Cryptoupdated 1h ago2 min read
Circle Defends USDC Economics, Says It Kept 7 Cents Per Revenue Dollar
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Net profit about 7 cents per revenue dollar in H1 2026. About $819 million of $1.4 billion revenue went to partners and costs (59¢ per dollar).
Circle’s USDC revenue defense
Circle defended its USDC economics by saying it kept about 7 cents of profit per revenue dollar in the first half of 2026 after it brought in about $1.4 billion and paid $819 million to distribution partners and transaction costs. Circle said it also spent about $473 million, or roughly 34 cents per dollar, on licensing, banking relationships, settlement liquidity, compliance measures, new product investment, and blockchain integration. Circle framed the figures as a rebuttal to stablecoin rivals that claim they can offer a more useful stablecoin by sharing a larger share of the economics.
Circle Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi wrote that the costs of redemption, compliance, and resilience do not disappear just because the issuer declined to pay them. Circle said standard USDC redemptions remain free and typically settle in up to two business days, while qualifying platform customers and payment flows through Circle Payments Network can access near-real-time redemptions at no cost.
Partners, rivals, and Open USD
Circle said Coinbase is its largest USDC partner and also backs Open USD, a rival network that aims to let businesses mint and redeem stablecoins with no fees while passing reserve income to participants after a management fee. Circle said Open USD was unveiled in June and that its OUSD token is now live, while Circle’s post did not name Open USD directly. Circle said Binance bought a $100 million stake in the firm in September under a five-year deal that includes a fee tied to USDC held through Circle’s wallet service.
Circle said more than 150 partners participate in USDC’s economic benefits and share in the growth they have helped drive, with partner payouts structured to increase with the scale of USDC adoption. Circle argued that rivals promising to share the “majority” of revenue offer “a stablecoin that distributes everything and fund nothing,” while Circle said it reinvests the remaining revenue to keep redemption, compliance, and liquidity functioning.
Scale, settlement, and what’s at risk
Circle pointed to USDC’s scale by saying it settled more than $36 trillion in on-chain transaction volume in the first half of 2026 and minted and redeemed more than $315 billion of the token, or about $1.7 billion a day. Circle said USDC accounted for approximately 77% of global stablecoin trading volume in June, up from 60% a year earlier, as it argued its economics are tied to adoption and distribution partners. Circle said the European Banking Authority designated USDC as the first “significant e-money token” under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), giving USDC formal regulatory status within the EU.
Circle said it paid $819 million of roughly $1.4 billion in first-half 2026 revenue to USDC distribution partners and transaction costs, and it said it made 7 cents of net profit per dollar of revenue. Circle’s blog said the real question is how much reserve income can be shared while continuing to fund the infrastructure that makes the stablecoin useful, and it warned that “Without that foundation, a stablecoin is not a digital dollar; it is a token.”