Bernstein sets Circle target price at $190…betting on stablecoin growth

Investment bank Bernstein has presented a bullish growth outlook for stablecoin issuer Circle and raised its price target.

According to EtherNews, a cryptocurrency-focused media outlet, Bernstein maintained its “Outperform” rating on Circle and set a $190 price target on the 10th. This implies roughly 70% upside from the recent share price.

Circle shares rose about 9.74% on the 9th to close at $111.84, and climbed to around $115 in early trading the following day.

Bernstein said the stablecoin market is still in the early stages of growth and is likely to expand its role as payment infrastructure going forward. It cited as a key basis that USDC supply hit an all-time high of about $78 billion.

The report also highlighted that the stablecoin market is increasingly decoupling from Bitcoin’s price moves. That suggests stablecoins are becoming established not merely as a crypto investment vehicle but as payments and financial infrastructure.

In fact, stablecoin transaction volume totaled about $55 trillion last year, and adjusted payment activity was estimated to have risen 91% year over year. Visa is also currently supporting more than 130 stablecoin-linked card programs across over 50 countries.

Bernstein said “Circle has secured a favorable position in terms of the regulatory environment and liquidity infrastructure,” projecting it will post an average annual revenue growth rate of about 47% through 2027.

It also said that, over the longer term, new use cases such as automated payments between artificial intelligence (AI) agents could be a potential factor that expands demand for stablecoins.