Circles is back with V2. Can it really ‘make money better?’ | by Mark Dewolf | The Capital | Jun, 2025
Can crypto ever return to its egalitarian roots? As banks gobble up Bitcoin and whales consolidate control over ETH, blockchain true believers might be forgiven for reminiscing.
Circles (V1) began its life in 2020 as an experiment in decentralized, permissionless currency. The aim was to give the de-banked and financially marginalized universal basic access (UBA) to digital cash.
As an alternative to UBA leaders like centralized, biometrics-driven Worldcoin, it was laudable and intriguing. But the idea didn’t catch fire.
Now Circles is back with V2, which the project says delivers better value and a stronger economic model.
At a low-key launch event on April 24, 2025, co-founder Martin Köppelmann noted that bringing V2 to life has been a decade-long journey. He said:
“Circles is a big and radical idea. It poses the question, ‘How does money really work — and can we make it better?’”
Because Bitcoin is still held by a fraction of the world’s population, Köppelmann said its adoption curve means price rises mainly profit those who bought-in early. Circles V2, he said, aims to deliver…
