#深度创作营 Has Wall Street Officially Entered Web3?

In the past 48 hours, four seemingly independent but deeply interconnected events have shaken the crypto market.
They all point to a trend: the boundaries between traditional finance and crypto finance are dissolving at an unprecedented pace.
1. Circle Earnings Shock: Stablecoin "Money Printer" Business Model Gains Wall Street Approval
On February 25, USDC issuer Circle released a financial report that stunned Wall Street.
Key data: Q4 total revenue of $770 million, up 77% year-over-year, beating analyst expectations of 3% earnings per share of $0.43, surpassing expectations by 23%. USDC circulation reached $75.3 billion, a 72% increase year-over-year. On-chain trading volume hit $11.9 trillion, a 247% surge year-over-year. After the earnings release, Circle's stock (CRCL) soared 35.5% in one day, jumping from $61 to $83, adding $1.5 billion in market cap.
Circle’s business model is essentially a "legal money printer": for every $1 of USDC issued, $1 in reserves must be deposited in a bank. In an environment where the Federal Reserve continues to cut rates but short-term interest rates remain high, these reserves generate up to $733 million in interest income, accounting for 95% of total revenue. It’s a business with near-zero marginal costs and high profit margins (38-40%). More importantly, it validates a previously questioned proposition: stablecoins are not only infrastructure in the crypto world but also a sustainable, highly profitable financial business.
Wall Street’s reaction was straightforward: analysts raised target prices, with 13 out of 14 giving "Buy" or "Strong Buy" ratings. Circle’s success has legitimized the entire stablecoin sector.
2. MicroStrategy Becomes the "Most Shorted Stock Globally": A Short Squeeze Storm in Extreme Crowding
According to Goldman Sachs and FactSet data, MicroStrategy (MSTR) has become the most shorted large-cap stock globally, with a short position of $4.85 billion, representing 14% of its market cap.
MicroStrategy’s business model is highly controversial: it raises debt to buy Bitcoin, turning the company into a "leveraged Bitcoin ETF." The company currently holds $54.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, with an unrealized loss of about $7 billion. Its stock has plummeted 65% from its October peak last year.
The logic for shorts is simple: Bitcoin price drops → MicroStrategy’s assets shrink → debt pressure increases → stock price falls further. Last year, short sellers made $3.2 billion from MicroStrategy. But extreme short interest creates the fuel for a "short squeeze." Fundstrat analyst Tom Lee warned: "When a short trade becomes market consensus, all bad news is already priced in. Any positive news can trigger a sharp short squeeze." On February 25, Bitcoin rebounded from $63,000 to $68,500 (+8.7%), and MicroStrategy’s stock jumped 8% in one day. If Bitcoin breaks above $72,000, forced short covering could push the stock price up 30-50%. This is a high-risk long-short game, and Wall Street can no longer ignore crypto assets, even through shorting.
3. BlackRock’s First Purchase of DeFi Tokens: A $14 Trillion Giant’s Transformation
On February 24, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with $14 trillion under management, confirmed it directly bought Uniswap’s governance token UNI. This is the first time a Wall Street giant has exposed its balance sheet directly to DeFi (Decentralized Finance) governance tokens. Previously, institutional investors only bought Bitcoin and Ethereum—they were seen as "digital gold" and "blockchain infrastructure," relatively easy to incorporate into traditional finance.
But DeFi governance tokens are entirely different: they represent governance rights and profit-sharing in a decentralized protocol, with high regulatory gray areas.
BlackRock’s move sends three signals:
Regulatory risk is manageable: BlackRock’s legal team evidently believes that holding UNI carries acceptable compliance risks.
DeFi is no longer just a "retail playground": it is evolving into institutional-grade financial infrastructure governance.
More important than investment returns: BlackRock’s purchase of UNI is not just for token appreciation but also to gain influence in Uniswap’s protocol governance. After the announcement, UNI surged 21.8% in a single day, with a market cap of $2.58 billion. Meanwhile, Apollo Global Management acquired Morpho’s governance token, and ParaFi Capital invested $35 million directly into Jupiter Protocol’s JUP tokens. Perhaps the institutionalization era of DeFi has arrived.
4. Meta Returns to Stablecoin Payments: The "Tipping Point" for 3.2 Billion Users Is Near
According to CoinDesk, social media giant Meta (Facebook’s parent company) plans to integrate stablecoin payment features into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp by the second half of 2026, covering 3.2 billion users worldwide. This is not Meta’s first attempt. In 2019, Meta launched the Libra project (later renamed Diem), aiming to issue a stablecoin pegged to a basket of currencies. But the plan faced global regulatory crackdowns: Fed Chair Powell and Treasury Secretary Yellen personally pressured, and the project was halted on the eve of its pilot in 2021. Ultimately, in 2022, it was sold cheaply for $182 million to Silvergate Bank. This time, Meta learned its lesson and adopted a "third-party partnership model":
Instead of issuing its own stablecoin, it will integrate existing stablecoins (like Circle’s USDC), avoiding currency issuance responsibilities, and outsource compliance to stablecoin issuers (like Circle). The regulatory pressure will be borne by the issuers.
It is reported that payment giant Stripe is the preferred partner. Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge in 2025, and its CEO has joined Meta’s board. The technical integration path is clear. If successful, this will be the "tipping point" for large-scale Web3 adoption: 3.2 billion users can conduct cross-border transfers, creator earnings settlements, and social e-commerce payments directly within social platforms. Traditional payment networks (Visa, Mastercard) will face structural competition. The stablecoin market could grow from $300 billion to over $500 billion within 12 months.
However, risks remain: regulatory frameworks are still being drafted, and user trust in "Meta Wallet" is uncertain.
Of course, Wall Street is not here to "revolutionize," but to "share the pie." For ordinary investors, this could mean: stablecoins will become everyday payment tools, DeFi protocols will gain institutional liquidity, regulation will become clearer faster, and speculative bubbles will be squeezed out.
When BlackRock starts buying UNI, when Meta reboots stablecoin payments, and when Circle proves profitability with earnings reports—this industry is no longer just a playground for geeks and speculators but an integral part of the global financial system.