News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily. Bernstein stated in its latest research report that the newly reached compromise on stablecoin yields under the U.S. CLARITY Act is structurally beneficial for Circle and the USDC ecosystem.The report notes that the current version of the bill prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest to passive holders that is "economically equivalent" to bank deposits, but allows reward mechanisms tied to actual transaction, payment, and usage activities to continue. Bernstein believes this means Circle's current model, which relies on partners like Coinbase to provide USDC reward programs, will gain regulatory recognition, while also limiting the industry's ability to compete for market share through high yields.Bernstein points out that the bill effectively reinforces the positioning of stablecoins as "payment tools" rather than "deposit substitutes," helping to protect Circle's current business model that relies on reserve income. The firm maintains an "Outperform" rating for Circle with a $190 target price.Data shows that the total global supply of dollar-pegged stablecoins has surpassed $300 billion, with USDT and USDC collectively accounting for approximately 97% of the market share. Bernstein notes that USDC's share in on-chain payments and wallet transfers is steadily increasing, and its share of payments in the AI Agent payment protocol x402 has exceeded 99%.Additionally, Bernstein mentioned that Circle's ARC chain has cumulatively completed 244 million testnet transactions. The ARC token pre-sale previously raised $222 million, with investors including a16z crypto, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, and BlackRock.However, the report also points out that the CLARITY Act still needs to complete multiple legislative procedures before it takes effect, including a 60-vote threshold in the full Senate and coordination with the House version. Polymarket currently estimates its probability of passage by 2026 at approximately 62%. (The Block)
According to @cryptounfolded, Circle has completed the Arc token presale, raising $222 million with a fully diluted valuation of $3 billion. The round was led by a16z, with participation from major institutions including BlackRock and Apollo. Arc is positioned as a public blockchain for institutional contracts, governance, and AI agents, using USDC as its underlying settlement currency. Circle will receive 25% of the tokens for validator rewards.
Odaily News Securitize announced the appointment of investor, Blackstone advisor, and former International Monetary Fund (IMF) board member Sunil Sabharwal to its board. Sunil Sabharwal served as the U.S. representative to the IMF, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, from 2016 to 2018, for which he received the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the boards of Thunes and TookiTaki, and previously served as Chairman of payment companies Earthport and Ogone, which were acquired by Visa and Ingenico, respectively. Since 2021, he has served as an advisor and operating partner for the Blackstone Growth Equity Fund.Securitize currently manages over $4 billion in on-chain assets, including the BlackRock BUIDL Fund and tokenized products from institutions such as Apollo, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR, and VanEck. The company reached an acquisition agreement with a Cantor Fitzgerald affiliate last October, valuing Securitize at $1 billion. The merged company is set to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol CEPT.
According to Bloomberg, chip startup SiFive has raised $400 million in funding, led by Atreides Management, with participation from Nvidia, Apollo Global Management, and Point72. Following this round, SiFive’s valuation stands at $3.65 billion. SiFive stated that the funds will be used to expand its market share in the AI data center sector. This round was oversubscribed, with investment commitments exceeding the final amount raised.