Circle's president sold $30 million in CRCL stock as USDC adoption grew, leaving investors weighing insider sales against strong fundamentals.
Circle's President Heath Tarbert has quietly been cashing out of his company. Over the past year, he sold more than $30 million worth of CRCL shares.
The sales continued steadily even as the stock cratered and investors grew nervous. All the while, Tarbert kept telling the public that Circle's future looked bright.
The contradiction between his words and his wallet has not gone unnoticed.
Tarbert has sold over $30 million in Circle shares over the past year. Q1 2026 alone saw more than $18 million worth of CRCL being sold by the President.
That selling has continued into Q3 as well, according to recent SEC filings. Each transaction was reportedly executed under a preset 10b5-1 trading plan.
It was in this past year that CRCL lost roughly 77% of its value. The stock fell from a high near $265 to about $59 today.
CRCL did show some recovery in Q1 2026, briefly climbing back toward triple digits. But that rally came crashing down hard in the last two to three months.
Institutional buyer ARK Invest has taken the opposite stance, buying shares as the price dropped. That divide has fueled fresh scrutiny of Circle.
The selling looks surprising considering Circle reported a better than expected Q1 2026. USDC in circulation grew 28% year-over-year to $77 billion by quarter's end.
Onchain transaction volume for USDC jumped 263% to $21.5 trillion in the quarter. Total revenue and reserve income rose 20% to $694 million during the period.
Adjusted EBITDA also grew 24% to $151 million, reflecting the rising USDC circulation. Net income, however, slipped 15% due to higher stock-based compensation costs.
Furthermore, President Tarbert has been speaking of a bullish future for Circle. Much of that optimism ties back to the approval of Circle National Trust Bank.
In July 2026, the OCC granted Circle final approval to run a national trust bank. The charter lets Circle custody digital assets under direct federal oversight for the first time.
It marks a major regulatory milestone, placing Circle alongside firms like Ripple and Fidelity. Analysts see it as a step toward deeper integration with mainstream finance.
Tarbert has also pointed to Circle's Arc blockchain project as reason for optimism. The company raised $222 million in an ARC token presale this quarter, backed by major investors.
He also stated that Circle remains focused on the long term. Speaking to Fox Business about CRCL's steep drop, Tarbert stayed defiant.
He said that if Circle succeeds in building financial infrastructure for the internet, "the stock will take care of itself." He added that Circle is "in it for the long haul," despite the rough year for shareholders.
USDC users have seen a 574,000 dip in the month of June. This decline came amid the stock's ongoing struggles and a broader stablecoin market pullback.
The wider stablecoin sector shrank by roughly $10 billion since its May peak. It was the steepest monthly contraction seen since the 2022 crypto downturn.
Nevertheless, demand for USDC continues to rise in other key metrics. USDC has recorded $4.8 trillion in transfer activity, its highest volume since 2022.
This surge signals stablecoins are regaining momentum after a turbulent stretch for crypto broadly. Much of the credit goes to the GENIUS Act, which gave issuers regulatory clarity.
Institutional players have piled in as a result, from banks to asset managers. USDC has increasingly become the settlement asset of choice for large transactions.
Data from Visa and Allium show USDC now leads in adjusted settlement volume over rival USDT. That shift suggests real economic usage, not just speculative trading, is driving USDC's growth.
So while retail-style user counts dipped slightly through June, deeper structural demand kept building. That divergence may explain why Tarbert remains publicly confident despite his own selling.
For now, investors are left weighing two conflicting signals from the same executive. One is a president selling stock; the other is a president preaching patience.
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