BlockBeats News, July 19th, Circle CEO Heath Tarbert recently admitted in an interview with Fox Business that the company's stock price has dropped from around $260 in June last year to around $62, representing a cumulative decline of about 76%. In response, he stated that if the company can successfully execute its long-term plan, including the Arc blockchain infrastructure project, the "stock price will naturally take care of itself," emphasizing that "Circle is in it for the long haul."

However, analysts have become cautious about Circle's prospects, with SuRo Capital downgrading CRCL from "Neutral" to "Underperform the Market," slashing the target price from $85 to $50, implying a downside of about 21%. SuRo Capital pointed out that even if interest rates remain high in 2027, it would not be enough to offset the pressure from price declines and intensified competition eroding profitability. Retail investors' sentiment on Stocktwits remains in the "bullish" range, but the discussion heat remains high.

Regarding the emerging stablecoin Open USD, backed by about 140 companies, with plans to return reserve earnings to partners and waive minting fees, Tarbert stated that Circle welcomes competition, noting that the rival alliance model is extremely hard to sustain in the long run. USDC still leads the world by a wide margin, with a current circulating supply of about $73 billion and a native coverage of 34 blockchains, forming a core moat. Meanwhile, Circle is actively expanding its global payment network, having signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's JCB to explore the use cases of USDC in merchant payments and cross-border fund management, including scenarios where overseas tourists use the stablecoin for offline payments within Japan.