UN to advance digital upgrade of refugee aid funding with support from Circle

The United Nations (UN) is moving to digitally upgrade the cross-border delivery system for refugee relief funds with support from stablecoin issuer Circle.

According to Cointelegraph on the 22nd (local time), the Circle Foundation said it has provided an international grant at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, to support the UN Treasury Digital Hub (DHoTS). The support will be used to build digital financial infrastructure aimed at streamlining fund-transfer processes and improving efficiency across UN entities.

Circle did not disclose the grant’s specific size or structure, but said the funding would help process value transfers within the UN ecosystem more quickly and transparently. The partnership follows on from earlier cooperation after the UNHCR’s USDC-based relief payments to Ukrainian refugees in 2022.

Alexander De Croo, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said, “Stablecoin-based payment methods can maximize the efficiency of relief funding even in a constrained budget environment.” Circle added that adopting digital financial infrastructure and stablecoins could cut the cost of delivering humanitarian assistance by up to 20%.

Barham Salih, UNHCR High Commissioner, said, “This project is an effort to use technology to safeguard the dignity and choice of forcibly displaced people while increasing real-world impact per donated dollar.”

Circle noted that roughly $38 billion in annual global humanitarian aid funding still relies on traditional financial systems, and that a shift to digital finance could significantly improve both the speed and transparency of aid delivery. Circle launched the Circle Foundation last December with the goal of strengthening financial inclusion and resilience, and this UN support is the foundation’s first international public-interest project since its establishment.