To The Moon

$Circle Internet Corp.(CRCL)$ If you ask if I would keep $Circle Internet Corp.(CRCL)$  for long term  - Yes — I would keep Circle (CRCL) for the long term, but I would treat it as a high-growth/high-risk position rather than a core “set-and-forget” holding.

Given your previously mentioned 120 shares around $89.21, the situation has improved: at about $97.50, you’re roughly +9% before costs. More importantly, the long-term thesis is getting stronger.

Why I’d keep it

1. USDC is growing strongly.

Circle ended Q2 2026 with $73.3B of USDC in circulation, up 19% YoY, while Q2 on-chain transaction volume reached $14.8T.

That’s the key metric I’d watch. Circle’s value ultimately depends on USDC becoming increasingly embedded in payments, trading and financial infrastructure.

2. Circle is moving beyond simply issuing a stablecoin.

The interesting part for a 3–5 year investor is the transition from:

USDC issuer → global digital-payment infrastructure

Circle is expanding its payment infrastructure and has agreed to acquire Singapore-based Tazapay for $400M in stock, giving it additional cross-border payment capabilities in Asia-Pacific and emerging markets.

3. Arc could become a significant second growth engine.

Circle’s Arc blockchain is aimed at institutional financial applications. The involvement of institutions such as Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, DTCC and Standard Chartered as validators is strategically interesting.

If Arc gains meaningful institutional adoption, CRCL could eventually be valued less like a crypto company and more like a financial infrastructure company.

But there is one BIG risk

Circle still gets the overwhelming majority of its economics from interest earned on USDC reserves.

That means:

USDC ↑ + interest rates ↑ = excellent for Circle

but

USDC ↑ + interest rates ↓ = much less attractive

And that’s why I wouldn’t value CRCL like a normal software company.

There’s also competition from Tether and other stablecoins, and Circle’s Q2 results included a revenue miss despite strong USDC growth.

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What I’d do with your 120 shares

At your ~$89.21 cost, I wouldn’t sell now.

I’d use a staged approach:

CRCL price My action

<$80 🟢 Add

$80–100 🟢 Hold / small adds

$100–120 🟢 Hold

$120–140 🟡 Hold, consider trimming 10–20%

$140–160 🟡 Take some profit

>$160 🔴 Reassess valuation carefully

There is still substantial analyst disagreement. Current consensus data puts the average target around $104, while some bullish analysts have targets around $140.

My 3–5 year view

I’d roughly frame it like this:

Bear case: $50–70

Stablecoin competition + lower rates + slower USDC growth.

Base case: $150–200

USDC becomes increasingly important in global payments and Circle successfully monetises its infrastructure.

Bull case: $250–350+

USDC becomes a major global settlement/payment rail and Arc + payments become substantial businesses.

The bull case is why I wouldn’t sell your entire position at $100.

For your portfolio specifically

I’d rank your speculative positions roughly:

META / MSFT / GOOGL → core growth

MU / NVDA / TSM → AI/semiconductor growth

CRCL → high-risk financial infrastructure growth

MSTR / BITX / SOXL → much higher-beta trading/speculative exposure

So CRCL is one I’d keep, because it gives you exposure to a potentially very large trend that is different from AI semiconductors.

My verdict: HOLD your 120 CRCL shares. I would only start taking meaningful profit if it moves substantially above $130–150 without a corresponding improvement in USDC growth and underlying earnings.

One thing I’d watch particularly closely over the next few quarters is USDC circulation growth + reserve income per USDC + non-reserve revenue. If the third metric starts becoming a meaningful portion of revenue, the long-term thesis gets considerably stronger.