Stablecoin issuer USDC rose in price by a third. It protected investors from the "cryptozyme"

Shares of Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin, USDC, rose 33% in a single session. The rally began when the company reported a sharp rise in fourth-quarter 2025 earnings. Investors have been shifting into stablecoin amid the collapse in cryptocurrency prices. The number of tokens in circulation increased by 72% over the year.

Shares of stebliccoin issuer USDC Circle rose 33% to $81.7 in trading on Feb. 25.

The company recorded net income from continuing operations of $133.4 million, or $0.43 per share, in the last quarter of last year, while analysts were expecting $0.16 per share, The Wall Street Journalnoted. In the year-ago quarter, 2024 earnings totaled $4.4 million.

Revenue increased 77% year-over-year to $770 million against Wall Street's forecast of $747 million.

Circle reported that its flagship stealthcoin USDC ended 2025 with $75.3 billion in circulation - up 72% from a year earlier.

"Circle typically benefits during periods of heightened volatility because investors liquidate cryptocurrency positions and move into USDC," the WSJ quoted Citigroup analyst Peter Christiansen as saying.

On a full-year basis, Circle recorded a loss of $70 million on revenue of $2.7 billion. The loss was mainly due to stock compensation expense that had to be recognized after the company's IPO in July.

On the debut day of trading, Circle's quotations significantly exceeded the offering price. However, since then, the securities have collapsed by almost 80% from their peak values amid the "cryptozyme". At the same time, investors preferred positions in stablecoins rather than cryptocurrency, the report showed.

Including the Feb. 25 rally, the company's capitalization has added about 3.5% this year, MarketWatch shows .

Circle has benefited from the pro-cryptocurrency stance of President Trump's administration, which has pushed forward the Genius Act's Stablecoin Act, the WSJ explains.

The company earns interest income on short-term U.S. Treasury bonds and other cash equivalents backing the USDC, making the business sensitive to interest rate fluctuations. To reduce this exposure, it has launched a payment network and a proprietary blockchain called Arc. Circle is also investing heavily in artificial intelligence, particularly helping developers build AI agents and building systems to support so-called agent-based payments, CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a conference call for analysts and investors on Wednesday.

Competition in the stablecoin sector is likely to intensify as traditional players enter the market, according to analysts whose opinion is quoted by WSJ. Tether, the world's largest stablecoin, has a market capitalization of $184 billion, more than double that of USDC. Smaller competitors have emerged, including USD1, a $4.7 billion market capitalization stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial, a project backed by the Trump family.

"It's important to realize that despite the efforts of many companies, this is essentially a market of two large issuers," Allaire said. - And that reflects the persistent network effect that we support, which creates significant barriers to entry and scale."

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor