Circle Has A Message For Stablecoin Rivals: We Are ‘Playing The Long Game’

• Circle President Heath Tarbert said the company is unfazed by emerging stablecoin competitors and remains focused on long-term growth.
• Tarbert argued USDC's scale, with roughly $73 billion in circulation across 34 blockchains, gives it a significant advantage.
• He downplayed the threat from Open USD, saying large industry consortiums can be difficult to maintain over time.

Circle (CRCL) isn't worried about a new stablecoin threatening USD Coin’s (USDC) dominance, according to Circle President Heath Tarbert, who said the firm is "playing the long game." 

This comes against a backdrop of rising competition in the stablecoin market and a steep decline in its share price. 

Why Circle Believes It Has The Edge

Speaking with Fox Business on Tuesday, Tarbert addressed competition from Open USD (OUSD), a stablecoin project he said was backed by roughly 140 companies, including Visa (V), Stripe, Mastercard (MA), and Google (GOOG), which planned to pass reserve yields back to partners and cut minting fees to zero. 

Tarbert said Circle "welcomed the competition," arguing that USDC remains "by far the best stablecoin in the world," with roughly $73 billion in circulating supply and native presence across 34 blockchains. He added that "consortiums are really difficult" to hold together over time, noting Circle itself began as a consortium before consolidating.

CRCL Stock Down 76% From Its Post-IPO Peak

Asked about Circle's share price, Tarbert acknowledged the stock had fallen from about $260 last June to around $62, a decline of roughly 76%. He said that if Circle executed on its longer-term plans, including its Arc blockchain infrastructure project, "the stock is going to take care of itself”. He further added that "Circle is playing the long game."

CRCL stock was trading at $61, down over 2%, during pre-market trade. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around CRCL remained in the ‘bullish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.

Analysts Turn More Cautious On Circle

Mizuho downgraded CRCL stock to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ and cut its price target to $50 from $85, implying roughly 21% downside from the stock's last close. 

Mizuho also added that it now expects interest rates in 2027 to stay higher than previously forecast, but added that higher rates alone would not be enough to offset the impact of lower pricing and increased competition on Circle's earnings. 

Circle Expanding Global Payments 

Circle is exploring a potential partnership for stablecoin payments and has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with JCB to support merchants and cross-border treasury operations. Internal fund transfers are among the potential use cases for USDC for cross-border treasury and payments that the firm will investigate. Merchants and foreign visitors to Japan can take advantage of stablecoin-enabled in-store payments.

Read also: Bitcoin Holders Have Been Underwater For Six Weeks – But One Analyst Says $45K Is Unlikely

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