Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) is a popular crypto company best known for its USDC stablecoin. Pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, USDC holds the same value as the dollar. Along with Tether's
Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) is a popular crypto company best known for its USDC stablecoin.
Pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, USDC holds the same value as the dollar. Along with Tether's USDT, USDC is the dominant stablecoin player.
Related: Explained: What is a stablecoin?
But there is a new player in town now called Open USD (OUSD), backed by more than 140 companies such as BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), Visa (NYSE: V), Mastercard (NYSE: MA), and Aptos Labs.
Launched on June 30, OUSD has a revenue-sharing model that could draw a significant number of stablecoin users.
More negative news reached Circle users the same day when Simply Wall Street reported that the crypto company's stock had been removed from several Russell Growth Indices in the latest annual reconstitution. The update applied to the Russell 1000 Growth Index, Russell 3000 Growth Index, and Russell Midcap Growth Index.
Funds tracking these indices can reduce their exposure to the Circle stock, which could translate into low trading activity.
Following these updates, the Circle stock dropped more than 13% from the opening price of $72.25 to close at $62.63 on June 30.
Despite these developments, Bernstein doubled down on its Outperform rating on the Circle stock as per its July 1 note.
Bernstein said that though the scale of the OUSD coalition validates stablecoins as a category, it doesn't immediately threaten Circle's status. Though USDC holds about 28% of the USD-pegged stablecoin monetary base, its transaction volume is huge, the equity research and brokerage firm highlighted.
The firm said it analyzed Visa onchain data to conclude that USDC has processed $5.3 trillion in H2 2026 itself, its share of transaction volume rising from around 40% in 2025 to around 60% so far this year. In fact, it's a surge of approximately 140% over 2025's complete pace.
Circle took advantage of its partnership with Coinbase, which accounts for 25% of USDC held on-platform. Hyperliquid and Polymarket have also come in handy.
Regarding Coinbase's partnership with OUSD, Bernstein said it believes Coinbase doesn't intend to move away from USDC and instead wants to expand mainstream stablecoin adoption.
Bernstein reiterated its price target of $190 for the Coinbase stock. As the stock closed at $62.63 yesterday and the firm released its note this morning, the target represents an upside of more than 200%.
At press time, CRCL was exchanging hands at $65.52 intraday.
Related: Citi drastically slashes Bitcoin, Ether price targets
