Morning Edition · Wednesday, July 15, 2026Published at 1:26 AM EDT · New York
Mizuho Cuts Circle to Underperform as Hyperliquid Deal Pressures USDC's Reserve Economics
The bank lowered its price target to $50, warning that Open USD's yield pass-through model shifts reserve income from the issuer to distributors.
The economics that make stablecoin issuance profitable, keeping the interest earned on the reserves that back tokens paying holders nothing, are under direct competitive pressure. Mizuho, a Japanese investment bank, downgraded Circle to und…
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Control of Stablecoin Payment Rails Becomes the Prize
As tokenized dollars scale, the contested and value-capturing layer shifts from issuance to the wallet-to-merchant routing path, concentrating fees and gatekeeping power among the firms that own settlement connectivity.
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