News linked to both this project and an event.
According to The Block, Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani lowered Circle (CRCL)'s price target from $190 to $140, but maintained an "Outperform" rating, implying approximately 118% upside potential compared to the current stock price of $64.32. Bernstein expects Circle's Q2 performance to be essentially flat, with USDC supply decreasing from $77 billion at the end of Q1 to $73 billion. Regarding market concerns over the competitive threat from the Open USD alliance, Bernstein believes its cohesion is insufficient; Visa also stated it will maintain a multi-currency, multi-chain strategy and will not bet on a single winner. Additionally, the profit-sharing agreement between Circle and Hyperliquid is expected to transfer approximately $190 million in reserve yield annually to the latter, with the full impact to be reflected in Q3. Bernstein also lowered its end-of-2026 USDC supply forecast by 37% to $83 billion, but remains long-term bullish on Circle capturing approximately 30% share of the global stablecoin market by 2035.
Mizuho analysts stated that if the U.S. crypto market structure bill, the "Clarity Act," is passed, while it may generally benefit the digital asset industry, the long-term impact on Circle could be negative. The reason is that regulatory clarity will attract more large institutions into the stablecoin market, further accelerating stablecoin commodification and eroding the revenue potential of Circle's USDC.Mizuho believes that the primary pressure Circle faces in the near term comes from Open USD. This stablecoin project is backed by a coalition of over 140 financial, technology, and crypto companies, with members including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, and Coinbase. Unlike Circle's model, which retains approximately 38% of USDC reserve yields, Open USD employs a "pass-through" model, distributing nearly all reserve yields to distribution partners while retaining only a small management fee.Analysts also noted that Coinbase, as the largest distributor of USDC, also supports Open USD. This could give Coinbase stronger bargaining power when renegotiating its revenue-sharing agreement with Circle in the future. The distribution agreement between the two parties could be up for renegotiation as early as next month.
According to The EastAfrican, Visa is conducting a pilot with mobile money platform and cross-border payment company Onafriq in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, exploring settling mobile money top-ups via stablecoins to reduce friction in multi-currency cross-border transactions. Visa stated that stablecoins are expected to address cost and efficiency issues in African cross-border payments, remittances, and B2B payments.
: Visa, M-Pesa, and Onafriq have launched a pilot project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to settle cross-border mobile transactions using a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. The pilot targets scenarios such as cross-border mobile wallet top-ups, international commercial transactions, and remittances. The World Bank estimates that the average cost of cross-border remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa is close to 8% of the transfer amount. Visa has previously partnered with African cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card to explore stablecoin treasury management and international settlement services. (Bitcoin.com News).
after Open Standard announced the launch of its new stablecoin, Open USD (OUSD), Circle's stock price fell over 16% on Tuesday. The stablecoin is backed by over 140 companies, including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase, raising market concerns that it could pose competitive pressure on Circle's USDC.However, William Blair analysts believe the sell-off was an overreaction and reiterated an "Outperform" rating on Circle's stock, suggesting the decline may present a buying opportunity. The firm believes that Circle holds a competitive advantage in the stablecoin space due to its first-mover status, deep liquidity, and mature payment infrastructure, positioning it well even against high-profile competitors like OUSD.Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that the company welcomes competition and will continue to expand the USDC ecosystem. Analysts also noted that the overall stablecoin market is still rapidly expanding, and new entrants may not necessarily only eat into USDC's market share but could also drive broader industry adoption.
: An opinion piece published in the French media *Le Monde* points out that France may have only about 6 months to seize the new wave of industrial revolution led by "agentic AI". Otherwise, it risks being marginalized in the global digital financial system. Several French crypto industry insiders argue that online transactions driven by AI agents are growing rapidly, with most settlements already completed via stablecoins. According to the *State of Crypto* report by Andreessen Horowitz, the annual transaction volume of stablecoins has reached approximately $46 trillion, nearly three times that of Visa and 20 times that of PayPal, establishing them as a key infrastructure in the global payment system.The article further points out that the x402 standard, promoted by Coinbase and adopted by Cloudflare, Google, and Visa, already supports AI agents in automatically completing payments via stablecoins, with cumulative transactions exceeding 119 million to date.However, in terms of the tax system, France's current provisions are criticized as being unable to adapt to this trend. The complex tax treatment between stablecoin exchanges and fiat withdrawals is believed to discourage the flow of funds back into the banking system, causing a large volume of digital asset transactions to remain within the stablecoin ecosystem for extended periods. As AI agents and stablecoin payments gradually converge, the global financial infrastructure is being restructured. If France fails to promptly adjust its regulatory and tax framework, it may miss out on the dividends of this new wave of the digital economy.
According to The Block, Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, noted that three enterprise-grade blockchains—Arc (by Circle), Canton Network, and Tempo (by Stripe)—have collectively raised over $1 billion in funding recently. All three funding rounds occurred after the signing of the GENIUS Act in July 2025. Hougan believes this legislation broke a prior regulatory stalemate that had discouraged institutional capital from entering the space. Hougan identified three key signals: First, all three blockchains prioritize native privacy-preserving transactions as a core design feature, addressing institutions’ need for transaction confidentiality. Second, the implementation of the GENIUS Act has significantly reduced regulatory uncertainty; the next critical variable is the pending Clarity Act, from which stablecoins and tokenization infrastructure stand to benefit. Third, these blockchains are backed by top-tier institutions—including Goldman Sachs, Citadel, BlackRock, Stripe, and Visa—marking a stark contrast to Ethereum and Solana, which emerged from grassroots origins. Hougan stated that his firm’s capital remains primarily allocated to native crypto projects, and he believes these emerging enterprise chains will raise the overall competitive bar and attract additional capital inflows.