Circle Raises Price Target to $160, USDC Circulation Grows 72%
As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies see major legal, institutional, and technological developments, the financial landscape continues to adapt. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with the "Crypto Currents" weekly from The Fly. Also, join us for your essential daily recap, every day at 2 PM ET on FlyCast radio.CRYPTO EARNINGS:On Wednesday, Circle Internetreported, which compared to analyst estimates of an EPS of 25c on revenue of $744.95M. The company also reported USDC in circulation grew 72% year-over-year to $75.3B. "The fourth quarter marked another step forward in Circle's mission to build the infrastructure for an open, programmable internet financial system," said Jeremy Allaire, CEO. "USDC adoption continued to expand globally as more enterprises, developers, and public institutions integrated digital dollars into real-world payments, treasury, and onchain financial workflows. We saw strong engagement across our platform, meaningful progress toward launching Arc mainnet, continued growth in CPN TPV, and growing momentum for EURC and USYC. With increasing collaboration across traditional finance, fintech, and the public sector, Circle is helping build the infrastructure for a more open and resilient global financial system."Following the report, Wells Fargo lowered the firm's price target on Circle to $111 from $128 and kept an Overweight rating on the shares. Amid tempered expectations and recent underperformance in shares, Circle's underlying Q4 results were solid, driving shares up, the firm noted. Q4 top-line beat was better-than-expected, while 2026 guide is in line, Wells added.Canaccord lowered the firm's price target on Circle to $160 from $247 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm updated its model following Q4 results as the company continues to build an impressive competitive moat. The firm is encouraged by resiliency in USDC in circulation. While crypto spot prices have retrenched materially since last October, USDC in circulation is flat/slightly up over that time period, underscoring both share creation/gains versus M2 and other stablecoins, while at the same time demonstrating that USDC growth is increasingly being driven by broader blockchain development versus the price of bitcoin, the firm said.Meanwhile, Mizuho raised the firm's price target on Circle to $90 from $77 and kept a Neutral rating on the shares. The company reported solid Q4 results, marked by better than expected revenue and profits, the analyst said. The firm updated Circle's model to reflect the "strong" Q4 report and 2026 outlook.Additionally on Wednesday, Hut 8reportedwhich compared to analyst estimates of $95.56M. Asher Genoot, CEO, said, "Over the past two years, we have rebuilt Hut 8 around a power-first strategy centered on high-velocity origination, disciplined greenfield development, first-principles infrastructure design, and capital-efficient execution. In 2025, this work translated into tangible growth and commercial progress across our platform."Following the report, Northland raised the firm's price target on Hut 8 to $70 from $58 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares, citing the firm's revised sum-of-the-parts valuation of 445 MW of HPC, ownership of American Bitcoin, the company's bitcoin treasury holdings and liqudity, and its development pipeline.Meanwhile, Canaccord raised the firm's price target on Hut 8 to $70 from $62 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm said favorable lease terms on its recent River Bend co-location deal are only accruing more value to the broader power infrastructure portfolio. At a macro level, demand for AI data center power continues to grow, based on increasingly favorable lease terms on recent deal announcements.On Thursday, American Bitcoin reportedwhich compared to revenue of $64.2M in the previous quarter. Eric Trump, CSO, said, "We launched American Bitcoin in March 2025 with a clear mandate to accumulate Bitcoin at scale. Six months later, we were trading on the Nasdaq. By year-end, we held 5,401 Bitcoin on the balance sheet, and that figure has since grown to more than 6,000 Bitcoin. That kind of progress does not happen by accident. It reflects decisive execution and a team operating with conviction. Our model combines scaled mining production with at-the-market purchases for rapid accumulation of our strategic reserve."MORE CRYPTO EARNINGS:On Wednesday, DMG Blockchain Solutionsreportedwhich compared to a loss per share of (C$0.02) on a revenue of C$11.6M last year. The company reported 69 bitcoin mined in the quarter, down from 97 bitcoin mined in 1Q25. DMG's CEO, Sheldon Bennett, commented, "In Q1 2026, we continued to execute on our two strategic pillars: our Core data center operations and our Core+ Digital Asset Financial Services. We are highly focused on converting our Christina Lake facility into an AI data center capable of providing at least 50 megawatts of critical IT load to fill an industry gap in available capacity. Simultaneously, we are building out our Digital Asset Financial Services, with Systemic Trust serving as the cornerstone for future revenue growth. We are actively pursuing AI off-takers and potential government partnerships, as we believe these strategic initiatives will deliver lasting value to our shareholders."H.C. Wainwright downgraded DMG Blockchain to Neutral from Buy without a price target. While the company's Q1 results show sales resilience due to a one-time recognized energy incentive of $1.5M, the company's underlying mining economics are under pressure, the analyst said. The firm now sees an unattractive risk/reward for DMG shares.On Thursday, Mara Holdingsreportedwhich compared to analyst estimates of a loss per share of ($1.17) on revenue of $251.3M. As of December 31, the company held a total of 53,822 bitcoin. Additionally on Thursday, MARA announced it had entered into a strategic agreement with Starwood Capital Group and their dedicated data center development platform Starwood Digital Ventures. The partnership will enable the conversion and expansion of select MARA sites into next generation digital infrastructure capable of meeting the growing demand from enterprise, hyperscale and AI customers. Together, MARA and Starwood will jointly develop, finance, and operate digital infrastructure projects across MARA's existing, power-rich portfolio. CEO Fred Thiel said, "MARA has evolved far beyond the asset-light, hosted model of its past. Today, we operate a vertically integrated portfolio spanning power and compute at scale. Power ownership guides every decision we make, from capital allocation and partnerships to organizational design. Bitcoin mining remains the backbone of our enterprise, distinctly capable of monetizing energy at scale, while AI and advanced compute extend the durability and flexibility of the platform. We view 2026 as an inflection point. With infrastructure in place, upgrades underway, the Starwood partnership advancing select assets toward hyperscale tenancy, and Exaion expanding our enterprise AI capabilities, we are positioned to execute on our strategy."On Thursday, TeraWulfreportedwhich compared to a loss per share of (21c) on revenue of $140.1M for FY24. The company said, "Fiscal year 2025 marked a fundamental inflection point for TeraWulf as the company executed long-term data center lease agreements totaling 522 critical IT MW, providing multi-year revenue visibility, stable cash-flow characteristics, and scalable development capacity extending through the end of the decade. TeraWulf delivered a transformational fourth quarter, achieving major commercial, operational, and financial milestones that position the company as a leader in sustainable HPC infrastructure."COINBASE REPORTS STOCK TRADING AVAILABLE TO ALL U.S. USERS:Coinbaseannounced Tuesday that"You can now buy, sell, and manage stocks and ETFs right alongside your crypto holdings - 24/5, with zero commission...You can fund your trades instantly using both USD and USDC, with Coinbase One members earning uncapped rewards on their USDC trading balance. And with fractional shares, start trading stocks with as little as $1," the company said in a blog post. "We're starting with the market's leading equities and plan to expand 24/5 trading to thousands more stocks over the coming months. This spring, Coinbase also plans to broaden stock perpetuals, enabling traders outside the U.S. to get 24/7, capital-efficient exposure to U.S. equities," it added. "As part of this milestone, Coinbase and Yahoo Finance are partnering to enable users to move from researching an asset on Yahoo Finance to executing a trade on Coinbase with one simple click. Yahoo Finance will also offer traders seamless asset discovery and tracking within the Yahoo Finance interface. This marks a major step in bridging traditional markets with the digital asset economy," the company said.Also on Tuesday, Apex Fintech Solutions announced its collaboration with Coinbase, through Coinbase Capital Markets Corp., to power the stock trading capabilities of their "Everything Exchange" platform. Through Apex's clearing, custody, and execution services for equities, Coinbase users can now trade stocks and ETFs alongside their cryptocurrency holdings, all in a single, unified experience.Meanwhile, BofA lowered the firm's price target on Coinbase to $288 from $340 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm is revising EPS estimates for several of its covered brokers, asset managers and exchanges that recently reported earnings.Additionally, Monness Crespi attributed the selloff in shares of Coinbase to President Trump's tariff moves, continued exchange traded fund outflows, and "signs of whales moving HODLs onto exchanges." Monness also believes the probability assigned to the CLARITY Act passing "remains too high in certain corners." Clarity on the stablecoin loophole remaining open in the next draft of CLARITY Act "is far too optimistically priced in," the analyst said. The firm would add to Coinbase shorts at current share levels. It reiterated a Sell rating on the stock with a $120 price target.CANAAN ACQUIRES CIPHER'S INTEREST IN TEXAS PROJECTS:Canaanannounced Monday that it has acquired Cipher Mining's49%Following the acquisition, the company now owns a 49% stake in the ABC projects, while WindHQ maintains its 51% stake in the ABC projects. The sites currently operate a total of 120 MW of power capacity and support approximately 4.4 EH/s of total operating hashrate. Fleet efficiency currently stands at approximately 25.7 J/TH with the potential for hardware and infrastructure upgrades. As part of the transaction, the company also purchased an additional 6,840 Canaan Avalon A15Pro-AVG-221T mining rigs from Cipher. The total consideration for the transaction is approximately $39.75M.On Tuesday, Cipher reportedwhich compared to adjusted EPS of 33c on a revenue of $151.27M for FY24."Building on a transformative 2025, the fourth quarter reflected continued momentum as we advanced our evolution into a leading HPC data center development company," said Tyler Page, CEO. "During the quarter, we upsized our initial lease with Fluidstack and Google and signed our first HPC lease with Amazon. In addition, we successfully executed multiple high yield bond offerings to finance two of our existing HPC projects at Barber Lake and Black Pearl. In recognition of this successful shift in our business model and strategic priorities going forward, we are proud to now officially operate as Cipher Digital."Following the news, Clear Street lowered the firm's price target on Cipher to $32 from $34 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm remains bullish on the stock coming out of Q4 earnings as it sees a clear step-change in Cipher's earnings profile beginning in Q4 as lease revenue from Amazon and Fluidstack begins contributing in earnest, the analyst said. This inflection is underappreciated, particularly given the quality of counterparties and long-duration nature of the leases, the firm added.Meanwhile, B. Riley lowered the firm's price target on Canaan to $2 from $2.50 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The revised price target reflects the company's Q4 results and the acquisition of Cipher's 49% stake in three West Texas sites, the analyst said.META LOOKS TO ENTER STABLECOIN SPACE:Metais planning topending integration with a third-party company to enable payments using the dollar-pegged token technology, Coindesk's Ian Allison reported Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the plans. The tech giant is aiming to begin stablecoin integration early in 2H26 and expects to integrate a vendor to assist in administering stablecoin-backed payments and implementing a new wallet. A source said Meta has issued a request for product to third-party firms and noted Stripe as a possible candidate for piloting the stablecoin, according to the report.OTHER CRYPTO NEWS:StrategyacquiresBitmine ImmersionreportsB. Riley lowers price target on Bitmine to $30 from $47, on FG Nexustoon Nakamototoon SharpLink GamingtoDDC EnterprisepurchasesPayoneer GlobalfilesBitcoin Depotintroducesprice target adjusted to $6 at Noble Capital after reverse splitHyperscale DatareportsIP StrategylaunchesSolana Companyplans forDeFi DevelopmentannouncesiPowerentersAlphaTON CapitalinitiatedBNB Plus Corp.reportsSharps Technology, The Tie announceCiti starts Galaxy DigitalatCRYPTO STOCK PLAYS:Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital, Coinbase, Core Scientific, Greenidge Generation, Mara Holdings, Strategy, Riot Platformsand TeraWulf.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin dropped roughly 3% this week to $66,046 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.
