Circle Shares Plunge 17% After Open USD Stablecoin Backed by 140 Major Firms Enters the Market

Circle's publicly traded stock (CRCL) took a heavy blow on June 30th, dropping 17.5% to close at $62.63 — the steepest single-day decline the company has experienced since March. For context, that earlier March selloff, which saw the stock tumble roughly 20%, was triggered by a draft legislative proposal that would have prohibited stablecoin issuers from offering yield on idle balances. That proposal sparked fears around constrained USDC adoption and its downstream effect on Circle's revenue model.

However, the late-June slide had a different catalyst entirely: the arrival of a powerful new competitor in the stablecoin arena.

A coalition of 140 companies — including financial heavyweights Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, and tech giant Google — formally unveiled a new stablecoin called Open USD (OUSD). According to the consortium, the project is designed to distribute reserve earnings among all participating partners while eliminating transfer fees altogether. The primary use cases being targeted are enterprise treasury management and merchant payment solutions — segments where both Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC already have a strong foothold.

OUSD is set to launch later in the year, and the sharp reaction in Circle's stock price signals that investors are already pricing in a potential erosion of market share. Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, noted the development directly, pointing out that Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock were among those backing the new rival stablecoin as CRCL fell over 13% intraday.

Sam Ruskin, an investment associate at crypto-focused venture firm Reciprocal Ventures, offered a blunt assessment of what this means for Circle going forward. In his view, the company will either be forced to maintain costly revenue-sharing agreements or scramble to find new USDC distributors — a difficult task given that nearly every major stablecoin-interested player appears to be aligning with OUSD. Ruskin concluded that either scenario looks unfavorable for Circle in the near term.

The broader stablecoin landscape has grown increasingly competitive since the passage of the GENIUS Act in 2025. Even Tether, which remains the dominant stablecoin by market capitalization, has seen its share contract — slipping from 62% to 59% over that period, according to DeFiLlama data.

Circle, by contrast, had actually been on an upward trajectory. Its market share climbed from 19% to a peak of 25% before softening slightly to 24% heading into 2026. Whether the emergence of OUSD will accelerate that retreat or simply slow growth remains to be seen.

Despite the turbulence, Wall Street analysts have not abandoned their optimistic outlook on CRCL. The consensus price target among analysts currently sits at $120 per share, which would represent approximately 91% upside from the stock's current trading level, according to MarketBeat data.

In summary, Circle's stock suffered its worst day in months following the announcement of Open USD — a well-funded, consortium-backed stablecoin with zero transfer fees and big-name institutional support. The key question now is whether Circle can defend its hard-won market share or whether the competitive pressure will force a strategic pivot.