Bernstein: The yield compromise provisions of the Clarity Act will strengthen Circle's competitive advantage.

According to a recent research report by Bernstein, the US CLARITY Act's compromise on stablecoin yields structurally benefits Circle and the USDC ecosystem. The Act prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying deposit-like interest to passive holders, but allows for real transactions and related rewards, recognizes Circle's existing USDC reward model, and restricts high-yield competition within the industry. The Act strengthens the stablecoin's role as a payment tool and protects Circle's reserve yield business model. Bernstein maintains its "Outperform" rating on Circle and a target price of $190. Currently, the global supply of USD stablecoins exceeds $300 billion, with USDT and USDC accounting for approximately 97%. USDC's share in on-chain payments and wallet transfers continues to increase, accounting for over 99% in the AI Agent payment protocol x402. Circle's ARC chain testnet has completed 244 million transactions, and the ARC token pre-sale raised $222 million, with investors including a16z crypto, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, and BlackRock. However, the bill still needs to go through procedures such as a 60-vote vote in the Senate and coordination with the House version before it can be formally enacted. Polymarket predicts that it has a 62% chance of passing in 2026.