[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee (이윤서)] Investment bank Bernstein said Circle's stablecoin USDC has entered a new growth cycle and set a $140 target price for Circle.

On Aug. 24 (local time), blockchain media outlet Cointelegraph reported that Bernstein maintained an outperform view on Circle and saw about 60 percent upside from the current share price.

Bernstein based its view on an increase in USDC supply. It said USDC supply rose by about $2 billion over seven days, reversing a flat or declining trend that had lasted for the past six months. Bernstein called it a signal of 'digital dollar reflation.'

Bernstein also outlined factors it said could support USDC growth over the next 12 months. It cited resilience in the cryptocurrency market, greater regulatory clarity in the United States, growth in tokenised capital markets and wider adoption of stablecoins in payments. It added that it was seeing early signs that artificial intelligence agents are using stablecoins for payments.

USDC's position in the market is also shifting. USDC remains the second-largest dollar-pegged stablecoin by market capitalisation after Tether's USDt, but it is narrowing the gap in trading volume. Bernstein said USDC's share of stablecoin trading volume on an adjusted basis rose from about 40 percent in 2025 to more than 60 percent in 2026, adding that USDC has already overtaken USDt by that measure.

Circle shares have been volatile since the company listed in June 2025. The IPO price was $31 per share, and Circle raised about $1.1 billion. The shares jumped after listing but slid back to the IPO level in November 2025 as the broader crypto market weakened.

Results improved. Circle posted revenue of $701 million and net profit of $48 million in its latest quarter, both up from a year earlier.

Bernstein put weight on the possibility that the next stage of growth in the stablecoin market expands into payments and capital market infrastructure. It also highlighted that USDC is showing both a rising share of trading and a rebound in supply, which could again link Circle's earnings and share price directly to expectations for stablecoin growth.

The key question ahead is whether the increase in USDC supply is only a short-term rebound or turns into sustained growth as the U.S. regulatory environment and payment adoption expand. If AI-driven payment demand and the spread of tokenised capital markets translate into higher actual usage, additional changes could also emerge in Circle's business foundation.