Circle Internet Group stock dropped sharply on Thursday. The decline occurred amid a wider market downturn. Major cryptocurrencies posted significant losses, with Bitcoin and Ethereum prices falling and erasing recent gains. Renewed market fears weighed heavily on crypto-related stocks.
The stock drop defied a positive analyst action the previous day. Mizuho upgraded the stock to "neutral" from "underperform." The firm also raised its price target to $77. Mizuho cited increased usage of Circle’s USDC stablecoin as the rationale.
Separately, the stablecoin market gained a new competitor. The UAE central bank sanctioned the launch of USDU. USDU functions as a U.S. dollar stablecoin.