Stablecoin Giant Circle Faces Market Pressure After Revenue Disappoints Wall Street

Circle shares initially rallied 10% but later turned negative, trading about 3% lower in premarket hours after the stablecoin company posted second-quarter results that beat earnings expectations but missed revenue forecasts. The firm also highlighted rising institutional adoption of its Arc blockchain network.

Shares of Circle Internet (CRCL) declined roughly 3% before Wednesday’s opening bell after the company reported its latest quarterly financial performance. Although Circle exceeded profit estimates, its revenue figures came in slightly below analyst expectations.

The company delivered adjusted earnings of $0.18 per share, topping the $0.16 consensus forecast. Revenue and reserve income increased 7% year over year to $701 million, falling just short of Wall Street’s $712 million projection. Net income from continuing operations came in at $48 million, ahead of the $43 million estimate, while adjusted EBITDA rose 8% to $143 million.

Circle’s USDC stablecoin continued to gain market traction during the quarter, with circulating supply reaching $73.3 billion by the end of June, marking a 19% increase from the previous year. However, the supply remained below its 2026 peak of nearly $80 billion. On-chain transaction volume also expanded significantly, rising 151% to $14.8 trillion.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company’s quarterly performance reflected the effects of current interest-rate conditions and slower crypto market activity. However, he emphasized growing institutional demand, noting that major financial firms including BlackRock, BNY, and Standard Chartered are increasing their use of USDC as adoption moves beyond early-stage testing.

The company provided additional updates on Arc, its layer-1 blockchain designed specifically for institutional financial use cases. Circle confirmed that Arc’s public mainnet launch is planned for September 16.

More than 100 institutions and ecosystem developers are already building on Arc, the company said. The blockchain’s initial validator network will include several major financial organizations, including BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Mastercard, Visa, Standard Chartered, Galaxy, and MoneyGram.

BlackRock is expected to introduce its BUIDL tokenized U.S. Treasury fund on Arc, while DTCC is developing technology to support the tokenization of securities processed through its platform.

The developments support Circle’s broader goal of making Arc a key infrastructure layer for tokenized assets, institutional settlement systems, and blockchain-based financial services. As interest in real-world asset tokenization grows, traditional financial institutions are increasingly adopting blockchain technology for digital investment products, stablecoin payments, and on-chain collateral solutions.

Circle’s Circle Payments Network (CPN) also showed strong momentum, reaching $14.7 billion in annualized transaction volume over the last 30 days. The figure represents a 76% increase from the previous quarter, with 175 financial institutions now connected to the network.

The company recently secured approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Circle National Trust, enabling it to operate as a stablecoin issuer through a federally regulated trust bank charter.