Circle's CEO responds to the roughly 76% plunge in the company's stock price: Executing long-term plans such as Arc properly will naturally make the stock price take care of itself.

Circle CEO Heath Tarbert recently admitted in an interview with Fox Business that the company’s stock price has plunged roughly 76% from around $260 in June last year to approximately $62. He responded that if the company executes its long-term plans well—including the Arc blockchain infrastructure project—"the stock price will take care of itself," and stressed that "Circle is in it for the long haul." However, analysts have grown cautious about Circle’s outlook. Mizuho cut its rating on CRCL from "Neutral" to "Underperform," slashing the target price from $85 to $50, implying roughly 21% downside potential. Mizuho noted that even if interest rates stay high through 2027, this will not offset pricing pressure and profit erosion from intensifying competition. Retail investor sentiment on Stocktwits remains in "bullish" territory, while discussion volume stays elevated. Regarding the emerging stablecoin Open USD—backed by around 140 companies and planned to return reserve profits to partners and waive minting fees—Tarbert said Circle welcomes competition, adding that rival consortium models are extremely hard to sustain long-term. He emphasized USDC remains the world’s leading stablecoin, with its core moat built on scale advantages: roughly $73 billion in current circulating supply and native support for 34 blockchains. Meanwhile, Circle is actively expanding its global payment footprint, having signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s JCB to explore USDC use cases in merchant payments and cross-border treasury management, including enabling overseas tourists to use stablecoins for in-person payments in Japan.