ATEC Global Wins Circle’s Unlocking Impact Competition

100,000 USDC prize awarded for driving global impact and progress toward UN Sustainable Development Goals

New York City, NY - October 1, 2025 - Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE: CRCL), a global financial technology firm and a stablecoin market leader, announced that ATEC Global, has been named the winner of Circle's sixth Unlocking Impact Pitch Competition, held during the 2025 United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The competition brought together three finalists from Cambodia (ATEC Global), Ecuador (BUFI), Argentina (Xcapit), each leveraging the power of fintech, blockchain and micro-payments solutions to drive global impact and accelerate progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

ATEC Global was chosen by a distinguished judging panel, including Bermuda's Premier David Burt and senior leaders from Visa Foundation, Mastercard, the World Food Programme, Ernst & Young (EY) LLP, and Goodwall. As the grand prize winner, ATEC Global will receive 100,000 USDC and benefit from ongoing mentorship and strategic support from Circle and these partners.

Founded in Cambodia, ATEC Global is advancing climate solutions with IoT-enabled cooking technology and a Web3 platform for decentralized carbon markets. Its hardware, software and data technology stack enable those in the Global South to measure, verify and transact emissions reductions into global carbon markets with Gold Standard verification. With Circle's support, ATEC hopes to expand its global reach and impact, accelerating progress toward its target to reach one million people by 2028.

"At Circle, we believe access to open, digital financial infrastructure can unlock bold solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges," said Elisabeth Carpenter, Chief Strategic Engagement Officer at Circle. "What an inspiration these finalists were - bringing passion, creativity, and an unstoppable drive to make a meaningful difference. Each showed the transformative potential of USDC to expand financial access and opportunity for people who have been left out of the global economy. I'm especially excited to see how ATEC will scale their impact with Circle's support - this is exactly what raising global prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value looks like."

"With this Circle partnership, ATEC's climate tech will enable women across Africa & Asia to tokenise their carbon assets and turn these into an income with USDC," said ATEC Global CEO Ben Jeffreys. "We look forward to working with the team at Circle and their partners to create verifiable impact on both people and planet."

Circle's Unlocking Impact Pitch Competition was designed to help identify and support the newest transformative ideas and innovative projects to enable social impact around the world. Due to its popularity and success following the 2023 pilot in New York, the competition has sought further innovators across major international cities including Paris and Washington D.C., reaching its sixth edition this year.

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About Circle Internet Group, Inc.

Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of digital currencies and public blockchains for payments, commerce, and financial applications worldwide. Circle is building the world's largest, most-widely used, stablecoin network, and issues, through its regulated affiliates, USDC and EURC stablecoins. Circle provides a comprehensive suite of financial and technology services that empower enterprises and developers to integrate stablecoins and blockchains into their products, services and business operations. For more information, please visit https://circle.com.

About the Unlocking Impact Pitch Competition

Circle's Unlocking Impact Pitch Competition invites innovators to present their visionary solutions to an audience of global leaders, investors and changemakers for a chance to win up to $100K in USDC. Winners also receive mentorship and guidance to support them through the next stages of implementation, along with co-marketing opportunities with Circle to amplify their work. The series brings together the humanitarian, corporate and tech sectors to surface new ways to use Circle's technology to address the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

About ATEC Global:

ATEC Global is a leading climate tech company that uses IoT & web3 to bring trust and transparency to decentralised carbon projects. Focused on the 1 gigaton vertical of decarbonising cooking in the Global South, ATEC is already scaling to reach 1 million people in the next 3 years in partnership with Engie, Swiss Government, Livelihoods & My Climate. For more information, please visit: https://atecglobal.io