Circle Wants AI Payments to Create an Entirely New Stablecoin Market

Circle’s latest earnings suggest USDC is beginning to separate from the crypto cycle just as autonomous software agents create a potentially new market for digital payments. But the company’s second quarter 2026 earnings call Wednesday (Aug. 5) exposed the central tension in its evolution from stablecoin issuer to financial infrastructure company: Circle’s USDC is moving through the digital economy at extraordinary speed, but the revenue generated from that activity remains tied primarily to int