Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire on USDC competition and market outlook

Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire told reporters in Istanbul that the cryptocurrency sector is transitioning from a speculative phase to a mainstream infrastructure, driven by real‑world use cases such as stablecoins, tokenised assets and smart‑contract services. He highlighted that USDC accounts for roughly 28% of the dollar‑stablecoin supply and that its transaction volume is projected to reach $5.3 trillion in the first half of 2026 – a 140% increase over 2025 – lifting its market‑share from about 40% to 60% by 2026.

Allaire noted that the growth of USDC rests on network effects, regulatory approvals, banking relationships and reserve‑management practices that are hard for rivals to copy. At the same time, a new stablecoin called Open USD (OUSD) is being prepared by a coalition of more than 140 companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock and Google, with a target launch in the second half of 2026. The coalition‑governed model, he said, aims to create a rival that can challenge Circle and Tether by leveraging extensive partnership networks.

Allaire reiterated Circle’s partnership with Coinbase, which receives about half of USDC reserve income, and stressed that stablecoin adoption is expanding across banks, neo‑banks and payment platforms, further cementing the sector’s optimistic trajectory.