# Welcome to Circles Source: https://docs.aboutcircles.com ## Summary Circles is presented as a new currency framework that uses modern cryptography to build trust without centralized gatekeepers, distributing the right to issue money to individuals. Under its rules, each account can mint 1 CRC per hour, and a 7% yearly demurrage applies to every CRC to prevent early adopters from dominating supply. Users can swap CRC 1:1 along their social trust graph, and new members are onboarded by existing users paying 96 CRC, with the invitee receiving 48 CRC as a welcome bonus. ## Article Home API Reference User Guides Mini Apps For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt. This page is also available as Markdown. Home Welcome to Circles We introduce Circles, a new currency framework that leverages modern cryptography to build trust without centralized gatekeepers. By decentralizing money creation, Circles distributes the privilege of issuing currency to every individual, fostering a more inclusive and resilient monetary system. Circles is built on a few powerful principles that make money creation fair, efficient, and resilient. By moving money creation from centralized institutions to individuals—and by harnessing real-life trust—Circles reimagines currency. Build on the Circles Protocol About Circles Under the hood, Circles relies on five simple rules: Universal access allows anyone to open an account. Distributed issuance grants each account the right to mint 1 CRC per hour. Demurrage applies a 7 % yearly decay to every CRC, preventing early adopters from dominating the supply. A Rule of Trust lets users swap CRC 1:1 along their social trust graph, so individual non-fungible “personal monies” converge into a commonly spendable currency. Members of a Circles Groups can mint a shared CRC backed by members’ coins, giving communities their own monetary layer. Circles also uses an invitation system for onboarding: existing users invite newcomers by paying 96 CRC, while the invitee receives 48 CRC as a welcome bonus. This helps protect network integrity and creates a meaningful cost to discourage spam accounts and Sybil style abuse. Because payments flow along real-world social links, Circles is both resilient and versatile. Trust can be revoked at any time, shielding honest users from malicious actors, yet the transitive nature of swaps means you can still pay strangers seamlessly. Groups and Organizations add a “fast lane” for adoption: they pool liquidity, act as local or thematic currencies, and let communities balance efficiency against security. The result is a self-governing monetary network in which issuance, security and economic coordination rest with the people who use it. This documentation helps developers explore Circles’ capabilities and delve into the Circles SDK and its various components. Last updated 8 months ago Build on the Circles Protocol About Circles ## Comments **mishaderidder.eth**: Circles is relaunching currently. There is a waitlist for who’s interested https://form.zootools.co/go/UZiEmVdANl6A8rLJCDhb More info here: https://aboutcircles.com/ **macbudkowski.eth**: I was at Martin's talk about Circles and although I like the idea, I have a question that might be hard to answer at this point, but I will ask it anyway.. I understand why all Circles have the same monetary policy. It's easier to manage and interoperate. But can it actually work for different micro-economies? The way currency supply works in the real economy is that it's tied to the economic output. If the country produces a lot of value, we can print more currency without causing inflation because there are many things to spend this money on (a bit oversimplifying here but that's the gist of it). If we have a small economic output - like in COVID where supply chains made it hard to ship things to spend money on - printing money can cause a high inflation. How does it relate to Circles? Well, let's say I have a Circle A. I invited my friends and we love it! I pay with CRC for renting my friend's car, he pays with CRC for me delivering him groceries, the other friend even starts a garage sale where we can buy stuff with CRC. Nice! If we continue growing our community, the Circle A issuance rate would eventually be too low. We'd not have enough CRC to pay for things, especially if a friend after garage sale just gets most of the supply and doesn't want to spend it yet. Then there's a Circle B, where only a few people actually use this currency, and the 'economic output measured in CRC' is much lower. For them, on the other hand, the issuance rate might be too aggressive, effectively inflating the money they earned. Not sure how to solve it by having a flat issuance fee. But maybe we don't need to fix it because Circles bigger idea is focused on something else? Idk, would love to have Martin in the comments here. **0x4DD0...85D9**: Circles tg group here: https://t.me/about_circles/