The Wall Street Journal writes that "Circle Internet's Quarterly Profit Surges on Stablecoin Demand." The piece says, "Circle Internet Group (CRCL) said its fourth-quarter profit jumped after crypto investors continued to flock to the company's stablecoin despite the late-2025 meltdown in digital-asset prices.... Circle, the issuer of the world's second-largest stablecoin, reported a net income from continuing operations of $133.4 million, or 43 cents a share, in the fourth quarter.... Circle had a blockbuster stock-market debut in June last year, with shares climbing far above the initial offering price. The shares have since tanked nearly 70% from their peak amid a crypto downturn that pummeled token prices and dampened investor sentiment." (Note: Please join us for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 19-20 in Boston!)
The Journal tells us, "Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies typically pegged to the U.S. dollar and have a fixed value of $1. They are considered a critical foundation of the crypto ecosystem, enabling people to quickly trade in and out of positions and move money across borders. On Wednesday, Circle said its flagship stablecoin, USDC, ended 2025 with $75.3 billion in circulation, up 72% from a year earlier."
They add, "Circle now sits at the heart of a fight between crypto firms and the banking lobby that has stalled the Clarity Act, a measure that would provide the first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. The impasse centers on stablecoin rewards, yield-bearing token products that banks claim are unregulated deposits that threaten traditional savings accounts."
During Circle's Q4 earnings call (see the call transcript here), CEO Jeremy Allaire comments, "Let's talk about our key highlights in Q4. Our stablecoin network continued to grow. We saw USDC end the year around $75 billion in circulation, up 72% year-on-year, despite some of the declines that we saw in Q4 due to the crypto market correction. We also saw tremendous ongoing growth in the amount of transactions happening on our network, with on-chain USDC volume hitting nearly $12 trillion, representing 247% year-on-year growth. This continues to reflect the growing velocity and utility of digital dollars on the internet."
He explains, "We're also adding new products. We introduced StableFX in beta, our new on-chain FX app, and xReserve, which supports continued expansion of USDC across a wide range of blockchain ecosystems. We now support USDC on over 30 different blockchain networks, with interoperability being a key piece of Circle's platform strategy. Mainstream adoption continues to deepen across a broad range of leading enterprises and institutions. Intuit and Circle are partnering for Intuit to bring low-cost, programmable money through Circle's technology to its millions of consumers and businesses. Visa continues to expand its integration of Circle stablecoins, announcing the launch of USDC settlement that permits U.S. Visa card issuers and acquirers to settle outside of normal banking hours using USDC."
Allaire also tells us, "Earlier this month, Circle and Polymarket, the largest prediction market in the world, announced a formal partnership where Polymarket will continue to advance its use of USDC as the core collateral and settlement asset for their markets, demonstrating our very strong position as the leading regulated stablecoin network. These are just the tip of the iceberg. Major enterprises and financial institutions continue to integrate and support USDC in their businesses. We saw firms as diverse as Cash App, Gusto, Deel, Interactive Brokers, JP Morgan, and Mastercard launch products and offerings that took advantage of USDC.... The stablecoin market continues to grow strongly, and our position in that market continues to strengthen as well. Fiat-backed stablecoins grew $85 billion in the year, with 46% year-on-year growth."
He states, "That trust shows up in our fundamental liquidity, with $75 billion of USDC in circulation and unmatched liquidity infrastructure that in Q4 supported $163 billion of minting and redemption volume. That minting and redemption, that promise to create and redeem a digital dollar, one for one, at scale and through banking systems around the world, is completely unmatched by any other player in the market. In Q4 2025, we saw distribution and network usage grow, as noted, to nearly $12 trillion of on-chain transaction volume, continued growth in meaningful wallets using USDC, and our product platform continuing to expand."
Allaire adds, "Moving on to our platform expansion, `Circle's platform has really evolved from being a stablecoin network to being a comprehensive platform and infrastructure partner for on-chain finance, spanning our three platform pillars. Arc and our developer infrastructure, which includes the tools, the operating systems, and the on-chain protocols and infrastructure to enable the internet financial system to flourish. Our digital assets and services, which includes USDC and EURC, the world's leading regulated digital dollar and digital euro, tokenized funds such as USYC, and liquidity services such as Circle Mint and xReserve, that ensure liquid and available stablecoins around the world."
In related news, a statement from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), titled, "FCA selects 4 firms to test stablecoin innovation in its Regulatory Sandbox," explains, "The FCA has chosen 4 companies to test how their stablecoin services work with proposed regulation in a safe environment. The stablecoins cohort is part of our commitment to supporting growth and innovation in UK financial services. 20 applications were received and the FCA has chosen the following firms: Monee Financial Technologies, ReStabilise, Revolut and VVTX."
It continues, "The Regulatory Sandbox programme allows firms to trial stablecoin products in real world conditions with appropriate safeguards. It will help the FCA assess its proposed policy in a live environment and ensure future rules are clear, effective and support responsible innovation. The FCA's testing will primarily focus on stablecoin issuance. The 4 selected firms' proposals represent a range of stablecoin use cases, including payments, wholesale settlement and crypto trading. Each firm will receive feedback from FCA specialists while helping to shape the UK's regulatory approach."
Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets at the FCA, comments, "We are supporting UK stablecoin issuers to ensure they can be trusted for payments, settlement and trading. It will benefit consumers and financial transactions and help to deliver the FCA's strategy and the Government's National Payments Vision." The release adds, "The testing is part of the FCA's broader work to enable innovation across UK financial services and complements other innovation initiatives such as the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS). Testing begins in Q1 2026 and the findings will help shape the UK's final stablecoin rules later in 2026."
