Circle Internet Financial, one of the leading names in the crypto industry, is one of the top-performing stocks on Wall Street so far in 2026. What’s more, analysts at US-based Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. are very positive about it. They have kept their “Outperform” rating for Circle and set a price target of $190 on its stock, as they think it could rise about 70% from its recent level of around $112.
What is the main reason behind such optimism? People and businesses are using stablecoins (like Circle’s USDC) more and more. The supply of USDC has hit record highs, and its adoption is growing fast for payments, corporate uses, and even new AI-related cases.
This growth is steady for Circle. Shares of Circle closed on Tuesday at $118.17, up 5.7% on the day, putting the company’s total value at roughly $30.3 billion. Back in early February, the stock was at nearly $50. It has since more than doubled. Since January, Circle has climbed about 49%. What makes such growth even more impressive is that Circle’s stock does not follow the trend of the crypto market, which has been seeing sharp drops in the last few months. Circle’s shares have stayed strong and have been rising.
Clearer Rules Are Giving Stablecoins a Boost
The key factor driving Circle’s growth is the ease of legal use of stablecoins. The GENIUS Act, passed in 2025 by the U.S. government, gave the industry its first proper federal rulebook. Companies now know what reserves they must hold, what they must disclose, and who watches over them. This clarity makes businesses far more comfortable using digital dollars in their day-to-day operations.
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Circle’s USDC is the second-largest of its kind in the world, with around $78 billion currently in use. That works out to roughly one in every four stablecoin dollars globally used, according to DeFiLlama, a platform that tracks decentralized finance metrics.
What’s more, Circle is not operating on the fringes of finance anymore. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, runs the fund that holds the real-world assets backing USDC. BNY Mellon, one of America’s oldest banks, safeguards those same reserves. Fidelity and Goldman Sachs have both put money into the company.
Circle went public in 2025, and its growing list of heavyweight partners suggests that traditional finance is quietly placing its bets on digital dollar infrastructure.
