Circle Stock Crashes 20% on CLARITY Act Yield Ban as Tether Announces First Big Four Audit
Circle (NASDAQ: CRCL) suffered its worst trading day on record with a 20% plunge on March 24 after the CLARITY Act draft threatened its $78.6B USDC yield model. Simultaneously, Tether announced engagement of a Big Four accounting firm to conduct the first comprehensive independent audit of its $184B USDT reserves — the largest inaugural audit in financial market history. The dual developments reshape competitive dynamics: Circle faces business model risk from yield restrictions while Tether narrows the transparency gap that has been Circle's primary competitive advantage.