Circle Internet Group, Inc.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest has increased its stake in Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, despite the stock's sharp decline over the past year. USDC, pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, has a market cap of $73.88 billion, accounting for 24.36% of the total stablecoin market, according to DeFiLlama. Analyst Alex Obchakevich noted that while Circle is down 42% over twelve months, it has gained 30% in the last month, and he argues the business has fundamentally changed, citing regulatory approval as a federally regulated trust bank and profitability in the second quarter. Wood echoed this optimism, calling Circle a "prime beneficiary" of tech disruption, though her stated 84% gain since IPO does not match the actual 184% appreciation as of Aug. 21. Bernstein analysts reiterated a $140 price target for Circle, citing growth drivers in stablecoin payments and tokenized assets, with the stock closing at $92.02 on Aug. 25, up over 47% in a month.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's plan to shift U.S. borrowing toward shorter-term debt has a potential ally in the Trump administration's push for crypto legislation, according to The Wall Street Journal. The connection runs through stablecoins, which under the Genius Act can hold only certain assets to maintain their dollar peg, including Treasury securities maturing within 93 days. Bessent has cited projections that the stablecoin market could grow from its current $300 billion to nearly $4 trillion, and has written that such growth could lower government borrowing costs. Last week, the U.S. Treasury announced it would increase buybacks of longer-term bonds, a move that can be funded by issuing more short-term Treasury bills, and Bessent called the approach a Treasury twist. President Donald Trump hosted crypto industry executives at the White House last week and pressed Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would establish a broader regulatory framework for crypto markets, but the bill has stalled in the Senate ahead of a September 15 procedural vote. Shares of Circle Internet Group and Coinbase Global both rose more than 20% last week in anticipation of regulatory progress, and a Brookings Institution review found that stablecoins could generate substantial new demand for Treasury bills, particularly from foreign savers in countries with less stable currencies.

Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani reiterated an Outperform rating on Circle stock and set a $140 price target, implying at least 75% upside from current levels. Circle shares are up 23% in the past five days and trading at their highest since mid-June, driven by a bitcoin rally as the Treasury injects liquidity into the bond market. Chhugani cited enduring crypto momentum, a new expansion cycle from macro regime change, real-world blockchain capital markets, stablecoin payments adoption, and a stablecoin-led agentic economy. He argued the growth cycle is independent of the CLARITY Act passing in September, and that either regulatory outcome benefits USDC. Circle's second quarter showed revenue and reserve income of $701.3 million, up 6.6% year over year but below the $712.3 million estimate, while adjusted EBITDA of $143 million beat the $139.6 million consensus and net income swung to $48 million from a loss of $482.1 million a year ago.

Moderna delivered one of the largest single-session moves for an S&P 500 company, closing 177% higher at $174.38 on Wednesday after reporting positive late-stage data for its personalized cancer vaccine. The stock pulled back over 23% on Thursday before adding more than 10% so far on Friday, leaving it on course for a gain of around 135% over the week. The Phase 3 trial evaluated Moderna's intismeran alongside Merck's Keytruda in advanced skin cancer, and met its primary goal of recurrence-free survival, with a key secondary endpoint on distant metastasis-free survival also met and no new safety signal reported. Crypto-exposed equities rallied hard this week after bitcoin surged on the U.S. Treasury's decision to at least double the size of its long-dated bond buyback operations, alongside supportive comments on the sector from President Donald Trump. The Treasury raised the maximum per-operation size from $2 billion to at least $4 billion for the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year sectors, effective Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. Bitcoin is currently above $77,000, having hit a high of $79,461 earlier in Friday's session. As a result, Strategy has risen 25.9% over the week, with Marathon Digital up 22.5%, Coinbase 23.1% higher, Circle up 16.3%, Galaxy Digital 12.3% higher and Robinhood up 9.7%. The same Treasury announcement also lifted metals producers, with the dollar weakening and precious metal prices moving higher. Agnico Eagle leads the group so far on Friday with an 18.4% gain over the week, followed by Barrick at 15%, Freeport-McMoRan up 14% and Newmont 13.3% higher. The dollar has declined, with spot gold gaining more than 2% on Friday and over 6% in the past week. Estée Lauder jumped more than 16% on Wednesday and is set to finish the week up around 15.9% after fourth-quarter results came in ahead of expectations. Sales rose 6%, beating consensus of 4%, while adjusted earnings of $0.39 per share topped the $0.32 expected. Management pointed to share gains in mainland China and growth across all product categories except hair care, alongside continued progress on cost-cutting through its One ELC initiative and Profit Recovery and Growth Plan. Canaccord analyst Susan Anderson raised her price target for the stock to $90 from $85, maintaining a Hold rating following the release. Walmart is the week's notable loser, sinking 9.2% on Thursday and down a further 0.9% so far on Friday after second-quarter results that beat on the headline numbers but disappointed on the metric that mattered most. Comparable sales at Walmart-only U.S. stores excluding gas grew 2.6%, well short of the 3.67% consensus and the slowest U.S. sales growth in six years. Mizuho analyst David Bellinger described the outcome as a worst-case scenario, calling it a very messy print and one of the biggest misses in years from the retailer.

Ross Stores raised its full-year earnings forecast and projected stronger comparable-store sales, sending its shares up nearly 9% in premarket trading. The discount retailer now expects full-year earnings per share of $8.61 to $8.77, up from its prior range of $7.50 to $7.74, and sees third-quarter comparable sales rising 6% to 7% and fourth-quarter sales up 4% to 5%, ahead of analyst expectations. Second-quarter revenue rose about 13% to $6.26 billion, beating estimates of $6.18 billion. Separately, cryptocurrency-linked stocks rallied as Bitcoin jumped 8.9% to $78,135.60, with Strategy up 10.2%, Coinbase up 6.8%, and Circle Internet Group up 6.4% in premarket trading. O-I Glass shares climbed 6.6% after Citi upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and raised its price target to $9 from $8, while Flowers Foods fell 4.2% after reporting weaker-than-expected second-quarter results.

Crypto-linked stocks rallied Friday as Bitcoin extended its climb to levels not seen since late May, after President Trump called on lawmakers to pass clear regulatory rules for digital assets. In U.S. premarket trading, Strategy was up 10.2%, Coinbase rose 6.8%, and Circle Internet Group added 6.4%, while MARA Holdings climbed 5.4%, Galaxy Digital rose 5%, Robinhood Markets gained 4.7%, Hut 8 advanced 2.4%, and Riot Platforms rose 3.7%. Bitcoin jumped 8.9% to $78,135.60, briefly touching an intraday high of $79,600.60, breaking out of the roughly $60,000-to-$70,000 range that held for most of 2026. The rally was also supported by a broader lift in risk appetite after the U.S. Treasury Department said it would double its bond buybacks in an effort to contain rising yields, following a sharp bond selloff that drove the 30-year yield to its highest level since 2007. The advance was set in motion earlier this week when Trump, speaking at a White House summit, urged Congress to advance the Clarity Act, closely watched legislation aimed at establishing a regulatory framework for the U.S. crypto industry, though it remains unclear when, or if, the bill will pass.

Elon Musk's X is in talks to use stablecoins such as Circle Internet's USDC to pay creators, according to a CoinDesk report citing sources familiar with the plan. The idea aligns with the Everything App goal and the X Money payment system under development, while Meta began paying some creator rewards in USDC on Solana and Polygon through Stripe in April and plans to expand to more than 160 countries by the end of this year. On-chain data shows XRP trading is active during banking hours, with the share of transactions on the XRP Ledger between 13:00 and 16:00 UTC jumping from 14% to 23%, according to analysis by Evernorth shared with CoinDesk.

Bitcoin climbed to nearly 72,000 US dollars, its highest level since June 1, supported by efforts from the White House and cryptocurrency industry leaders to push the Clarity Act through Congress. Bitcoin rose more than 5% on Thursday, August 20, and gained over 11% over two days after previously trading around 63,000 US dollars. Buying also spread to crypto-related stocks, with Coinbase and Circle up about 6% while Strategy jumped more than 9% in premarket trading. The recovery began on Wednesday after US Treasury yields fell sharply, easing pressure on risk assets and prompting investors to buy cryptocurrencies broadly. The market then got an additional boost from a major short squeeze, with data from CoinGlass showing that short positions in the crypto market were liquidated for about 2.7 billion US dollars the same day. The White House held an emergency meeting with top executives from leading cryptocurrency companies including Coinbase, Kraken, Robinhood, Ripple and ChainLink, where President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass the crypto market structure bill, known as the Clarity Act, in a fair form before the end of this year. Trump said Congress needs to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act in a fair form, arguing that the bill has a strong framework that would help the United States maintain leadership over China and other countries while paving the way for a new wave of innovation and innovators. However, Trump's call to pass the bill in a fair form reflects ongoing disagreements with Democrats, who want stricter ethics provisions to prevent the president and other government officials from personally benefiting from cryptocurrencies, while Republicans oppose provisions they see as overly targeted at certain individuals or excessively restrictive. The market views the Clarity Act as a key factor that could help the crypto market escape the slump that began last autumn. Investors had previously begun to think the bill might not pass by 2026 after the US Senate adjourned in August without a vote, while negotiations remained stalled over ethics provisions and other differences between Republicans and Democrats. If the bill fails to clear key hurdles, including the Senate's first procedural vote on September 15, it could lose its chance to pass this year as other issues compete for lawmakers' attention before the midterm elections. Despite the sharp recovery, Bitcoin still trades about 43% below its October 2025 peak, when the price reached roughly 126,000 US dollars.

Rain launched the Agentic Payments Alliance on August 18, 2026, a coalition of 26 founding members including Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv, Circle, and Solana, to define standards for agentic commerce. The alliance focuses on agent authorization, fraud detection, loyalty integration, identity standards, and regulatory advocacy, aiming to solve friction points that prevent autonomous software from spending money at scale. McKinsey projects $3-5 trillion in global agentic commerce by 2030, and the alliance is moving faster than federal regulation, with the CLARITY Act still stuck in Congress. Visa's Agentic Ready Program has already brought over 85 partners into certification, and the APA aims to build broader cross-industry consensus for interoperability. The alliance faces tension between crypto-native protocols and traditional payment processors, but its goal is to preempt regulatory chaos by building infrastructure before federal oversight can intervene.

Shares of Coinbase Global and other crypto-related equities soared after President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass legislation establishing clearer laws for digital currencies. Bitcoin gained 3.8% and traded above $70,000, with Strategy up 5.8%, Coinbase up 5.7%, Canaan up 12.5%, and Circle Internet Group up 3.8%. Trump urged senators to pass a fair version of the stalled Clarity Act, which would help define whether cryptocurrencies are securities or commodities and clarify oversight between the SEC and CFTC. The measure faces political obstacles, including debates about banning public officials from monetizing crypto projects.

Circle Internet Group outlined its strategy for expanding USDC, payment infrastructure, and its planned Arc blockchain during an earnings-related Q&A session. The company sees USDC's long-term market opportunity reaching trillions of dollars, expanding beyond crypto trading into cross-border payments, capital markets, corporate treasury operations, and AI-agent transactions. Arc's public mainnet is scheduled to launch on September 16 as a stablecoin-native blockchain with transaction fees paid in USDC. Circle reported that EURC circulation has exceeded €400 million and said its Circle Payments Network now has more than 175 financial-institution members. Reserve income is expected to remain a significant revenue driver while payments and infrastructure create additional monetization streams.

Stock futures were lower early Thursday as persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East drove Brent crude over $92 a barrel, reinforcing broader inflation concerns. Webull shares climbed 14% after the digital investment platform reported record Q2 revenue of $198.8M, up 51% Y/Y and 24% Q/Q, beating estimates of $180.7M, while Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical surged 12% after the FDA granted accelerated approval to Genglycos, its gene therapy for glycogen storage disease type Ia. Circle Internet Group gained 5% alongside a broader rally in crypto-linked stocks as Bitcoin climbed more than 9% to around $71K, its highest level since June 2, following the U.S. Treasury's surprise decision to double planned buybacks of longer-dated Treasuries to at least $4B per operation. Wolfspeed plunged 10% after reporting a wider-than-expected FQ4 adjusted loss of $2.26 per share, versus the $1.47 consensus, while revenue rose 24% Y/Y to $149.6M, and Coty tumbled 9% after mixed FQ4 results with LFL revenue down 1% and adjusted operating income plunging 31%.

US crypto-related stocks surged across the board on the 19th. Bitcoin triggered a short squeeze that briefly pushed it toward the 70,000 dollar level, forcing bearish investors who had sold in anticipation of declines to buy back positions. Strategy, a major Bitcoin holder, rose 11.95 percent from the previous day to 103.58 dollars. Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange, gained 9.05 percent to 159.47 dollars. Circle, which issues stablecoins, climbed 9.44 percent to 78.50 dollars. Bitmine, which holds Ethereum, advanced 9.68 percent to 20.05 dollars. Reports said more than 1 billion dollars worth of bearish positions were forcibly liquidated within one hour on the 19th. The US Treasury's plan to double the scale of long-term bond buybacks starting in September also supported buying of risk assets, and the total market capitalisation of the cryptocurrency market expanded by more than 5 percent that day. In Tokyo trading the following day, the 20th, the Nikkei Stock Average opened higher, with gains from the previous close briefly exceeding 800 yen.

Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of crypto asset manager Bitwise, pointed out three mistakes crypto investors are making in a blog post on August 18. He said that while crypto assets total only about 2 trillion dollars compared with a 150 trillion dollar stock market and a 350 trillion dollar bond market, tokenization could expand the potential market for platforms like Uniswap by 100 times. He also cited the example of PayPal's stablecoin holding only about 1 percent share while Tether and Circle control more than 88 percent, arguing that the competitiveness of crypto-native companies is being underestimated. What he emphasized most was that future transaction activity is being underestimated by 10 to 100 times. He said tokenization could increase the tradable hours of US stocks from 33 hours a week to 168 hours, a fivefold increase, and if AI agents handle buying and selling, it is easy to imagine transaction volumes rising 10, 50, or even 100 times.

Tether's USDT remains the world's dominant stablecoin despite rising competition, according to data from crypto payment firm NOWPayments. Circle Internet Group's USDC stablecoin is gaining momentum, with transactions up 209% year-over-year and transaction volume up 101% in the first half of this year. Tether's USDT transaction activity declined over the same period, though it remains the market leader. NOWPayments said USDT continues to offer the scale and liquidity businesses rely on, while USDC is emerging as a popular alternative. Circle's stock has declined 43% over the last 12 months to trade at $76.53 per share.

JCB will conduct a pilot test of payments using the US dollar-denominated stablecoin USDC at Lawson stores on August 20, Nikkei reported on August 18. The pilot will be limited to selected participants at the Lawson Gate City Osaki Atrium store in Osaki, Tokyo. Users will display JCB's web payment screen on their smartphones, and store staff will scan the barcode with existing POS registers. A key feature is that no dedicated terminals are needed, allowing standard registers to handle stablecoin payments. The test uses USDC issued by Circle. JCB sees potential inbound demand, believing that if foreign visitors to Japan can use stablecoins they hold in their home countries directly in Japan, it would reduce the hassle of currency exchange. Digital Garage, which operates a stablecoin payment infrastructure, is also participating in the pilot and plans to provide its DG Stablecoin Payment Service, launched commercially on August 10, to JCB and others on a priority basis.

Mastercard has deepened its push into stablecoins by acquiring enterprise stablecoin infrastructure platform BVNK and launching continuous intraday and weekend card settlements for regulated stablecoins. The company has spent the past five years integrating stablecoins like Circle's USDC and EURC into its settlement framework, partnering with Thunes to extend Mastercard Move into stablecoin wallets across more than 130 countries. Mastercard's expansion is expected to benefit stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Tether, whose reserve income rises as more tokens are minted, though it is unlikely to directly boost the value of stablecoins or major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong argued in a post on X that crypto has unlocked significant financial access globally, citing stablecoins, decentralized finance applications, and tokenized stocks as key catalysts. Armstrong said stablecoins allow anyone, anywhere to access a low-inflation currency and send it 24/7 for a fraction of a cent, DeFi gives anyone access to credit and unbanked individuals access to financial services, and tokenized stocks would expose four billion unbrokered people to the U.S. stock market. The article notes that investors can gain exposure through stablecoin issuer Circle, which generates most of its revenue from interest on cash and U.S. Treasuries backing its stablecoins, and through Coinbase via a revenue-sharing agreement on USD Coin held on its platform. It also highlights Ethereum and Solana as leading developer-oriented blockchains that could benefit from increased decentralized app development, and Chainlink as the leading oracle network whose LINK token value could rise as its network expands. Robinhood is identified as an early mover in tokenized stocks, having launched Robinhood Chain in early July, with tokenized real-world assets on the chain reaching $70 million by late July according to DefiLlama.

Cathie Wood of Ark Invest has been buying the dip on crypto stocks, adding nearly $8 million of Coinbase Global and almost $1.5 million of Circle Internet Group after both sold off. Coinbase remains her sixth-largest holding in the ARK Innovation ETF with a 4.2% portfolio share, and Wood sees growth from its expansion beyond traditional crypto trading into prediction markets, tokenized equities, and derivatives. Circle, issuer of the $72 billion USDC stablecoin, faces new competition from a consortium of over 140 banks and fintechs planning to launch Open USD, but Wood is betting on its new Arc blockchain network backed by a dozen top financial institutions. Wood has not been buying Strategy, the largest Bitcoin treasury company, as Bitcoin trades about 50% below its all-time high of $126,000, and she has sent mixed signals on Robinhood Markets and Bullish.

Circle has unveiled Arc, a new blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin transactions, cross-border settlements, and tokenized real-world assets, with major financial institutions including BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, Standard Chartered, MoneyGram, and Intercontinental Exchange already lined up as backers. Arc, which launches in September, uses Circle's USDC stablecoin to fund transfers, avoiding the volatility of native tokens like Ether and Solana, and can move money in under half a second for a fraction of a cent. The blockchain is compatible with Ethereum's decentralized finance apps and is positioned to help Circle evolve from a stablecoin issuer into an infrastructure provider. Circle's stock has fallen nearly 60% over the past year, but the company expects Arc to draw investors back and counter competitive threats such as the Open USD stablecoin backed by over 140 companies.

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest purchased roughly $36.9 million of SpaceX shares across four funds last week, marking the largest single-company buy in the period. The firm also added about $13.2 million of CoreWeave, $13.1 million of Cerebras, and $17.6 million of Nvidia, while increasing crypto exposure with approximately $39 million of Circle and $17 million of Coinbase. On the selling side, Ark unloaded roughly $96 million of Roblox and about $21 million of Palantir, signaling a rotation away from some software winners toward space, AI infrastructure, and crypto. The SpaceX buying followed the company's first public earnings report, which showed revenue jumping 92% year over year to $7.8 billion.

Circle Internet Group launched its Arc blockchain in September, expanding beyond USDC into institutional infrastructure. Founding validators include BlackRock, DTCC, Mastercard, Visa, ICE, and Standard Chartered. The company’s CEO described Arc as a potentially larger long-term opportunity than USDC. Circle recently swung to a net income of $48.22 million in Q2 2026 from a net loss of $482.1 million a year earlier. The public mainnet is planned for September 16, 2026, with potential integrations such as BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and DTCC tokenizing DTC custodied assets starting in the second half of 2027.

Visa has moved stablecoin integration into production-grade infrastructure, deploying stablecoin capabilities across its Visa Direct real-time push payments platform to reach more than 18 billion endpoints across eligible cards, accounts, and digital wallets in 195 countries and territories. The live, scalable deployment is designed for institutional-grade cross-border treasury funding and payouts, with Zero Hash providing the compliance layer for stablecoin settlement across dozens of blockchains and stablecoins, primarily using USDC. The integration builds on the Visa Stablecoin Platform launched in July, and comes as the World Bank reports the average cost of sending a $200 remittance at 6.35%, while stablecoin rails drop that cost below 1%. The move follows a week of infrastructure consolidation, including Western Union's launch of Stablecard on Solana and Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, all under the new GENIUS Act regulatory framework. Circle reported $14.8 trillion in onchain volume in Q2 2026, up 151% year-over-year, with USDC circulation at $73.3 billion.

Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid that there will eventually be billions of AI agents providing work and labor, orchestrated and integrated within and across firms. He described this as an incredible time for entrepreneurs and startups to tap into agent labor markets to accelerate development and growth. Circle is already using AI agents alongside human employees, aiming to give workers fleets of agents to amplify their capabilities. The comments came as Circle reported second-quarter revenue and reserve income of $701.3 million, up 6.6% year over year but below the $712.3 million estimate, while adjusted EBITDA of $143 million beat the $139.6 million consensus and net income swung to $48 million from a loss of $482.1 million a year ago.

SpaceX shares fell 11% in premarket trading after the Elon Musk-led rocket company released its first quarterly report since going public in June, reporting capital expenditures of $18.37 billion, up 550% from a year ago, while second-quarter revenue of $7.81 billion topped estimates. Disney rose more than 3% despite mixed fiscal third-quarter results, with earnings per share beating expectations but revenue slightly missing, and its experiences business revenue up 10% annually. Arista Networks gained 12% after second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share on revenue of $3.04 billion surpassed estimates, and third-quarter guidance also beat. AMD plunged 8.5% as second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.66 per share on revenue of $11.54 billion and in-line third-quarter revenue guidance of $13 billion failed to impress investors. Eli Lilly jumped more than 6.5% after beating earnings and revenue estimates and raising its full-year 2026 revenue guidance, driven by surging demand for weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro. Circle Internet Group shares were up more than 5% after naming initial partners for its Arc blockchain and doubling the midpoint of its full-year other revenue guidance to $320 million. Wynn Resorts saw shares jump 5% after second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.24 per share on revenue of $1.86 billion beat estimates. CVS Health shares were up over 2.5% after better-than-expected earnings and revenue and an increase in its 2026 adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $7.90 to $8.10. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions rose 10% after second-quarter revenue beat estimates in all segments. Pinterest slid nearly 9% as third-quarter revenue guidance of $1.19 billion to $1.21 billion, bracketing the consensus estimate of $1.2 billion, failed to impress despite second-quarter beats. DaVita fell over 5.5% even with better-than-expected second-quarter results, as full-year adjusted earnings guidance of $14.10 to $15.20 per share compared to a consensus of $14.88. Teradata slumped 13% after third-quarter earnings guidance of 55 to 59 cents per share excluding items trailed the consensus estimate of 62 cents. Booking Holdings advanced more than 7% after second-quarter gross bookings of $51 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.54 per share on revenue of $7.35 billion topped estimates. Uber Technologies fell 3% after third-quarter bookings guidance of $59.25 billion at the midpoint missed the consensus estimate of $59.33 billion. Carlyle Group rose more than $2 after earnings and revenue beat estimates and total assets under management reached $485 billion. Flutter Entertainment was off more than 5% after announcing CEO Peter Jackson would leave and be replaced by Dan Taylor on October 1, and lowering full-year revenue guidance.

Shares of Circle Internet Group jumped 7% in premarket trading after the stablecoin issuer reported second-quarter earnings in line with estimates and disclosed it had received the first federal bank charter awarded to a stablecoin company. The company posted earnings per share of $0.18, matching the analyst consensus, while total revenue and reserve income reached $701 million, a 7% increase year-over-year. Net income from continuing operations was $48 million, an increase of $530 million year-over-year, driven by lower stock-based compensation expense following its initial public offering in the second quarter of 2025. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved Circle to establish Circle National Trust as a national trust bank, and the New York Department of Financial Services separately approved Circle New York Trust as a digital asset-focused limited purpose trust company. Circle also raised its full-year 2026 other revenue guidance to $310 million–$330 million from a prior $150 million–$170 million and lifted its RLDC margin guidance to 41.7%–43.7% from 38%–40%.

Coinbase Global and Circle confirmed that their commercial partnership will renew automatically on the same terms, ending speculation that the USDC agreement might be renegotiated following Coinbase's entry into the Open USD consortium. The renewal maintains existing economics around USDC for Coinbase without announced changes to revenue sharing. Coinbase Global shares are trading at $146.5, down 12.7% over the past week and 38.1% year to date. The automatic renewal keeps Coinbase's role in the USDC ecosystem unchanged for now, preserving a key revenue stream on its prior footing.

Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the world's second-largest stablecoin USD Coin, has secured a trust charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services. The charter is an official state banking authorization that allows Circle to provide fiduciary, custody, and asset-management services under New York Banking Law. USDC has a market capitalization of $71.8 billion. Earlier in July, Circle received approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank, which the company said will enhance the safety and regulatory oversight of its stablecoin reserves. CRCL stock has declined 67% over the last 12 months to trade at $59.76 per share.

Circle has received a limited purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services, expanding its regulatory footprint for the USDC stablecoin. The company will operate as Circle New York Trust under the charter, which builds on its 2015 BitLicense and places it under NYDFS supervision. CEO Jeremy Allaire called the approval an important milestone, noting it positions USDC within a strong regulatory framework as digital dollars become central to global finance. Shares of Circle rose 8.4% to around $68.40 following the announcement. The charter follows recent moves including OCC approval for a national trust bank and the acquisition of IBM's blockchain patent portfolio.

Coinbase reported that Bitcoin-related transactions now account for just 12% of total revenue, down from over 50%, as the company diversifies its income streams. The Coinbase One subscription platform surpassed one million paid members, reaching an all-time high even as overall crypto trading volumes declined. The Base Layer 2 network handled $32 trillion in stablecoin transfer volume over the past 12 months and settled over 90% of agentic stablecoin transactions. Management confirmed the Circle partnership auto-renewed on existing terms and highlighted a multi-stablecoin strategy through the Onyx USD platform. The company also launched pre-IPO perpetual futures for non-U.S. traders, starting with SpaceX, and noted a one-year payback on growth marketing that has recently outperformed internal benchmarks.

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest purchased $43.5 million of crypto stocks over three days as prices fell. The buys included 122,544 shares of Coinbase Global valued at $18.6 million and 169,777 shares of Circle Internet Group worth $12.9 million. The purchases came as both stocks declined alongside Bitcoin earlier this week. Ark also sold shares of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Bullish, and Block, which analysts said suggests a rotation within Wood’s crypto portfolio rather than an exit from the sector.

Circle has acquired IBM's blockchain patent portfolio, instantly becoming the largest holder of U.S. blockchain patents. The deal, announced July 27, transfers over 1,000 issued patents worldwide and more than 680 patent families to Circle, covering foundational blockchain technology, banking, financial services, insurance, enterprise infrastructure, supply chain verification, and secure cloud operations. Before the acquisition, patent analytics firm PatSnap credited IBM with 790 U.S. blockchain patents, the most of any American company, while Circle had received its first patent only in December 2023. Circle plans to integrate the patents across its products, including USDC, Circle Payments Network, Arc, and a suite of onchain and agentic financial tools. The acquisition also comes as IBM backs Open USD, a competing stablecoin that launched June 30 with over 140 partners including Visa, Mastercard, Google, BlackRock, Stripe, and Coinbase.