Episode Overview

Podcast: Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Host: Scott Becker
Episode Title: Circle Internet Surges 2-27-25
Date: February 27, 2026

In this brief solo episode, Scott Becker discusses the remarkable 30% surge in Circle Internet Group's stock price, reflecting on his accidental investment success and contrasting it with his usual investment approach. The episode features candid commentary on personal investing practices, the unpredictability of stock performance, and some humor about "blind squirrel" luck.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Circle Internet’s Surge and Investment Results

• Remarkable Market Performance

  • Circle Internet Group stock surged roughly 30% in a single day, driven by a strong Q4 report tied to crypto earnings.
    • Quote:

      "Circle Internet today is up literally 30%. It's still a relatively, I guess you'd think of it as a not, not a small cap company at 20 billion in market cap. It's, it's driving today based on Crypto great quarter Q4 crypto earnings, but literally up 30%."
      — Scott Becker, [00:39]

• Personal Investing Anecdote

  • Scott stresses that his ownership of Circle Internet was accidental—he received the shares through a hedge fund distribution and had no particular conviction about the stock.
  • He chooses to hold onto distributed stocks, unsure of how to value or assess them.
    • Quote:

      "I have no idea what Circle Internet really group is. I just know it's up 29% on Wednesday and not doing any great prognosis by myself. Anything at all but up."
      — Scott Becker, [01:18]

• A “Blind Squirrel” Moment

  • The host humorously refers to his Circle Internet investment as a case of stumbling into success, riffing on the saying, "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while."
    • Quote:

      "Even a blind squirrel gets nut once in a while, I happen to be an investor individually in Circle Internet and again for no other reason. That was distributed to me by an investment vehicle, a hedge fund that I invested in."
      — Scott Becker, [00:47]

Contrasting Investment Strategies

• Index Funds vs. Individual Stocks

  • Scott identifies himself primarily as an index fund investor and notes that his selected individual stocks (like Microsoft and Amazon) are generally underperforming.
    • Quote:

      "I'm generally an index fund investor. A couple of the big positions I have that are individual stocks are getting crushed. It seems like all of my individual stocks that have large positions are getting crushed."
      — Scott Becker, [01:50]

• Recent Losses and Wins

  • Most of his recent bets on individual stocks have not fared well; Circle Internet's rise is a rare exception.
  • Despite today’s dramatic gain, year-to-date, Circle Internet's stock is only roughly even—so this is more a bright spot than a big win.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On accidental wins:

  "The one win, the one nut for this blind squirrel has gotten is Circle Internet Group which is up 30% today. We'll see if that last year to date it's even."
  — Scott Becker, [02:04]

• On holding distributed stocks:

  "When I get distributions from this hedge fund, I tend to keep the stocks because I don't really know what to do with them. I don't know how to judge them."
  — Scott Becker, [01:09]

• Self-awareness on investing philosophy:

  "This goes against all my investing logic that you better really know about what you earn and have a conviction around it. I don't."
  — Scott Becker, [01:14]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:30 — Start of episode's substantive content
• 00:39 — Circle Internet’s 30% surge and market context
• 00:47 — Scott’s accidental ownership and blind squirrel analogy
• 01:09–01:18 — Rationale for holding distributed stocks, lack of conviction
• 01:50 — Comparison of index funds versus struggling individual stocks
• 02:04 — Recap: Circle’s gain as a lucky exception

Tone and Language

Scott Becker maintains a conversational, self-deprecating, and candid tone throughout, directly engaging listeners with investing realities and personal experience. The episode is breezy, honest, and uses humor to illustrate both luck and uncertainty in investing.

Summary

This episode spotlights Circle Internet Group’s sudden 30% bump and uses Scott Becker’s own haphazard involvement as a way to reflect on broader investing themes, luck, and humility. The story will resonate with anyone who's ever questioned their stock-picking prowess or lucked into a win despite themselves.