Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Buys The Circle Dip, Purchases $30.5M Worth Of Shares

Ark Invest, the asset management firm led by Cathie Wood, has purchased $30.5 million worth of shares in Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin.

That’s as Circle’s share price dropped over 12% in the past 24 hours, data from Google Finance shows. The selloff continued in after-hours trading, pushing the stablecoin firm’s stock price down another 1%.

Circle share price chart (Source: Google Finance)

The 24-hour drop in Circle’s share price was an extension of the downtrend seen in the past month. As a result, the company’s stock price is now down more than 37% in the past thirty days. 

Ark Invest Buys The Dip Across Its ETFs

Ark Invest executed the buys across its ETFs (exchange-traded funds). The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) bought 245,830 shares. Meanwhile, the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) added 70,613 Circle shares to its portfolio. The remaining 36,885 shares were purchased via the asset manager’s Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). 

Ark Invest’s purchases came after investment bank William Blair encouraged investors to build Circle positions while the company’s stock price is down. In a research report released yesterday, the investment firm’s analysts gave an “outperform” rating for Circle’s stock. 

“We see Circle as a clear leader in a winner-take-most market as it builds out critical network infrastructure Circle Payments Network and Arc,” the analysts said.

However, the analysts went on to outline key risks, which include regulatory uncertainty, industry fragmentations, intensifying competition, inadequate stablecoin infrastructure, corporate inertia, and potential pressure from lower interest rates. 

Circle Reports 202% Increase In Total Revenue In Q3

Circle’s continued stock price drop comes even after the company reported a strong Q3 performance in its quarterly earnings report. 

In the report, the stablecoin firm said that total revenue and reserve income reached $740 million, which is a 66% increase from a year ago. The company also said that its net income rose 202% to $214 million.

Circle’s USDC stablecoin is currently the second-largest in the market, with a capitalization of more than $76 billion.

Top stablecoins by market cap (Source: CoinGecko) 

In its third-quarter report, Circle said that USDC’s circulation ended the quarter at $73.7 billion, which is also a 108% year over year. 

Meanwhile, the company’s management raised its 2025 outlook for “other revenue” as well. Citing subscription, services and stablecoin growth, the company estimated that its other revenue sources will generate between $90 and $100 million, which is higher than the initial $75-$85 million estimate. 

Circle Recently Launched The Testnet Of Its Own Layer-1 Blockchain

Circle has also recently launched the testnet of its layer-1 blockchain Arc, with the aim to support large-scale financial and enterprise applications on-chain.

The company framed its blockchain as the “Economic Operating System for the internet.” Circle added that it has also seen participation from more than 100 organizations across banking, capital markets, payments, and technology. 

“With Arc’s public testnet, we’re seeing remarkable early momentum as leading companies, protocols, and projects begin to build and test,” Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a statement. 

With the testnet now live, developers and enterprises can deploy, test, and build applications on the blockchain.

The launch of the testnet is strategic and comes amid a stablecoin market boom. Momentum for the sector started to pick up since the middle of July, when US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law. 

That gave stablecoin firms a regulatory framework to follow if they want to deploy their tokens in the US. It also cleared the way for traditional finance firms to enter the stablecoin market. 

Following the newly-gained regulatory clarity, several traditional finance firms like BNY Mellon, JPMorgan, Western Union, and others have announced plans to expand into the stablecoin space. 

Amid the increasing adoption, the market cap for stablecoins has soared above $300 billion for the first time this year as well, according to data from DefiLlama. The market has, however, seen a slight drop from a capitalization perspective in the past week. 

Tether’s USDT maintains a dominant position in the market with a more than 60% share.