ZACKSยท2025-09-19 17:15Core Insights - Circle Internet (CRCL) and IREN Limited (IREN) are gaining traction in the cryptocurrency sector, with Circle focusing on the USDC stablecoin and IREN being a major bitcoin miner [1][2] - The regulatory environment and increasing demand for stablecoins like USDC are favorable for Circle, while IREN benefits from its low-cost bitcoin mining and expanding AI Cloud revenues [18] Group 1: Circle Internet (CRCL) - Circle's USDC stablecoin circulation reached $72.36 billion as of September 11, up from $65.2 billion on August 10, 2025, and $61.3 billion at the end of Q2 2025 [2][8] - The on-chain transaction volume for USDC grew 5.4 times year-over-year to nearly $6 trillion in Q2 2025, with meaningful wallets increasing by 68% year-over-year [2][5] - Circle launched the Circle Payments Network in May, with over 100 institutions in the pipeline, and introduced Circle Gateway for cross-chain USDC usage [3][4] - Total revenues and reserve income for Circle in Q2 2025 were $658.1 million, a 53% increase year-over-year, with a consensus estimate of $686.4 million for Q3 2025 [5][10] - The consensus loss estimate for Circle in 2025 is $2.53 per share, widening from a previous estimate of $0.33 [12] Group 2: IREN Limited (IREN) - IREN is projected to achieve $1.25 billion in annualized revenues, with approximately $1 billion from bitcoin mining and $200-$250 million from AI Cloud by December 2025 [6][8] - The company plans to scale its GPU count from 1.9k to 10.9k, including various models of NVIDIA GPUs [6][7] - IREN operates 810 MW of data centers, with contracted grid-connected power increasing to 2,910 MW, indicating over 35% growth [9] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IREN's fiscal 2026 revenues is $1.13 billion, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 120.93% [10] - IREN shares surged 83.8% in the past month, significantly outperforming Circle's 1.9% gain [8][13]