Circle’s Global Ambition: USDC and Arc Target the $150 Trillion Money Movement Market

Forget slow wires and hefty fees. Circle is gunning for the heart of global finance.

The New Rails

With its USDC stablecoin already a multi-billion-dollar force, Circle isn't stopping at digital dollars. Its Arc platform is the next play—a developer toolkit designed to build the pipes that move value across borders. Think programmable money, baked directly into apps and services, bypassing the legacy banking spaghetti.

Why the Old Guard Should Sweat

This isn't just about making transfers faster. It's about rewriting the rulebook. Arc gives developers the tools to embed payments, lending, and trading without asking permission from a century-old financial institution—a move that cuts out more middlemen than a corporate merger.

The Bull Case for Programmable Cash

The vision is stark: a world where money moves as freely as data. USDC provides the stable, trusted asset; Arc provides the engine. Together, they target everything from remittances to corporate treasury management, turning clunky processes into seamless code. It’s infrastructure for the internet of value, and Circle is laying the foundation.

Of course, the traditional finance titans will call it reckless—right before they try to copy it. The real test? Seeing if programmable money can do what fintech promised but rarely delivered: actually dismantle the rent-seeking toll booths of global finance.

Circle targets global money movement with USDC and Arc

Since its IPO on June 5, Circle has tried to prove it belongs in the financial big leagues. The timing lined up perfectly with President Donald TRUMP signing the GENIUS Act, a law that outlines rules for asset-backed digital tokens like USDC. The bill handed stablecoin firms legal clarity, giving Circle a major tailwind.

Circle’s main income source is interest on short-term U.S. Treasuries that back USDC. And that model paid off. In Q3, the firm posted $740 million in revenue and reserve income, up 66% year-over-year. Net income spiked 202% compared to last year.

But that didn’t stop the stock from falling. Shares are down 57% in the last six months, dragged by crypto’s slump. Jeremy says that’s a mistake. Circle, he argued, isn’t a crypto company. “We don’t fit in any particular box,” he said.

Despite the dip, Wall Street is holding the line. Most analysts still rate Circle a Buy, according to Yahoo Finance.

JPMorgan analyst Ken Worthington wrote, “Stablecoins are continuing to make their way into mainstream financial services, with USDC a leading stablecoin and Circle a leading partner.” He added that Circle is moving more USDC onto its own platform, giving it more control and more room to grow.

Jeremy’s bigger bet is on Arc, Circle’s new Layer 1 blockchain. The company launched it this fall to handle on-chain economic activity faster and at scale. The project already has big-name partners: BlackRock, Visa, and Amazon Web Services.

In December, Circle also signed a multiyear deal with Intuit, the Maker of TurboTax. That deal brings USDC into the hands of millions of American taxpayers and small business owners.

Payment cards and settlement rails shift toward stablecoins

While Jeremy is pushing tokenized dollars into global finance, others are following close behind. Payment companies are racing to launch stablecoin-linked cards.

These let users spend USDC or other tokens like regular dollars. The merchant still gets paid in local currency. But underneath, everything moves via blockchain.

Cross River Bank and Highnote are now rolling out cards that settle using stablecoins. According to Highnote’s Cosentino, this tech is what younger startups want. “Long term, stablecoins will become a critical rail,” he said. “A no-brainer capability that will be increasingly adopted.”

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