Circle (CRCL) co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire is doubling down on his call that we are just at the start of AI agents reshaping the US workforce.
“I think we’re very early in the impact of AI agents on the conduct of work and how that plays out through labor,” Allaire said on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid (video above).
Allaire issued an early warning about two months ago at the Economic Club of New York. He said AI-related job losses would soon pick up the pace and perhaps continue into 2027. Since then, Cloudflare (NET), Coinbase (COIN), and Meta (META) have announced substantial layoffs.
Allaire said Circle is aggressively leaning into AI, and it’s yielding results.
“Eight-five percent of our workforce is active on a weekly basis with AI coding tools and AI automation tools … our employees have built and deployed over 600 AI apps so far this year, and over 54% of those employees are nontechnical,” he said. “And so we’re making it central to what we do. The message that we have is this is one of the greatest opportunities ever for people in their careers to really get new superpowers.”
Circle is one of the hottest stocks this year despite heightened competition in the stablecoin market and sweeping layoffs in tech.
The stock is up 48% year to date, compared to a 7% gain for the S&P 500 (^GSPC).
While still off from its all-time high of nearly $300 reached in late 2025, the stock is about four times its original IPO price.
Circle has made a solid case in recent months that its stock warrants a higher valuation.
First quarter revenue and reserve income of $694 million increased 20% year over year. Adjusted operating profits increased by 24% from the previous year.
Allaire said Big Tech players such as Meta and DoorDash (DASH) have begun to use stablecoins, undercutting the market view that these companies would issue their own stablecoins and compete with Circle.
The stock has also gotten a boost from the Trump administration’s push for a more favorable regulatory framework. Last summer, President Trump signed the first federal legislation for dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDC.
After much delay, the Senate Banking Committee is planning a markup hearing on Thursday for another major crypto bill, known as the CLARITY Act. The hope is for that bill to be signed before August.
Allaire said the act’s eventual passing would be a milestone moment for Circle.
“We think passage of CLARITY would remove a key terminal risk overhang for Circle’s ability to grow USDC market cap via its distribution partners’ reward programs,” JPMorgan analyst Ken Worthington wrote in a note.