Circle shares gained ground after Mizuho analysts increased their price forecast for the company. Dan Dolev and Alexander Jenkin raised the firm’s target from $100 to $120, and CRCL closed about 1% higher on Friday at $115.38.
The uptick follows a major shift in stablecoin activity: for the first time since 2019, Circle’s USDC has outpaced Tether in trading volume. Year-to-date USDC transactions total roughly $2.2 trillion versus about $1.3 trillion for USDT.
Mizuho noted that Tether still retains a larger overall market capitalization, but Circle leads in real-world usage. Investors increasingly favor USDC for prediction markets and emerging “agentic commerce” applications where automated systems handle payments.
As a result of the volume surge, Mizuho raised its longer-term projections. The bank now forecasts 11.7 million “meaningful wallets” using Circle’s technology by 2027 and expects USDC’s circulating value to reach $139 billion.
Market commentators offered different explanations for the recent share gains. Some attributed the move to short-covering, while others pointed to steady expansion of Circle’s infrastructure. The stock has climbed roughly 95% since