Bernstein analysts point out that Circle's USDC partnership with a certain CEX is a direct play for investing in the stablecoin market. AI agent machine payments could bring incremental demand, but the scale remains small for now. USDC's supply and trading volume have reached all-time highs, with leading market share.

Gate News, March 22: According to data on Circle's official website, during the week ending March 12 local time, USDC issued approximately 5.2 billion, redeemed approximately 4.8 billion, with circulating supply increasing by approximately 400 million. As of March 19 local time, USDC total circulating supply was approximately 79.1 billion, with reserve asset value approximately $79.4 billion.

Ledger has appointed former Circle executive John Andrews as CFO, preparing for a potential IPO and opening an office in New York to expand its U.S. operations. Andrews stated that the IPO may be postponed due to market fluctuations.

On March 19, hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve triggered a decline in U.S. stocks, with the Dow Jones falling 0.64%, the S&P 500 down 0.79%, and the Nasdaq down 1.14%. Crypto-related stocks also declined across the board, with declines seen in Circle, CEX, Riot, and others.

The tokenized stocks market has reached a total market capitalization of $1.5 billion, with Solana-based xStocks dominating the market with over $800 million in market cap. Ondo Global Market has a market cap of $630 million, with Circle-issued tokenized stocks being the largest asset across both platforms.

Gate News: On March 19, Circle, the issuer of USDC, announced the appointment of a senior Microsoft executive to its board of directors. This personnel adjustment comes amid intensifying competition in the AI agent (Agentic) space. Circle, the issuer of USDC, the world's second-largest stablecoin, views this board expansion as an important move in the company's technology strategy positioning.

SBI Holdings subsidiary launches Japan's first public USDC lending service with annual interest rates up to 10%. The product combines blockchain technology to provide high-yield options for investors, and partners with Circle and Startale to expand the USDC ecosystem, driving the development of Japan's stablecoin market.

On March 18, the iShares Korea ETF (EWY) rose to $134.4 as the South Korean KOSPI index gained 5.04%, with after-hours trading up 3.1%. Meanwhile, the EWY futures contract on the Hyperliquid platform traded at $139, up 6.2% in 24 hours. Whale address unrealized gains expanded to nearly $2 million.

Circle Internet Group (CRCL) announced on March 18 the appointment of Kirk Koenigsbauer to its board of directors, where he will participate in the compensation and risk committee. He brings over 30 years of experience in global enterprise software and cloud services and currently serves as president and COO of Microsoft's Experiences & Devices Group.

US stocks closed on March 18: the Dow Jones rose 0.10%, the S&P 500 rose 0.25%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.47%. Multiple projects rose in the crypto market, with Circle up 5.15% and Solana down 0.91%. msx.com is a decentralized RWA trading platform that supports multiple US stock and ETF tokens.