New York Stock Exchange exterior for a ProCoinNews article about Circle shares and Open USD stablecoin competition.

Circle Stock Drops 16% After Open USD Reveal, and Analysts Say the Panic Is Overdone

By Isaac • June 30, 2026 11:44 pm • Comments

Circle shares fell more than 16% on June 30 after Open Standard unveiled Open USD, a new stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies.

The backer list is the part that rattled the market. Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase are all in.

Open USD has not launched yet. What it did launch was a very direct question about how much Circle’s business is actually worth.

Trending: BNY Puts USDC Inside Its Custody Bank With Mint and Burn Built In

That question hit the stock first and the debate second.


Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire pushed back fast. He posted that USDC remains the most trusted, widely adopted, institutional-ready stablecoin, and that Circle welcomes competition.

Allaire framed stablecoins as one of the largest market opportunities in the world and pointed to the regulated infrastructure Circle already built.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino kept it short and enjoyed the moment.


The real fight here is over reserve income. That is the money a stablecoin issuer earns on the Treasuries and cash sitting behind every token.

CoinDesk added the key context on this story. CoinDesk adds the adoption and incentive debate behind the market move.

Its analysis said Open USD attacks one of Circle’s key advantages by sharing reserve income with partners instead of keeping more of that yield at the issuer level. Rob Hadick of Dragonfly told CoinDesk the partner names suggest a real threat because Stripe and the broader consortium could undercut Circle’s economics.

Other analysts were more cautious, saying the selloff may have gone too far because consortium-backed stablecoins have struggled to build market share. CoinDesk pointed to Paxos’ USDG at around $3 billion in supply, compared with roughly $73 billion for USDC and $145 billion for USDT.

The analysis also flagged unanswered questions around Open Standard’s ownership structure, licensing, target chains, partner incentives, and revenue distribution. That gives readers the real test: Open USD has distribution logos and an economic pitch, but adoption still has to be earned after launch.

The Block added the key context on this story. The Block gives the stock-market hook for the story.

Its report said Circle shares fell more than 16% after Open Standard announced Open USD, a stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase. That reaction shows investors are treating stablecoin competition as a public-market issue, also a crypto-industry headline.

The same report said William Blair reiterated an Outperform rating and argued the selloff was an overreaction. The analysts pointed to USDC’s roughly $74 billion market capitalization, deep liquidity, and Circle Payments Network as advantages a new entrant will struggle to copy quickly.

That tension is the article’s center: Open USD is a credible competitive signal, but analysts do not agree that it instantly erases Circle’s moat. The fresh angle is the stock reaction and competitive economics, separate from the earlier Open USD launch news.


The market gave its first read, and it was fear. Whether that read holds depends on something no chart showed on June 30, which is real Open USD adoption.

Circle keeps the incumbent’s advantages for now. The consortium has the balance sheets and the ambition.

None of this is investment advice, and the next few quarters will settle far more than the first day did.

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