated DevDay track. Watch for more DevDays in 2023.
  
• Partnering with Tribe, Singapore’s first government-supported blockchain ecosystem builder:
  Circle and Tribe teams spent most of the second half of 2022 creating a stablecoin and crypto utility online education series to provide opportunities for any developer in the APAC region interested in building a business with USDC. We’re now busy planning our hybrid bootcamp, hacker houses, and hackathon series for 2023 to provide additional online and IRL events for developers to gather together.
• Partnering with the Mara Foundation:
  Teams from Circle and Mara, a nonprofit focused on youth empowerment programs in Africa, organized Developer Roadshows in Lagos and Nairobi to bring over one thousand developers to learn more about USDC and smart contracts. This initiative is part of our ambitious goal to bring a million Web2 developers into the Web3 space in Africa through developer training programs, hackathons, and campus captain leadership programs. Our team returns to Africa in 2023 to check on our progress and capture real-life impact. 

Here are our top priorities for supporting the next generation of Web 3 builders in 2023:  

• Building a strong community through trusted, valuable relationships.
  Content on crypto and blockchain technologies will be created by Circlers and community members alike to strive for the most verified and diversified learning materials that everyone can access. We achieve this by balancing our online and on-the-ground programs, providing online streaming and recorded video content, peer-to-peer connections from live discussion sessions, and in-person settings for meetups, roadshows, and workshops. 
• Finding passionate partners around the world who are focused on education and inclusion.
  We’re focused on securing partnerships that leverage local expertise in regional ecosystems to advance awareness and educate future innovators, specifically in underserved areas globally. This is crucial for building the Web3 community. Circle’s mission to raise global economic prosperity can only be achieved by solving daily problems happening in global and local communities. We’re excited to announce new partnerships that will support teachers and students to explore crypto utility soon!
• Community Engagement:
  Education and content are critical to providing accessibility and inclusion to many builders globally. That said, financial support, even in the smallest amount, can help boost an idea into a movement, especially for those in the overlooked and underserved groups. Our upcoming marketing grant programs and community projects invite the future leaders of Web3 to be part of Circle’s Builders program. We’re excited to launch this segment of our efforts to support the next generation of developers and builders in crypto.

Why Build with Circle?

Circle’s platform is chain agnostic and supports protocols that create value in the application layer. Circle provides powerful tools and products that help developers across the globe build real business solutions. The utility focuses on the power of stablecoins that are attested, audited, and held to standards that promote trust and transparency. Our team is here to build resources and invest the time to bring real-world utility to the internet of value. 

We are working on exciting launches for 2023 that are expected to draw a clear path to interface with USDC and EUROC smart contracts and continue to lower the barrier to entry to on-and-off ramps. Our new sandbox helps developers build to test, with moving their invested time and effort towards production in mind. 

Our upcoming mainnet launch of Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol increases security, efficiency, and costs for transacting USDC natively across blockchain ecosystems - supporting developers as they build dApps with improved user experiences. Our ongoing work with regional partners who are experts in their communities will drive the right engagement programs to meet developers where they are, with materials in their language and learning modules. 

The future of building and executing products and real-life solutions will rely on the next wave of developers that learn and leverage Web3 solutions. Let’s get started and build on Circle, together.