Circle shares surged 15% on Monday following better-than-expected first-quarter results and the announcement of a $222 million ARC token presale. The stock closed at $131.76, marking its highest finish since March 18 and extending a strong start to 2026 with shares up roughly 66% year to date. The rally pushed Circle's market value toward $35 billion, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the firm's expanding stablecoin and blockchain strategy. According to TipRanks data, analysts have set a consensus price target near $138.50, with more bullish calls including Citigroup analyst Peter Christiansen's $243 target and Bernstein's $190 target.
Circle delivered strong Q1 2026 results with revenue increasing 20% year over year to $694 million and adjusted earnings rising 24% to $151 million. The company's USDC circulation ended the quarter at $77 billion, up 28% from a year earlier, reinforcing demand for the dollar-pegged stablecoin as a payments and on-chain settlement rail. As reported by Bernstein, adjusted EBITDA reached $151 million, about 10% ahead of analyst estimates, while Circle maintained what Bernstein described as disciplined operating costs. The company's USDC supply reached $77 billion during the first quarter, rising 28% year over year and 2% from the previous quarter.
Circle raised $222 million through its ARC token presale at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation for Arc, its planned Layer 1 blockchain. The round included investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Apollo Global Management, ARK Invest, and Standard Chartered. Bernstein noted that Arc's testnet has already processed more than 244 million cumulative transactions and attracted 1.6 million unique wallets ahead of the planned mainnet rollout later in 2026. The company positions Arc as infrastructure designed to broaden stablecoin utility through tokenized transactions and other on-chain use cases.
Circle's payments network reached nearly $10 billion in annualized transaction volume with 136 financial institutions onboarded as of May 7. The company has expanded partnerships with firms including Meta, DoorDash, and Kyriba. Circle's on-platform USDC balances increased to $13.7 billion, representing 18% of the total supply, even while the crypto market had fallen roughly 40% since October 2025. USDC processed $21.5 trillion in on-chain transaction volume during Q1, up 263% from a year earlier.
Circle has expanded its AI-focused payment infrastructure around USDC through products such as Circle CLI, Agent Wallets, and Agent Marketplace. According to Bernstein, USDC currently handles more than 99% of all x402-based agentic payments settled globally. The company's fiscal 2026 guidance remains unchanged, with Bernstein projecting a 40% compound annual growth rate in USDC supply and non-float revenue between $150 million and $170 million. Investors are now watching whether Arc can translate early funding momentum into real-world adoption, as well as how USDC usage expands across geographies and industries.
