What happens when you try to sign up the world

When we opened our doors on July 31, 2014, we had expected about 10,000 people in our first month. 10,000 people did show up — in eleven hours. By the end of our first month there were almost 1 million Facebook authentications. This torrential flow of people took us by surprise and we had to rapidly adjust our focus to manage this change.

When we began Stellar.org, one of our goals was to provide financial access to a wide and global audience. Here is a snapshot of Stellar users in the first month:

Of all these stats, there are three important takeaways:

1) Stellar reaches women.

Women are critical to commerce and financial inclusion, but women have not had a significant voice in the digital currency or financial tech communities. Globally, women are 20% less likely to have a formal financial account and women account for about 5% of bitcoin holders. Stellar has the potential to become an equalizer on both of these fields.

2) Stellar includes the developing world.

Usage of money is context-specific and local. Participation of local consumers and developers is integral to developing solutions that will work in a local context. The next billion people online will change the Internet. And, they will determine the future of money:

The next iteration of the world’s financial infrastructure will be stronger if the perspectives of the next billion are brought to the table directly by the next billion, for the next billion.

3) Stellar opens the door for people to digital currency.

Digital currency protocols thus far have been least accessible to non-technical users or those with the least access to money. Yet for these protocols to have a positive global impact, we must go further. Stellar’s educational programs have reached hundreds of thousands of new voices which is step one of this long journey.

These three stats paint a colorful picture of what the world of financial inclusion could look like in a few years’ time — and it will extend to more women and the Global South. The road to this future will not be easy or paved, but our goal is to make sure there are diverse stakeholders at the table.