China's Buffett buys into Circle

TLDR

Chinese value investor Duan Yongping, often called Chinas Buffett, has opened a new position in Circle, issuer of the USDC stablecoin, marking his first direct crypto?sector bet.

1. Duan bought about $19 million of Circle stock, a small slice of his portfolio but a notable reversal from his prior public disinterest in crypto.
2. The move highlights Circles role as an infrastructure play on stablecoins and tokenized dollars, rather than a speculative crypto asset.
3. The key things to watch are Circles growth, USDC adoption, and whether more traditional value investors follow him into the stablecoin space.

Deep Dive

1. What Duan Actually Bought

According to a recent filing, Duan Yongping disclosed a new position in ondo/">Circle Internet Group (ticker CRCL), purchasing 200,000 shares at an average price of about $95.41, roughly $19.08 million in total. This stake is estimated to be under 0.1 percent of his roughly $20 billion portfolio, so it is an exploratory position rather than a high conviction core holding, but it is still meaningful given his reputation as a conservative, long term value investor and his previous comments in 2025 that he had little interest in crypto-related assets. The position is therefore being read mostly as a signal that he wants exposure to the picks and shovels of digital finance, not to volatile tokens themselves.

2. Why Circle Is The Chosen Crypto Exposure

Circle issues USDC, one of the largest dollar backed stablecoins used as a settlement and trading asset across centralized exchanges and DeFi. As a public company, Circle monetizes float on reserves and payment flows, so owning CRCL gives exposure to stablecoin growth without owning volatile coins. Recent analysis of protocol revenues shows stablecoin issuers like Circle earning hundreds of millions of dollars in profit from their role at the core of crypto liquidity and payments. For a value investor, Circle can be framed less as a crypto bet and more as a regulated payments and infrastructure company built on blockchain rails.

3. What To Watch Next

Three things matter from here. First, Circles revenue growth as stablecoin adoption and tokenized assets expand, including how USDC competes with USDT and new bank issued stablecoins. Second, regulatory clarity around stablecoins in key markets, since clear rules can either unlock or cap Circles growth. Third, whether other prominent Asian or global value investors disclose similar positions, which would validate the idea that stablecoin infrastructure is moving into the mainstream institutional portfolio toolkit.

Conclusion

Duan Yongpings Circle purchase is a small position financially but a large signal about where conservative capital now sees opportunity in crypto. Rather than chasing volatile coins, he is backing the stablecoin infrastructure that powers trading, payments, and tokenization, and future portfolio disclosures from other long term investors will show whether this is an isolated move or the start of a broader shift.