Clear Street lifts Circle PT to $152 after Mastercard deal for BVNK

Clear Street raises stablecoin giant Circle Internet Group CRCL.N PT to $152 from $136, implying an 11.8% upside to stock's last close

Brokerage says Mastercard's MA.N acquisition of stablecoin payments infrastructure firm BVNK is a validation of blockchain as a faster, cheaper, global, and 24x7 next-generation technology

Adds tone from MA executives has shifted from skepticism around stablecoin use cases to optimism regarding blockchain scalability and expansion

"MA's decision to acquire rather than build suggests that becoming a critical blockchain infrastructure provider is challenging. We are incrementally more confident in our upgrade thesis on CRCL as a trusted, regulatory-compliant infrastructure layer" - Clear Street's Owen Lau

13 of 27 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 13 "hold" and 1 "strong sell"; median PT $114.20 - data compiled by LSEG

As of last close, CRCL stock up 66.8% YTD