On July 29, 2025, Duan Yongping wrote in a reply to a netizen on Xueqiu: "I don't understand things without cash flow, and I have no interest in stablecoins."
Nine months later, in his Q1 13F report filed with the SEC, he first revealed the holdings of USDC issuer Circle (CRCL).
8 special targets in the initial position
Duan Yongping's H&H International Investment LLC disclosed its Q1 2026 holdings in mid-May.
As of March 31, 2026, the total market value of the portfolio increased from US$17.49 billion in the previous quarter to US$20.004 billion, holding a total of 19 securities.
Concentration remains high, with Apple still holding the top spot at 36.72%, followed by Berkshire Hathaway at 21.91%. The top five holdings together account for over 87%. However, the internal composition of the top five holdings is completely different from the previous quarter.
The most significant move was in Tesla, with a new position of 3.4 million shares, worth approximately $1.267 billion, propelling it into the top five. Nvidia increased its holdings by 91.29%, buying approximately 6.6 million shares, rising to its third-largest position; Pinduoduo increased its holdings by 71.18%, and Google increased its holdings by 99.74%.
The withdrawals were equally clear: TSMC shares were reduced by 87.65%, leaving only 151,000 shares; Apple shares were reduced by 3.412 million shares, a decrease of 10.55%; and Alibaba, ASML, and CoreWeave were completely sold off.
After the geopolitical premium was fully reflected, TSMC significantly reduced its holdings, and Alibaba chose to exit after continuous pressure. The freed-up funds flowed to Nvidia, Tesla, and Google, which had already undergone deep corrections in the previous two years.
This quarter saw the creation of 8 new portfolios: Tesla, UnitedHealth, Circle, Palantir, Synopsys, CrowdStrike, Snowflake, and Innodata.Seven of them cover traditional sectors such as the AI industry chain, cybersecurity, and defensive value allocation.
Circle is unique in that it is neither in any traditional industry sector nor does it fit into any of the asset types that Duan Yongping has held over the past twenty years.
Building positions after an 83% drop
H&H purchased 200,000 shares of Circle at an average price of $95.41, with a market value of approximately $19.08 million at the end of the period, representing only about 0.095% of the total portfolio.
The size of the position is similar to Duan Yongping's foray into CoreWeave, Credo Technology, and Tempus AI last quarter. Establishing an observation window in new areas with low cost is an observational position operation that does not affect the main structure of the portfolio.
Judging from the stock price trend, the main window for building positions is concentrated in late February to March 2026.
Circle went public on the NYSE in June 2025, opening at $69. It then climbed to an all-time high of $298.99 before falling to an all-time low of $49.90 on February 5, 2026, a drop of over 83%.
The average price of $95.41 falls right in the recovery range after the low point, and the valuation has returned from the realm of imagination to a position that can be evaluated using traditional frameworks.
Circle's business model is simple: revenue equals the average circulating supply of USDC multiplied by the rate of return on reserve assets.
Users deposit US dollars in exchange for USDC. Circle allocates the corresponding reserves to short-term US Treasury bonds and overnight repurchase agreements. All interest generated belongs to the issuer, and holders do not receive interest.
This is similar to the logic of insurance companies using float funds for arbitrage.The issuer holds a large amount of free, interest-free debt and allocates its assets to low-risk, fixed-income assets to earn interest spreads. This is precisely the kind of business logic that Duan Yongping is most familiar with.
Meanwhile, the GENIUS Act was signed into law in July 2025, and the relevant regulatory framework is gradually being implemented during the transition period, establishing a basic framework for stablecoins; and significant progress in the Clarity Act further enhances compliance certainty. Circle, with its transparent reserve mechanism and compliance advantages, has established a clearer position in the institutional market.
Price, regulation, and model readability—all three conditions are addressed within the same window.At this point, seven or eight months had passed since he said in July 2025, "I have no interest in stablecoins."
As of May 18, 2026, CRCL was trading at $111.39, representing a paper profit of approximately 16.7%.
Buying and selling in the same quarter
In the same quarter, Dan Bin's Oriental Harbor Overseas Fund also made its first investment in Circle, purchasing approximately 31,700 shares, with a market value of approximately US$3.025 million at the end of the period. This represents less than 0.3% of the portfolio and is also considered an early, exploratory move.
On May 5, he posted on Weibo: "I've invested a little in Circle because of a strong recommendation from a researcher." After the post was published, CRCL rose more than 16% intraday.
The fact that two value investors with similar styles targeted the same stock in the same quarter, but in different ways, shows that Circle's appeal to traditional value investors is not based on a single logic, but rather on the simultaneous opening of multiple entry points.
At the institutional level, ARK Invest holds approximately 4.51 million shares, adding about 370,000 shares in Q1. Cathie Wood's ARK Venture Fund disclosed its investment in Circle as early as May 2024 and has continued to increase its holdings since the IPO.
According to data compiled from multiple platforms, CRCL currently has between 485 and 693 institutional holders, with institutional shareholding ratios ranging from approximately 42% to 64%.
In the same quarter, SoftBank Group sold off all of its 95,659 Circle shares in its Q1 13F filing, worth approximately $10.8 million, and publicly stated that it would concentrate its funds on AI.
Disagreements persist even within the same quarter and on the same stock. Circle has not yet reached the stage where traditional capital has reached a consensus; it is merely beginning to be taken seriously.
Circle's Revenue Logic
According to the Q1 2026 financial report, Circle's total revenue was $694 million, a year-on-year increase of 20%; of which, reserve revenue was $653 million, accounting for approximately 94%; net profit was $55 million, a year-on-year decrease of 15%.
The pressure on profits is due to the decline in the return on reserve assets from about 4.16% last year to about 3.5%, a drop of 66 basis points. The downward pressure on interest rates is directly reflected in profits.
The good news is that the scale is growing rapidly. The average circulating supply of USDC in the quarter was about $75.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 39%; the on-chain transaction volume was $21.5 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 263%, which has surpassed USDT on an adjusted basis.
This indicates that Circle's driving variables are relatively clear: interest rates determine unit returns, and scale determines total revenue. It also means that its profitability is quite sensitive to the macroeconomic environment, and the management's room for adjustment is limited.
USDC is currently the world's second-largest stablecoin, with a circulating supply of approximately $77 billion at the end of Q1, representing a market share of about 24% to 25%. USDT has a circulating supply of over $189 billion, accounting for about 58% to 60%, and its scale advantage remains significant.
However, USDC has established a differentiated advantage in terms of institutional adoption, compliance scenarios, and adjusted trading volume.
More importantly, after the GENIUS Act came into effect, the United States clarified its policy direction of private issuers leading the way and not issuing CBDCs; and the latest developments in the Clarity Act have further provided regulatory certainty for compliant leading issuers.
However, this clarity does not mean that the risk has completely disappeared; it simply makes the previously vague risk structure identifiable and assessable.
Traditional value investors have long confined their asset portfolios to consumer companies, technology leaders, and companies with predictable cash flow. Circle did not belong to any of these categories in the past.
This small-scale trial by Duan Yongping and Dan Bin does not mean that Circle has gained full recognition from value investors, but rather that the value investing system has begun to include this type of new asset in the scope of observation and research in a way that minimizes costs.
An asset type that is based on the dollar system, generates returns through interest rate differentials, and is subject to regulatory compliance is beginning to enter the observable zone within the traditional framework.
