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IREN vs. CRCL: Which Crypto-Exposure Stock Has an Edge Right Now?
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Key Takeaways
Circle leads with 77% revenue growth and rising USDC adoption, driving strong transaction volume gains.
CRCL benefits from Arc Network traction, enterprise integrations and expanding payments activity.
IREN faces revenue pressure as it shifts from bitcoin mining to AI cloud, with estimates trending lower.
IREN Limited (IREN - Free Report) and Circle Internet (CRCL - Free Report) are both cryptocurrency-exposed stocks that have been gaining traction in recent times. Circle offers USDC stablecoin, which is redeemable on a one-for-one basis for U.S. dollars and is backed by reserves consisting of highly liquid, price-stable cash and cash equivalents. IREN Limited is one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost bitcoin miners.
Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, peaked in value at the beginning of October 2025, and since then, it has been nosediving. The question remains: amid the price volatility, which bitcoin mining stock has more upside potential? Let us break down their fundamentals, growth prospects, market challenges, future strategy and valuation to determine which offers a more compelling investment case.
The Case for IREN Stock
IREN’s focus on no longer being a pure-play crypto-mining company while evolving into an AI Cloud Service Provider seems to bode well for the company’s prospects. IREN is aiming to reach $3.7 billion in annualized run-rate revenues (ARR) by the end of 2026, mainly from its AI cloud business. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, IREN reported around $2.3 billion of ARR under contract, which includes its large AI cloud agreement with Microsoft and about $0.4-$0.5 billion of ARR from the Prince George site.
In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, IREN secured $3.6 billion in GPU financing and received $1.9 billion from Microsoft in customer prepayments, which together cover about 95% of the GPU-related capital spending tied to the Microsoft contract. Management said this reduces risk and allows the company to focus on adding more customers.
Another positive is power availability. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, IREN stated that it has more than 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of secured power, which management said is hard to find in the current data center market and reaching its $3.4 billion ARR target by the end of 2026 would use only about 10% of this power. This means most of the power capacity is still available for future growth, which should support the company’s plans to deploy around 140,000 GPUs by the end of 2026.
However, IREN is seeing short-term pressure on revenues as it moves away from Bitcoin mining and focuses more on AI cloud services. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, total revenues fell 23% from the previous quarter. Management said this drop was mainly due to lower Bitcoin mining revenues.
IREN is shifting power and infrastructure away from mining and toward AI workloads. AI cloud revenues are increasing, but they are not yet large enough to fully make up for the drop in mining revenues. Management said this pressure should be temporary. As more GPUs are installed and AI cloud contracts ramp up, AI revenues are expected to become the main source of revenue. Until then, quarter-over-quarter results may remain uneven.
The Case for CRCL Stock
Circle is expected to benefit from the growing demand for the USDC stablecoin. USDC in circulation grew 72% year over year to $75.3 billion at the fourth-quarter end. In the fourth quarter of 2025, USDC onchain transaction volume grew 247% year over year to nearly $11.9 trillion, reflecting growing usage. Meaningful wallets, defined as wallets holding more than $10 of USDC, surged 59% year over year, indicating growing USDC adoption globally.
The launch of its Arc Network is helping Circle move closer to its goal of building a full-scale Internet-based financial platform. Arc Network is a distributed economic operating system designed to support financial activity on the Internet. It is being built to handle payments, tokenized assets and other onchain use cases, including AI-driven transactions.
Currently, Arc Networks is in the test phase and is showing early traction. In the fourth quarter, more than 100 companies were testing the platform. The network processed more than 166 million transactions, with around 2.3 million daily transactions and close to 100% uptime. Settlement time is around 0.5 seconds. Arc is also expected to work closely with existing products. It will support Circle Payments Network for payments, StableFX for foreign exchange and USDC for liquidity.
Circle is seeing continued adoption across enterprises and financial institutions. Circle highlighted integrations with companies such as Visa and Intuit in the fourth quarter, and management noted that more firms are building products using USDC. In payments, Circle Payments Network reached 55 financial institutions and $5.7 billion in annualized volume, with activity focused on cross-border and B2B transactions.
These factors are expected to drive Circle’s top-line growth. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Circle reported total revenues and reserve income of $770 million, up 77% year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter 2026 and full-year 2026 revenues is pegged at $714.4 million and $3.14 billion, respectively.
IREN vs. CRCL: Earnings Estimate Trend
The earnings estimate revision trend for the two companies reflects that analysts are turning more bullish toward Circle.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IREN’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at 54 cents per share, revised down by a penny over the past 30 days. The company reported earnings of 4 cents per share in fiscal 2025.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRCL’s 2026 earnings is pegged at 85 cents per share, revised up by 7 cents over the past 30 days. The company reported a loss of 44 cents per share in 2025.
Over the past three months, IREN shares have jumped 0.1%, while CRCL shares have surged 53%.
3-Month Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CRCL is trading at a forward sales multiple of 9.26X, higher than IREN’s 5.86X. CRCL’s higher premium seems justified, given its earnings have been revised upward, reflecting analysts’ high growth expectations.
IREN vs. CRCL: Forward 12 Month P/S Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Conclusion: CRCL Has an Edge Over IREN
Both IREN and CRCL offer exposure to Bitcoin, but their current risk and return profiles are very different. However, IREN’s shift away from Bitcoin mining is creating short-term revenue pressure, and earnings estimates are moving down. While the AI pivot could pay off over time, near-term results may remain uneven.
CRCL appears to have an edge right now. The company is seeing strong growth in USDC usage, with rising transaction volumes and increasing adoption by businesses and financial institutions. Further, earnings estimates are moving higher, which shows an improving outlook.
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IREN vs. CRCL: Which Crypto-Exposure Stock Has an Edge Right Now?
Key Takeaways
IREN Limited (IREN - Free Report) and Circle Internet (CRCL - Free Report) are both cryptocurrency-exposed stocks that have been gaining traction in recent times. Circle offers USDC stablecoin, which is redeemable on a one-for-one basis for U.S. dollars and is backed by reserves consisting of highly liquid, price-stable cash and cash equivalents. IREN Limited is one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost bitcoin miners.
Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, peaked in value at the beginning of October 2025, and since then, it has been nosediving. The question remains: amid the price volatility, which bitcoin mining stock has more upside potential? Let us break down their fundamentals, growth prospects, market challenges, future strategy and valuation to determine which offers a more compelling investment case.
The Case for IREN Stock
IREN’s focus on no longer being a pure-play crypto-mining company while evolving into an AI Cloud Service Provider seems to bode well for the company’s prospects. IREN is aiming to reach $3.7 billion in annualized run-rate revenues (ARR) by the end of 2026, mainly from its AI cloud business. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, IREN reported around $2.3 billion of ARR under contract, which includes its large AI cloud agreement with Microsoft and about $0.4-$0.5 billion of ARR from the Prince George site.
In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, IREN secured $3.6 billion in GPU financing and received $1.9 billion from Microsoft in customer prepayments, which together cover about 95% of the GPU-related capital spending tied to the Microsoft contract. Management said this reduces risk and allows the company to focus on adding more customers.
Another positive is power availability. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, IREN stated that it has more than 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of secured power, which management said is hard to find in the current data center market and reaching its $3.4 billion ARR target by the end of 2026 would use only about 10% of this power. This means most of the power capacity is still available for future growth, which should support the company’s plans to deploy around 140,000 GPUs by the end of 2026.
However, IREN is seeing short-term pressure on revenues as it moves away from Bitcoin mining and focuses more on AI cloud services. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, total revenues fell 23% from the previous quarter. Management said this drop was mainly due to lower Bitcoin mining revenues.
IREN is shifting power and infrastructure away from mining and toward AI workloads. AI cloud revenues are increasing, but they are not yet large enough to fully make up for the drop in mining revenues. Management said this pressure should be temporary. As more GPUs are installed and AI cloud contracts ramp up, AI revenues are expected to become the main source of revenue. Until then, quarter-over-quarter results may remain uneven.
The Case for CRCL Stock
Circle is expected to benefit from the growing demand for the USDC stablecoin. USDC in circulation grew 72% year over year to $75.3 billion at the fourth-quarter end. In the fourth quarter of 2025, USDC onchain transaction volume grew 247% year over year to nearly $11.9 trillion, reflecting growing usage. Meaningful wallets, defined as wallets holding more than $10 of USDC, surged 59% year over year, indicating growing USDC adoption globally.
The launch of its Arc Network is helping Circle move closer to its goal of building a full-scale Internet-based financial platform. Arc Network is a distributed economic operating system designed to support financial activity on the Internet. It is being built to handle payments, tokenized assets and other onchain use cases, including AI-driven transactions.
Currently, Arc Networks is in the test phase and is showing early traction. In the fourth quarter, more than 100 companies were testing the platform. The network processed more than 166 million transactions, with around 2.3 million daily transactions and close to 100% uptime. Settlement time is around 0.5 seconds. Arc is also expected to work closely with existing products. It will support Circle Payments Network for payments, StableFX for foreign exchange and USDC for liquidity.
Circle is seeing continued adoption across enterprises and financial institutions. Circle highlighted integrations with companies such as Visa and Intuit in the fourth quarter, and management noted that more firms are building products using USDC. In payments, Circle Payments Network reached 55 financial institutions and $5.7 billion in annualized volume, with activity focused on cross-border and B2B transactions.
These factors are expected to drive Circle’s top-line growth. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Circle reported total revenues and reserve income of $770 million, up 77% year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter 2026 and full-year 2026 revenues is pegged at $714.4 million and $3.14 billion, respectively.
IREN vs. CRCL: Earnings Estimate Trend
The earnings estimate revision trend for the two companies reflects that analysts are turning more bullish toward Circle.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IREN’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at 54 cents per share, revised down by a penny over the past 30 days. The company reported earnings of 4 cents per share in fiscal 2025.
IREN Limited Price and Consensus
IREN Limited price-consensus-chart | IREN Limited Quote
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRCL’s 2026 earnings is pegged at 85 cents per share, revised up by 7 cents over the past 30 days. The company reported a loss of 44 cents per share in 2025.
Circle Internet Group, Inc. Price and Consensus
Circle Internet Group, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Circle Internet Group, Inc. Quote
IREN vs. CRCL: Price Performance and Valuation
Over the past three months, IREN shares have jumped 0.1%, while CRCL shares have surged 53%.
3-Month Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CRCL is trading at a forward sales multiple of 9.26X, higher than IREN’s 5.86X. CRCL’s higher premium seems justified, given its earnings have been revised upward, reflecting analysts’ high growth expectations.
IREN vs. CRCL: Forward 12 Month P/S Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Conclusion: CRCL Has an Edge Over IREN
Both IREN and CRCL offer exposure to Bitcoin, but their current risk and return profiles are very different. However, IREN’s shift away from Bitcoin mining is creating short-term revenue pressure, and earnings estimates are moving down. While the AI pivot could pay off over time, near-term results may remain uneven.
CRCL appears to have an edge right now. The company is seeing strong growth in USDC usage, with rising transaction volumes and increasing adoption by businesses and financial institutions. Further, earnings estimates are moving higher, which shows an improving outlook.
Currently, IREN and Circle carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) each at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.