Circle shares tumble more than 17% on Russell removals and OUSD launch

Circle’s CRCL shares fell 17% Tuesday before rebounding 5% Wednesday as investors reacted to its removal from the Russell Growth indexes and the launch of OUSD, also referred to as Open USD or Open Standard Dollar, a competing dollar-backed revenue-sharing stablecoin backed by a consortium including BlackRock, Google, Visa, Coinbase and more than 140 other companies. Jefferies said Circle’s roughly 25% stablecoin market share could face pressure from the alliance’s broad backing and Coinbase ties, adding to concern that a revenue-sharing model could challenge Circle’s USDC business by offering ecosystem partners a larger share of reserve-related economics. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire countered that USDC’s scale, liquidity and regulatory licenses would be difficult to replicate. Separately, Bernstein maintained its $190 price target on Circle and reaffirmed its Outperform rating despite the stock drop.