On July 19, Circle CEO Heath Tarbert recently admitted in a Fox Business interview that the company’s share price has fallen from around $260 in June last year to about $62, for a cumulative drop of roughly 76%. In response, he said that if the company can execute its long-term plans—including the Arc blockchain infrastructure project, “the stock price will naturally take care of itself,” and he emphasized that “Circle is playing a long game.”

However, analysts have grown increasingly cautious about Circle’s outlook. Mizuho downgraded its CRCL rating from “neutral” to “underperform,” and cut its price target sharply from $85 to $50, implying about 21% downside potential. Mizuho noted that even if interest rates remain high in 2027, it would still be insufficient to offset the pressure from price cuts and the erosion of profits as competition intensifies. Retail investor sentiment on Stocktwits remains in the “bullish” range, but discussion momentum continues to stay high.

Regarding the emerging stablecoin Open USD, which is supported by about 140 companies and plans to return reserve earnings to partners while waiving minting fees, Tarbert said that Circle welcomes competition. He added that rival alliance-based models are extremely difficult to sustain over the long term, and that USDC still remains far ahead of the world’s best, with its core moat coming from its scale advantage—about $73 billion in circulating supply and native coverage of 34 blockchains. At the same time, Circle is actively expanding its global payments footprint. It has already signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s JCB to explore USDC’s application scenarios in merchant payments and cross-border treasury management, including using stablecoins to complete offline payments in Japan by overseas tourists. #夏日创作营