open USD has made me rethink part of my circle vs. arc thesis. historically, stablecoin issuers kept most of the reserve income and paid distributors a fee. open USD flips that model. partners receive all of the reserve earnings after costs, while the issuer provides the infrastructure. this means value will shift to wallets, exchanges, banks, and payment providers that bring users onchain. that puts incredible pressure on @circle’s core business model. and, in turn, makes products like CCTP, arc, mint, and payments much more important to the long-term investment case than reserve income alone. that’s something i underestimated in my original circle vs. arc thesis. i also don’t think this is a race to zero. @tether is probably the best counterexample. USDT’s moat comes from the deepest liquidity, broadest exchange integrations, and years of network effects across crypto. that’s incredibly difficult to replicate. to me, the biggest takeaway is: > the stablecoin profit pool is getting reallocated and open usd is shifting it toward distribution.