Partner Development Coordinator

USDC rvenue hits $1.4B as Circle pays $819M in costs. Follow The Market Periodical Circle disclosed how its USDC business generated and distributed approximately $1.4 billion in revenue during the first half of 2026. The stablecoin issuer said distribution partners and related transaction costs accounted for approximately 59% of revenue. The Oct. 16 disclosure also detailed the company's infrastructure spending, payment services, and redemption arrangements. Circle said USDC processed more than $36 trillion in on-chain transaction volume between January and June. Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi published the figures as competition among stablecoin issuers intensified. Circle reports $1.4B in H1 2026 revenue as USDC costs consume 59%. Of the $1.4 billion in revenue, about $819 million went to USDC distribution partners and transaction costs. That works out to roughly 59 cents of every dollar flowing to the platforms that make the stablecoin available to users. The partner payouts follow adoption. Platforms that hold and grow USDC balances earn a share of the reserve income those balances generate, so the bigger the balance, the bigger the cut. Coinbase is the largest example. In its second-quarter results, the exchange reported that average USDC held in its products hit a record $20 billion, up 44% year over year. Coinbase is far from the only one. In September, Binance signed a five-year commercial agreement with Circle and invested $100 million in the company. More than 150 other partners, including neobanks, fintechs, payment platforms and enterprises, also hold an economic interest in USDC's growth. Where Circle's $1.4B revenue went - distribution, compliance and product costs. After partner payouts, Circle spent about $473 million, or 34% of revenue, on running and growing the network. That bucket covers licenses, banking relationships, settlement liquidity, compliance programs, new products and blockchain integrations. The company says this spending is what makes the stablecoin usable at scale. USDC now sits behind more than 55 licenses and registrations, including an OCC national trust bank charter and MiCA compliance in Europe. It works with over 25 partner banks, runs compliance and sanctions programs across 185 countries and is deployed natively on more than 35 blockchains. Reserves are held in a government money market fund managed by BlackRock and custodied at BNY, with monthly attestations. Circle used the breakdown to push back on rivals promising to pass along a "substantial majority" of their economics. Its argument is that redemption, compliance and resilience still cost money, and an issuer that gives everything away has nothing left to fund them. 24/7 USDC redemptions now available for eligible customers. Alongside the financials, Circle confirmed changes to how USDC redemptions work. Every customer can still redeem for free via standard banking rails, with settlement within up to 2 business days. The new part is speed. Businesses moving payment flows over the Circle Payments Network (CPN), such as card networks, processors, remittance firms and fintechs, can now redeem USDC for free in near real time, around the clock. Customers on the Circle Platform can qualify for the same treatment by holding USDC balances or building with products like Arc, Circle Mint and Circle Wallets. To make that work, the company keeps a large pool of cash pre-positioned with its bank partners, ready to move the moment a redemption confirms on-chain. That cash stays liquid, so it earns less than Treasuries would. The company absorbs that cost for customers who participate in the network rather than charging a fee. The volumes involved are large. Circle redeemed $71.8 billion in USDC in Q1 2026 alone, about 90% of the supply in circulation at the time. In Q2, combined minting and redemption volume reached $170 billion, up 105% from a year earlier. USDC processes $36T in on-chain volume as stablecoin usage expands. USDC settled more than $36 trillion in on-chain transaction volume during the first half of 2026. Over the same period, more than $315 billion was minted and redeemed, averaging about $1.7 billion per day, including weekends and holidays. Its share of the market has grown, too. By June, USDC carried roughly 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume, up from 60% a year earlier. Visa and Mastercard both settle in USDC seven days a week, including when traditional banks are closed, and a growing number of banks hold it as a reserve asset. The company describes its model as a flywheel. Partners grow USDC since they share in the revenue, that growth pays for more licenses, liquidity and chain support, and a more useful dollar pulls in the next wave of developers and businesses. Cryptocurrency Journalist Vignesh Karunanidhi is a seasoned crypto journalist and content editor with 7 years of experience in the crypto and Web3 space. Throughout his career, he has worked with leading platforms such as Watcher.Guru, Milk Road, BeInCrypto, Captain Altcoin, and Coin Edition, producing over 10,000 news articles, blogs, and guides on cryptocurrency. News Crypto Market Crypto News About this article. Published October 17, 2026 12:30 pm Last updated October 17, 2026 11:50 am Reviewed Fact-checked by the TMP editorial desk Disclaimer. Informational only, not financial advice. Crypto, forex and stocks are volatile, high-risk assets - always do your own research and consult a qualified adviser.

Aave V4 Arc markets link dollar and euro loans to one hub. Aave's V4 deployment on Circle's Arc blockchain now gives borrowers two connected markets: a dollar-euro Forex market and a broader Main market. Both draw funds from the same Core Hub. The deployment went live Sept. 16 with USDC, EURC, wrapped Ether and Circle's wrapped Bitcoin, cirBTC. The setup matters because the hub changes how liquidity is shared, though the launch caps are conservative. Two markets, different collateral. The practical split is collateral. Main accepts USDC, WETH and cirBTC, but not EURC, according to the deployment configuration. Forex lets users pledge either USDC or EURC to borrow the other. That gives euro-token holders a way to borrow dollars without selling their EURC. Aave said Oct. 12 that the Arc deployment had crossed $300 million in deposits. Arc highlighted the markets in an Oct. 15 walkthrough with Kolten of Aave. Onchain logs show the Core Hub processing supplies and borrowing through Main on Oct. 15. How V4 spokes work. In V4, users deal with borrowing modules called spokes. Those modules send deposits to a hub and draw loans from it, while keeping separate collateral settings and limits. Aave's documentation describes this as a change from V3's market-per-pool design. Connected markets can use shared liquidity instead of each needing a separate deposit base. Arc launched with one Core Hub and two borrowing markets. All four launch assets are borrowable in Main. Forex is limited to USDC and EURC. Separate supply-only tokenization spokes turn deposits into positions that external vaults and aggregators can use, without enabling borrowing through those integrations. Launch limits and freeze risk. The launch configuration adopted LlamaRisk's token-denominated supply and borrowing limits. For Main, those were 56 million USDC supplied and 51 million borrowed; 20 million EURC supplied and 18 million borrowed; 1,100 cirBTC supplied and 220 borrowed; and 24,000 WETH supplied and 4,800 borrowed. Forex's initial limits were 13 million USDC supplied and 11 million borrowed, plus 10 million EURC supplied and 9 million borrowed. LlamaRisk cited limited secondary-market liquidity for EURC as the reason for conservative Forex caps. These are launch limits, not a current reading of remaining capacity. Ethereum's V4 deployment also uses shared hub liquidity and has a Forex Spoke listed in Aave's contract directory. Arc also carries network-level controls relevant to borrowers. In its prelaunch technical assessment, Aave Labs said USDC is Arc's gas asset and an issuer freeze can stop an address transacting altogether. Its tests found that a frozen borrower's position could still be repaid or liquidated by a third party. I think that is a useful detail, though it is not a full risk review.

USDC processed $36 trillion in H1 transactions, but Circle kept just 7 cents of every revenue dollar. Circle's latest disclosure reveals the enormous cost of distributing and operating its stablecoin as competitors promise partners a bigger share of earnings. Senior Reporter - CryptoSlate Oct. 16, 2026 Quick take. * 01 USDC captured a reported 77% of stablecoin transaction volume in June, yet Circle retained just seven cents in profit per revenue dollar. * 02 Coinbase held an average $20 billion in USDC, underscoring the growing influence of major distributors over stablecoin adoption and earnings. * 03 Circle now faces a critical test: Can it maintain USDC's market position while competitors offer partners more generous revenue-sharing deals? Stablecoin issuer Circle spent 93% of its first-half revenue on distribution, operations, and investment as USDC processed more than $36 trillion in transactions. The stablecoin issuer generated about $1.4 billion in revenue in the first six months of 2026, but $819 million went to distribution partners and transaction costs, while another $473 million covered operating expenses and network investment. Circle retained roughly seven cents of every dollar earned as net profit, about $103 million. The figures, released Oct. 16 by Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi, form part of Circle's response to newer stablecoin providers promising businesses a bigger share of the earnings generated by digital dollars. Circle argues that the money it retains must pay for the banking access, liquidity, and compliance systems that let USDC operate across international markets. Coinbase helps drive Circle's $819 million distribution bill. Circle earns most of its revenue from the assets backing USDC, which include cash and US government securities. Exchanges, wallets, and payment companies that attract users and maintain USDC balances receive a share of the income those balances generate. That arrangement makes distribution a significant expense, but it also gives major partners a financial incentive to promote USDC. The more customers and balances a platform brings to the network, the more it can earn. Coinbase remains Circle's largest and longest-standing distribution partner. Average USDC held across the exchange's products reached a record $20 billion in the second quarter, up 44% from a year earlier, according to figures Circle cited. Circle has been extending that approach beyond its longstanding US partner. Binance signed a five-year commercial agreement in September and invested $100 million in Circle, while more than 150 other partners have an economic interest in USDC's growth. Those agreements give Circle access to exchanges, fintech applications, banks and payment services that already serve millions of customers. They also make the issuer's share of retained revenue an increasingly important consideration as rival stablecoins compete for the same distribution channels. USDC's $36 trillion transaction boom comes with liquidity costs. Circle said USDC processed more than $36 trillion in on-chain transaction volume in the first half of 2026. By June, it accounted for approximately 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume, up from 60% a year earlier, according to the company's figures. The transaction activity reflects how extensively USDC moves across blockchain networks. Separately, Circle reported more than $315 billion in combined issuance and redemptions over the six months, about $1.7 billion daily. Second-quarter minting and redemptions totaled $170 billion, up 105% from the same period last year, indicating growing demand for moving money between traditional banking accounts and blockchain-based dollars. Supporting that activity requires substantial cash reserves and banking infrastructure, particularly as payment companies increasingly demand access to dollars outside normal business hours. Circle says direct customers have always been able to redeem USDC without fees through regular banking channels, where settlement can take up to two business days. The company now offers eligible customers free, near-real-time redemptions through the Circle Payments Network and its platform products, allowing participating businesses to convert USDC into dollars around the clock. However, faster conversions come at a cost. Circle holds cash at banking partners so customers can receive dollars when they redeem USDC, including during weekends and holidays. That money must remain readily available and typically earns less than funds invested in Treasury securities. Maintaining those balances, along with the banking relationships needed to move them, ties up resources Circle could otherwise invest elsewhere. Circle challenges rivals over stablecoin profit sharing. Razzaghi's statement directly challenged newer stablecoin providers that claim established issuers retain too much reserve income and charge excessive redemption fees. Circle's position is that sharing more earnings with distributors must be balanced against the expense of maintaining the infrastructure required to support growing transaction activity. The company pointed to more than 55 licenses and regulatory registrations, relationships with over 25 banking partners and native USDC deployments across more than 35 blockchains. It also highlighted reserves held in a government money market fund managed by BlackRock and custodied at BNY, alongside compliance operations covering 185 countries. These investments help Circle serve financial institutions operating under different regulatory requirements while maintaining the liquidity needed to process large withdrawals. However, competing stablecoin issuers are increasingly offering payment platforms and other distributors greater participation in reserve earnings, creating pressure on the economics of Circle's existing arrangements. The company now faces the commercial challenge of attracting additional USDC balances while preserving enough revenue to fund its expanding settlement network. Circle is scheduled to report third-quarter financial results on Nov. 4, giving investors another chance to assess how distribution costs are changing as the issuer expands partnerships and offers faster, free redemptions to more businesses. Article context