circle

According to Gate market data, Circle's stock price opened low and rose high today, increasing by over 12%, leading the cryptocurrency concept stocks to strengthen, including:MSTR up 0.98%;COIN up 4.37%;SBET up 2.16%;BMNR up 1.98%;HOOD up 1.97%;Hut 8 up 6.88%.

According to the Arc white paper released by Circle, the Arc mainnet is expected to launch in the summer of 2026, with the testnet having started in October 2025. As of May 5, 2026, it has processed a total of 244.1 million transactions. Arc is positioned as an institutional-focused public Layer 1 blockchain, compatible with EVM, natively integrated with USDC, supporting sub-second deterministic settlement, stablecoin-priced gas fees, and configurable privacy features. Cross-chain transfers are completed through Circle CCTP.The white paper also reveals that the initial supply of the native token ARC is 10 billion, with 60% allocated to ecosystem development, 25% belonging to Circle, and 15% reserved for long-term holdings.

According to the official announcement, Circle has launched a new infrastructure suite for the "Agentic Economy," called Circle Agent Stack, which includes products such as Circle CLI, Agent Wallets, Agent Marketplace, and Nanopayments based on Circle Gateway, supporting AI agents as autonomous economic entities for asset holding, service discovery, and on-chain payments.Among them, Nanopayments supports gas-free USDC transfers at a minimum level of $0.000001, aimed at high-frequency machine-to-machine payment scenarios; Agent Wallets allow AI agents to autonomously manage funds under preset permissions and risk control frameworks; Agent Marketplace provides an AI service directory, enabling agents to automatically discover and invoke services.Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that traditional financial infrastructure is designed for "humans," while the future global economy will increasingly be driven by AI and agents. The Circle Agent Stack is the first complete product suite launched for "AI agents themselves" rather than developers.

According to an exclusive report by CNBC, Circle Internet Group raised $222 million through the presale of its native token from the new blockchain Arc, achieving a fully diluted network valuation of $3 billion. Andreessen Horowitz led the investment with $75 million, with participation from over a dozen institutions including BlackRock, Apollo Funds, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Standard Chartered Ventures, ARK Invest, and Bullish.Arc is a public blockchain designed for institutional finance. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that the company is transforming from a stablecoin issuer into a broader internet platform company, entering the operating system and application business. In terms of token distribution, Circle holds 25% of the initial supply of 10 billion tokens, 60% is allocated to network builders and participants, and 15% is reserved for long-term use. Circle also released a set of tools to help developers build AI agents, supporting transactions and payments using USDC. This is the first publicly traded company to conduct a token presale, and Allaire stated that all companies will achieve tokenization in the future.

Circle announced its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. The data shows that by the end of the first quarter, the circulation of USDC reached $77 billion, a year-on-year increase of 28%; the on-chain transaction volume of USDC in the first quarter reached $21.5 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 263%. The financial report indicates that Circle's total revenue and reserve income for the first quarter were $694 million, a year-on-year increase of 20%; adjusted EBITDA was $151 million, a year-on-year increase of 24%; net profit was $55 million, a year-on-year decrease of 15%.In addition, Circle disclosed that its ARC Token presale financing reached $222 million, with a fully diluted valuation of $3 billion, and participating investors include institutions such as a16z crypto, BlackRock, and ARK Invest. The company also announced the launch of the "Agent Stack" infrastructure aimed at AI agent scenarios, including products like Agent Wallets and Agent Marketplace, to support USDC-based AI agent payments and business activities.

Stablecoin bank Augustus has obtained a federal banking license issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), becoming the eighth institution to receive this license since 2010, and has simultaneously completed a $40 million financing round, with investors including Valar Ventures, Creandum, Ramp, Deel, and the founder of Circle.

According to SolanaFloor data, Circle minted approximately 2.5 billion USDC on the Solana chain again last week.

The stablecoin payment infrastructure platform WasabiCard recently announced its official membership in the Circle Alliance Program, becoming a member of its global stablecoin ecosystem cooperation network.It is reported that WasabiCard mainly targets global business scenarios, building integrated products around global card issuance, payment, and fund distribution to help enterprises manage global funds. Currently, its products have been applied in business scenarios such as AI, SaaS, advertising spending, cross-border e-commerce, and global settlement.The official stated that in the future, WasabiCard will deepen collaboration with Circle and global ecosystem partners, aiming to promote the large-scale implementation of compliant stablecoins like USDC in real business scenarios.

According to BBX data, last week the earnings season for cryptocurrency concept stocks reached its conclusion, while institutional-level derivatives product lines expanded simultaneously. The core dynamics are as follows:CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: $CME) reported by CoinDesk on May 7 plans to officially launch Bitcoin volatility futures (BVOL) on June 1, 2026, pending regulatory approval; the underlying asset for this product is the Bitcoin implied volatility index, allowing institutional investors to take long or short positions based solely on the magnitude of volatility without needing to predict the direction of BTC price movements, filling the gap for "pure volatility tools" in the existing Bitcoin derivatives market. For corporate treasury managers (such as Strategy-type companies) and cryptocurrency options market makers who need to hedge Bitcoin position volatility exposure, BVOL provides the most direct standardized hedging tool to date.Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE: $CRCL) will release its Q1 2026 earnings report today (May 11) at 8:00 AM (ET) via an official live stream; the current analyst consensus expects revenue of approximately $715 million (Zacks data $717.1 million, S&P Global data $714.9 million, year-on-year approximately +11%, quarter-on-quarter approximately -7%), adjusted EPS of about $0.15---$0.27; last quarter (Q4 2025) reserve interest income was $733 million (year-on-year +69%), with an average market cap of USDC around $76.2 billion; as of May 6, the circulating supply of USDC was approximately $78.1 billion, and the integration of stablecoin infrastructure with Meta and Visa, along with the policy expectations from the CLARITY Act markup in May, are the most closely watched valuation catalysts this season.

On-chain data shows that the stablecoin issuer Circle has just minted 250 million USDC on Solana.

Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas stated during this morning's earnings call: "I want to quickly remind everyone that our USDC contract (note: referring to the distribution agreement with Circle) automatically renews every three years and is perpetual. This contract cannot be terminated."Coinbase Chief Compliance Officer Paul Grewal also stated: "Fortunately, the terms of the contract we have signed with Circle are established, and as Alesia Haas emphasized, these contracts will automatically renew. We expect to continue our partnership with Circle under the same terms in the future."

According to market news, Ben O'Neill, the head of cash flow at Bridge, stated at the Consensus conference that the dominance of Tether and Circle in the stablecoin market is generally detrimental to the growth of the entire industry. He pointed out that the design choices of these two major issuers have their pros and cons, but they are not suitable for all use cases.Tether has built a dollar shadow economy independent of the U.S. financial system, while Circle's USDC follows a regulated route in the U.S. and deeply engages in DeFi. O'Neill analyzed the shortcomings of both companies from the perspective of large payment companies: Tether's redemption fee of 10 basis points is too expensive for payment companies, while Circle's continuous increase in destruction fees has a net negative impact on companies like Visa that want to handle trillions of dollars in card settlements.He believes that more stablecoins need to be built and optimized for specific use cases in the coming years, while the role of clearinghouses will rise to make exchanges between stablecoins as efficient as possible. He warned that more competition is needed; otherwise, Tether and Circle will only continue to raise fees and not share profits, making stablecoins increasingly less like money.

Circle officially announced that its USYC asset management scale has surpassed 3 billion USD, making it the largest tokenized money market fund in the world. This milestone indicates the continuous growth of tokenized money market funds, while the role of on-chain collateral in the digital asset market is also steadily increasing.USYC is a product that tokenizes traditional money market funds through blockchain technology, allowing institutional investors to hold, trade, and manage yield-bearing assets on-chain. The fund primarily invests in short-term U.S. Treasury bills and U.S. government securities-backed reverse repurchase agreements.

Circle minted approximately 750 million USDC on the Solana chain in the past 24 hours.

Lighter has reached a strategic cooperation with Circle, designating USDC as the default preferred stablecoin for its entire product line, with integration covering spot and perpetual contract trading, settlement, clearing, and user onboarding processes.Circle stated on Tuesday on X that as on-chain markets expand, trusted dollar infrastructure is becoming core market infrastructure. Lighter responded that USDC has been the foundational asset for the protocol and its traders since its launch. This cooperation comes as Lighter attempts to regain market momentum following the token generation event in December last year, during which it briefly led perpetual contract DEX trading volume in November and December, but has since fallen behind Hyperliquid, Aster, and EdgeX.According to DefiLlama data, Lighter currently ranks fourth with a 7-day perpetual contract trading volume of approximately $8.7 billion.

According to official news, Circle announced that it has submitted a comment letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) regarding the implementation rules of the GENIUS Act, outlining 6 core points:The U.S. standard should become the global benchmark: Strengthen international trust and institutional export capability of the U.S. dollar stablecoin;Stablecoins should serve as a unified payment tool: Avoid market fragmentation that affects liquidity and settlement efficiency;Consumer protection is paramount: Ensure that holders can redeem assets at face value at any time;Fair competition regulatory framework: Banks and non-bank issuers should be under the same regulatory boundary;Strengthen systemic risk management: Cover liquidity, credit, operational, and compliance risks;Distinguish between stablecoins and tokenized deposits: The functions of the two are different and should be regulated separately.

Renowned investor and chairman of Shenzhen Oriental Harbor Investment Management Co., Ltd., Dan Bin, stated on social media, "Due to a strong recommendation from researchers, I have made a small investment in Circle Internet Group (CRCL.US). CRCL surged significantly on Monday, becoming one of the standout performers in the U.S. stock market that day. The core catalyst for this surge is the key progress of the U.S. CLARITY Act, which has reached a compromise on stablecoin regulatory provisions in the Senate, clearing the main differences for the advancement of the bill and completely resolving the long-term regulatory uncertainties in the industry, opening up long-term growth space for compliant stablecoin leaders like Circle.The market generally expects that as the regulatory framework is implemented, the compliance advantages of USDC will be further strengthened, with market share likely to continue to increase in emerging scenarios such as cross-border payments and AI intelligent transactions. On the fundamental side, Circle's core business is entering an explosive growth phase. The circulation of USDC it issues has surpassed $79 billion, setting a historical high, and the interest income from reserve assets has significantly increased. The company's profit expectations for the first quarter of 2026 are clear, and the fundamental performance continues to solidify.At the same time, a new industry narrative of AI + stablecoins is emerging, with USDC as the base currency for on-chain transactions, and its value positioning is being comprehensively upgraded. The market is continuously advancing the valuation reshaping process from "crypto cyclical stocks" to "Web3 + AI infrastructure targets." In addition, the overall sentiment in the crypto market is warming up, adding further momentum to stock price increases. Bitcoin once broke through the $80,000 mark, driving a collective strengthening of crypto concept stocks, with market liquidity and risk appetite significantly increasing, and funds accelerating their entry into the market. CRCL, as a core target in this sector, is favored by capital.Moving forward, two key points need to be closely monitored: first, the release of the first-quarter financial report data on May 11, which will verify the performance realization; second, the final implementation rhythm of the stablecoin bill. If the regulatory and fundamental logic continues to be realized, CRCL is expected to welcome a new round of valuation increases."

According to Gate market data, U.S. stocks closed lower on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially down 1.1%, the S&P 500 down 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.19%. Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) fell 1%, Intel Corporation (INTC.O) dropped nearly 4%, Circle (CRCL.N) surged 20%, and Micron Technology (MU.O) rose 6%. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index closed down 0.09%, while NIO Inc. (NIO.N) rose nearly 3%.

The core institution for custody and settlement in the U.S. market, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), announced that it will begin facilitating preliminary, limited real asset production transactions in July 2026, with a full launch of its tokenization services in October. This service was approved at the end of last year through a No-Action Letter from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), allowing DTCC to provide participants with the ability to tokenize specific high liquidity assets on a pre-approved blockchain during a three-year authorization period. These assets include components of the Russell 1000 Index, ETFs tracking major U.S. stock indices, as well as U.S. Treasury securities, notes, and bonds.DTCC President and CEO Frank La Salla stated, "We believe that tokenization will significantly change the way markets operate, bringing new levels of liquidity, transparency, and efficiency to investors." More than 50 companies are set to participate in DTCC's industry working group, including Morgan Stanley, Nasdaq, Kraken's parent company Payward, and Robinhood Markets, while companies like BlackRock and Circle have provided feedback. As financial firms explore bringing traditional assets onto the blockchain, interest in tokenization has surged, and this shift is expected to enable 24/7 trading and faster settlement speeds.