Cathie Wood argues Wall Street analysts overlook Circle’s potential due to legacy payment networks bias as USDC issuer lags peers.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest continued buying Circle shares despite a 42% drop over the past year, positioning it as the firm’s largest crypto holding. Wood attributed the decline to analysts’ inability to assess Circle’s disruptive role in payments, contrasting its performance with Visa and Mastercard’s modest gains of 5% and 1% respectively.
Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin backed by cash and short-term U.S. debt, has faced skepticism from analysts with long-term track records tied to $V and $MA. Wood countered that historical precedents—Mastercard’s 150x return since its 2006 IPO and Visa’s 33x gain—show markets often undervalue transformative technology in the short term.
Mastercard’s 2006 IPO priced at $39, equivalent to $3.90 post-split, now trades at $580.63, underscoring Wood’s argument that early-stage disrupters can outperform despite near-term volatility.